How to focus

Awais Yaqub

I have 18-55 kit lens on 400D i am facing difficulty focusing infinty i have rotated on both sides but soft, OOF :dunno this was shot at 18mm and f5.6 nearly all got ruined from that day :cry

ziggy53

Awais,

Especially for night photography I set infinity focus during the day and mark the focus ring against a fixed mark on the barrel of the lens. A little bit of tape makes the process easy to remove later if you mark only the tape.

Use a small flashlight to find your marks in the dark and use manual focus against the marks. You may need to bracket the focus slightly until you get used to what works for what lens.

Scott_Quier

ziggy53 wrote:

Awais,

Especially for night photography I set infinity focus during the day and mark the focus ring against a fixed mark on the barrel of the lens. A little bit of tape makes the process easy to remove later if you mark only the tape.

Use a small flashlight to find your marks in the dark and use manual focus against the marks. You may need to bracket the focus slightly until you get used to what works for what lens.

This is a so totally cool and simple idea. I feel so stupid now after trying to figure this out on my own. Thanks!

gus

Awais all i do is find a very distant light...or maybe the moon or a planet (which looks like a bright star) & let the camera do it for me. Its very rare that i cannot see one tiny spec of light somewhere off in the distance. I also use spot focus.

For lightning you should be out around (well thats my preference anyway) f22 which coincidently assists with getting most into focus.

Awais Yaqub

Thank you for suggestions i will try them
i have to work with very limited Aperture as kit lens won't be good above f11

pathfinder

Awais,

I must confess that I am pretty loose about focus at distance at night for landscape type shots. I focus the lens manually all the way to Infinity and then back off ever so slightly, maybe 1/8 turn or much less. At at a small aperture, smaller than f8, with a lens focal length shorter than 50mm, I think you will find everything is sharply in focus.

Ziggy's idea is great, but I rarely think of that ahead of the time

Nikolai

Ziggy's idea's great, but if you miss the daylight and can't find a spec of light like Gus says, simply use small aperture (larger f-numbers) and hyperfocal distance. Use www.DOFmaster.com to find exact value for your particular lens.

Awais Yaqub

Thank you
Much Appreciated

gus

Taken with the cheap kit lens. I have found it to be fine. I will use it way smaller than the f11 this photo was taken.

Its the subject mate....NOT the equipment.

f11

Awais Yaqub

gus wrote:

Taken with the cheap kit lens. I have found it to be fine. I will use it way smaller than the f11 this photo was taken.

Its the subject mate....NOT the equipment.

f11

I confess
Actually i get good resonable photos with kit lens large prints are superb too. too good for the price

gus

Awais Yaqub wrote:

I confess
Actually i get good resonable photos with kit lens large prints are superb too. too good for the price

Here is a 20 year old with a 400 XTi rebel & a kit lens.

Awais Yaqub

gus wrote:

Here is a 20 year old with a 400 XTi rebel & a kit lens.

Fantastic !