Staying in Manual focus but staying away from OOF?

Chile Chef · May 1, 2009

I've been studying up on my book I purchased to day and went out side for a little shoot, and all my photo's are oof, in Manual Focus.

So does anyone know a trick for staying out of off while in Manual focus?

aktse · May 1, 2009

Please post some examples.

Out of focus photos are generally due to motion blur as a result of shutter speed or the lens not in focus lock, hand movement when clicking the shutter, or a soft lens.

Since you're manual focusing... you need to add adjusting your diopter to the list.

Chile Chef · May 1, 2009

Thanks Ak, I'll try to post the exif data ok?

Chile Chef · May 1, 2009

Ok, here you go.

Qarik · May 1, 2009

I guess you were trying to get the leaf in focus? The rock is in focus instead. Your shutter speed looks fast enough not to be motion blur or hand shake. I bet your your focus point was off that is all.

Chile Chef · May 1, 2009

Qarik wrote:

I guess you were trying to get the leaf in focus? The rock is in focus instead. Your shutter speed looks fast enough not to be motion blur or hand shake. I bet your your focus point was off that is all.

Yes that's it.

How do I get my focus point better? What do you suggest Qarik?

colourbox · May 1, 2009

The shutter speed is 1/640 so there is no problem with motion blur. It's all about the focus points.

Get to know how your autofocus lights work in the viewfinder. As you turn the focusing ring, you should see the focus point LEDs in the viewfinder light up as different planes of the scene come into focus. Do not press the shutter until a focus point LED stays lit up over the part of the flower that must be in focus!

One thing I have noticed is that the ease of locking on depends on your depth of field. With a wide depth of field, it's easy to turn the focusing ring and see the lights turn up. If depth of field is narrow, you may turn the ring and not see it light up. You might think "Where is it?" With a narrow depth of field, naturally the in-focus slice of depth is very thin, so it's too easy to blow right past it as you turn the ring. Turn it more slowly and it should be easier to notice when the focus point lights up.

It's much harder to gauge manual focus visually on today's viewfinders. You have to rely on the focus point lights to tell you when you've hit it.

Chile Chef · May 1, 2009

colourbox wrote:

The shutter speed is 1/640 so there is no problem with motion blur. It's all about the focus points.

Get to know how your autofocus lights work in the viewfinder. As you turn the focusing ring, you should see the focus point LEDs in the viewfinder light up as different planes of the scene come into focus. Do not press the shutter until a focus point LED stays lit up over the part of the flower that must be in focus!

One thing I have noticed is that the ease of locking on depends on your depth of field. With a wide depth of field, it's easy to turn the focusing ring and see the lights turn up. If depth of field is narrow, you may turn the ring and not see it light up. You might think "Where is it?" With a narrow depth of field, naturally the in-focus slice of depth is very thin, so it's too easy to blow right past it as you turn the ring. Turn it more slowly and it should be easier to notice when the focus point lights up.

It's much harder to gauge manual focus visually on today's viewfinders. You have to rely on the focus point lights to tell you when you've hit it.

Thanks colourbox, However I have devised a focus plan for this, and it's called PRACTICE!

What I'll be doing is shooting with out my memstick and I'll be shooting close up & and far away, each shot I'll go ahead and play with the focus ring!

SCguy · May 2, 2009

I don't think you can change the focusing screen on the XSi, but you can on Pentax. Adding a split circle focusing screen drastically improved my number of "keep" shots.

RD

Art Scott · May 2, 2009

First as AKTSE mentioned you may need to adjust your diopter at the view finder......also does the XSi allow for focus confirmation when manually focusing........if so great....if not then it just gets tedious to focus and back off a bit and then refocus.....which is fine for in-animate subjects........having the diopter proprly focused is the place to really start.........

For manually focusng I find that I need to use the center focuspoint and then re-compose the photos in the viewfinder............

sara505 · May 2, 2009

How I miss my the center prism on my beloved Spotmatic F of years gone by, the delicious resolution that you could feel in your gut as the image resolved....

These days I strictly use only the center focus point on AF, then re-compose.

Chile Chef · May 2, 2009

Thanks everyone, Just a small reminder I'm using manual focus and today I actually had 2 image's that's good to go.

Meaning my skill is improving in the manual focus rack it.

I'm very happy

ivar · May 2, 2009

Just out of curiosity, is there a specific reason you are staying away from autofocus?

Chile Chef · May 2, 2009

ivar wrote:

Just out of curiosity, is there a specific reason you are staying away from autofocus?

Ivar, I can't figure depth of field while using the auto focus, I was reading in my school book how Valuable depth of field is and I can get it when I'm in manual focus.

Further more my l lens works the best with out tubes in manual focus and not auto focus unless I want to shoot something in the distance.

Staying in Manual focus but staying away from OOF?

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