Manual focus - I suck at it!!

[Lance B]

I have only just started to learn how to use the manual focus with my shorter lens and I can already see its benefit in allowing me to focus on just one (and the most important) area in my photos...especially for close up work. Will it be more difficult for me to focus manually with my longer lens?

Not necessarily. When using longer lenses, you are generally focusing in on a particular spot and the longer lens will help by magnifying that spot and thus making it easier to manually focus. However, with wide angle lenses, you are generally well back from any particular object to focus on and this can make it more difficult to accurately focus.

I thinks I'll have to make it a point to practise. Thanks for all of the above information.

[swifty]

I haven't seen anyone mention this so I'll add that as well ad focus throw that Lance mentioned, dedicated manual focus lens are also well dampened and won't get easily 'bumped' out of focus which is easy to do on AF lenses. The light dampening on AF lenses are deliberate as it results in less resistance for the focus motor I presume.
Some zoom lenses are also parfocal meaning the focus stays the same when the focal length changes (within limits). So a trick that some ppl employ is zooming in to obtain focus (with greater magnification) and then zooming out to the correct composition without changing the focus and taking the shot.

[Lance B]

I haven't seen anyone mention this so I'll add that as well ad focus throw that Lance mentioned, dedicated manual focus lens are also well dampened and won't get easily 'bumped' out of focus which is easy to do on AF lenses. The light dampening on AF lenses are deliberate as it results in less resistance for the focus motor I presume.
Some zoom lenses are also parfocal meaning the focus stays the same when the focal length changes (within limits). So a trick that some ppl employ is zooming in to obtain focus (with greater magnification) and then zooming out to the correct composition without changing the focus and taking the shot.

Good point about the parfocal zooms, but in this day and age, most AF zooms are not parfocal simply because they are AF and really don't need to be and thus saving costs on more complex designs. Back in the manual focus days, parfocal was a big thing for the very reason you have outlined, ie it makes it easy to focus at the long and and then you zoom out to the wide end or out to the point you want to zoom to.

[achee]

I have only just started to learn how to use the manual focus with my shorter lens and I can already see its benefit in allowing me to focus on just one (and the most important) area in my photos...especially for close up work. Will it be more difficult for me to focus manually with my longer lens? I thinks I'll have to make it a point to practise. Thanks for all of the above information.

I know I'm not directly answering your question, but longer focal lengths (for the same f-stop) give the appearance of shallower depth-of-fields. As a result getting the focus right is more critical with longer lenses.

[Chayelle]

Very well said...
good advice...

Lots of practice and you DO get better.....

I think most people will find that focusing manually, through a viewfinder, is a skill which takes some practice to master. I've been focusing manually since the early 80's and it is by far my preferred method of operation, particularly where the depth of field is very shallow and accurate focus is most critical.

MF will be affected by many factors and in the best circumstances can be relatively easy but in poor circumstances can be extremely difficult at best.

Some cameras, in fact almost all amateur cameras, are not designed to be very good at MF as most amateur cameras are used with AF so manual focus is not a big issue. They typically have a small viewfinder, low image magnification, and a focusing screen designed to give a bright image rather than one which allows accurate focusing (they are not the same thing). Modern 'pro' cameras such a 1ds3 (and similar) are designed to focus manually. Intermediate cameras like the 5d2 can be quite poor. I regularly use a 5d2 and have difficulty with it if focusing through the viewfinder (Live View is another matter). Some times you can replace the focusing screen in the camera to improve focusing accuracy, at the cost of brightness, and I certainly recommend doing that if you intend to use MF regularly.

The lens you are using will also be a major factor. Consider that the image you see when focusing is the image that the lens creates when it is wide open. Most lenses are not at their best when wide open and some can even be a bit fuzzy/poor so if you are already focusing with an image which is not very sharp then the task becomes even harder. A high quality lens might have a better image when wide open so focusing can become much easier. The maximum aperture of the lens will also be a factor. An F1.4 lens will obviously give a very bright image but the image might not be as sharp as that from a similar but slower lens, say a macro. It’s not exactly a ‘trick’ but you can use the depth of field preview function on a camera to stop it down one or 2 stops and focus that way, giving you a sharper image with which to focus. The other extreme is the kit lens which is typically not very sharp wide open and then usually very slow as well. Frankly you are pushing shit up hill with these. There are other factors too, such as field curvature and focus shift, walk first, run later.

Even in the best conditions you need to practice to recognise what a sharp image looks like in your camera. There's always a certain amount of 'wiggle' room where the image may not really seem to change very much but in fact the image will have changed significantly. Recognising the exact point where the image is perfectly focused with your camera may take some practice and comparing it to what you see in Live View is a good way to check how you are performing.

If you wear glasses then remember that the image you are viewing corrected to appear approx 1m away so you need your distance, not reading, correction.

JJ

[Lucky23]

If you're having trouble with fuzziness after using manual focus, i'd first of all double check to make sure your eye piece is set to the right focus for your eyes. I only last week discovered the little wheel thing next to the eye piece and have now found everything through the view finder much clearer :P.

Of course Autofocus is there for a reason, but i do also like fiddling about with manual focus, just to get that sense of complete control. I suspect that if it's not an issue with your eye piece focus, then it'll just be a matter of practice. Perhaps try with objects at greater distances behind one another. That way you'll notice a well defined difference between the focusing required for each object, and work on it from there.

Good luck mate I'm sure you'll work it out, especially with all the help here.

[flashc]

Hi..

The original poster didn't say if they are shooting static or moving objects, night time, daytime, low contrast or high contrast subjects with manual focus.

On static objects with good contrast, good light and while on a tripod, I often manually focus my 7D using the review display because it can be magnified to achieve a slightly noisy view in closeup but it usually works for me.
Using autofocus with this display focusing method doesn't allow speedy focusing in low contrast or correct focus exactly where I may want it so I sometimes autofocus as a starting point and then flick the lens switch to manual mode.

The "focus throw", now that I am reminded about will be the reason why it's so difficult to achieve fine manual focus adjustments at high magnification, wide open and at an extremely shallow depth of field. There's just not enough adjustment twist compared to my old film lenses.

I don't take much notice of the focus confirmation light in AF mode in closeup as it may not be the exact place where I want focus if the depth of field is shallow. I use a single spot to do focus if using AF.

When I bought my first DSLR , a Canon 300D, I wanted my Olympus OM2 focussing screen back because of the ease of focusing with a central split ring and circular prisms. After upgrading to my 7D, I was worried because interchangeable focusing screens can't be fitted at all due to the new internal design of the focusing screen. This can be now overlaid with focus details or a viewfinder grid or be completely switched off to give a perfectly clear view of your subject. I now like my 7D system. I think the 5D III has inherited the same system so it probably can't change focusing screens either. So, changing screens is now not an option.

Recently I wanted to try shooting dragonflys in flight without flash and used manual focusing as the AF was picking up and focusing on the background as they move very quickly. I set 1/4000 f7.1 and auto ISO and tracked the dragonflys with my 70-200L f4.0 ranging between 70 to 200 as they flew towards and away from me. They're pretty small to get a single point AF lock on it, and to track with its sharp turns was just too hard with AF.

I read on the forums here that members do AF lens focus checks and microfocus adjustments to their lens/camera combinations after finding the factory settings are not always correct. Someday, I'll test my lenses for focus as the Canon 7D and Nikon 7000D up have microfocus adjustment available to match the lenses to the camera.

Perhaps members are using manual focusing as their AF is slow or inaccurate and they don't know.

[achee]

Recently I wanted to try shooting dragonflys in flight without flash and used manual focusing as the AF was picking up and focusing on the background as they move very quickly.

WOW, sounds pretty difficult! How did it go?

[flashc]

Hi..

I posted one of the pics in the nature forum today. It's not the best of pics but it was something I wanted to try.

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...of-a-Dragonfly