File :-(, x, )
Manual Focus on a DSLR? Anonymous
How do y'all manage to focus properly on shots with very very narrow depth of field? On my rebel xti the autofocus spots are often not aligned with what I want to be in focus, and the error introduced by focusing-then-reframing is enough to throw the sharp region onto the wrong part of my subject.

Is the answer manual focus? My viewfinder is too small and dark for me to tell when things are in focus or not, usually. Would an aftermarket focusing screen help? (pic related)

Is the answer to shell out for a newer body that has live view, like the 40D, so I can zoom in with the LCD to see if the focus is correct?
>> Anonymous
depends how bad you want to MF?

i think companies like katz-eye do MF screens for most d-slrs, but theyre about $70 i think? so its up to you really.

re reading your post i think youd be better off getting the katz-eye screen over dropping more for a 40D.
that is of course unless you happen to have enough money handy to get it or if you just want the better camera.

up to you.
>> eku !8cibvLQ11s
40D does have changable focusing screens by Canon? Should be easy job to change it.

Also, pressing shutter halfway on manual focus should blink on of the focusing points when it is in focus.
>> Anonymous
>>191700
>pressing shutter halfway on manual focus should blink on of the focusing points when it is in focus
How would that work? How would it know when it is in focus?
>> Anonymous
>>191701
the same way it knows when its in focus with an AF lens
>> Anonymous
>>191702
Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of manual focus?
>> Anonymous
>>191700
OP has an xti...
>> Anonymous
>>191658How do y'all manage to focus properly on shots with very very narrow depth of field?

I just bought an Ee-S focus screen for my EOS 5D, and it works just as advertised. There's no split prism or anything like that, but whatever's in focus pops out at you. It makes focusing very easy.
>> Teus !QbSstcPD6U
>b) install katzeye focusing screen (but it will make framing more difficult) and/or a magnifier eyepiece, then focus manually

also, xxx and xx series have shitty viewfinders, even the 40D.
>> WetShirt !n21TE7QU8U
>>191690
>press button until I get the beep
>until I get the beep
>I get the beep
>the beep
>beep

Wat?
>> TheGeneral !m7n7x2Yyfo
>>191787

lol. who keeps that bloody beep on? jesus fuck it's annoying.
>> Anonymous !QgACNkSwFA
>>191789
I leave it on unless I am shooting animals
>> Anonymous
Just get a fully manual 35 mil. like I've been using for a year. It should be easy to find one with a decent viewfinder for pretty cheap, or even free like mine. I still think digital is overrated. Nothing beats working in a darkroom. :)
>> Einta !!MWv3ICYobCM
>>191804
I turn it on for some animals. The fascination of a cat (or coyote, once) hearing the beep and tilting its head is amusing. Also - photogenic.
>> Anonymous
>>191839
Not everyone has a darkroom, not everyone is willing to learn. It is not equivalent to digital and it isnt irreplaceable either. Film looks nice, though.
>> Depressed Cheesecake !wFh1Fw9wBU
>>191690
>2. Aim at what I want in focus, press button until I get the beep and red flash.
>3. Switch to manual focus (so the focus doesn't change) and recompose the shot.

Why the fuck would you do this? You know you can just remap the shutter butter not to focus lock, or just hold the shutter button down halfway to keep the focus lock?
>> Anonymous
>>191861
I do it for still life shots since I have to move things around and the camera's on a tripod anyways. It makes focusing a little easier, similar to full time manual focus (which not every lens has)
>> Anonymous
Yea, I had access to a darkroom at my highschool. Now, I just have it developed at Wall-Mart. Expensive, though.
>> Anonymous
>>191860
>Not everyone has a darkroom, not everyone is willing to learn.

Then you aren't dedicated enough to pursue photography.
Kindly GTFO and GB2/y/ you homo.
>> Anonymous
>>191912
Henri Cartier-Bresson.

>All the greats like Ansel Adams develop their own shots.
I've never heard of that guy, but surely developing your shots doesn't make YOU a great photographer, only a little bit more of an elitist as it can be clearly seen.
>> Anonymous
>>191915
>Ansel Adams
>I've never heard of that guy

0/10
>> Anonymous
>>191690
I really like using this technique, but does anyone know if I can program a button to toggle between MF and AF instantly? Is there a camera with a feature or hack that allows me to do this?
>> Anonymous
>>191933
I'm a canonfag, so I can tell you that above their economy range ($300 and above lenses) Canon makes lenses with full time manual, which means you can use autofocus and whenever you feel like it, just rotate the focus ring to use it in manual mode.
>> Anonymous
>>191933
Not sure on Canon but on Nikon, there are two modes. AF-S and AF-C. AF-S is for stationary objects. You can half press, let it focus, then recompose all you like. AF-C on the other hand is sort of "tracks" the object and will refocus if you move. Use whichever suits you for a particular shot.

And just about all SLR's with AF functions allow easy toggling between MF and AF.
>> Anonymous
>>191933but does anyone know if I can program a button to toggle between MF and AF instantly

Buy a lens with full time manual focusing.
>> Anonymous
>>191938
Awesome, thanks

>>191937
>>191941
Awesome. I was always really worried I'd ruin the AF motor or something if I did that.
>> Anonymous
>>191770
Wrong. I got the S screen for my eos 40D and it didnt make focusing with my 85/1.2L any easier so i just ordered a katz eye and now im doing just fine :)
>> Anonymous
Focus and recompose is a very bad habit. Sloppy. You should avoid it.
>> Anonymous
if a lens has a distance scale, like 0.3m 1m 2m 3m 5m infinity

does that mean that if the shit i want to focus on is at 1m, i should put it at 1m?
>> Anonymous
>>192122
no, if you set it at 1m then everything closer than 1m will be out of focus. and everything 1m farther will be out of focus.
>> Anonymous
>>192123

That is what he said.
>> Anonymous
>>192123

isn't that the point? i want the thing at 1m to be in focus and unless my aperture is like f/32, everything else is oof
>> Anonymous !QgACNkSwFA
>>192121
Why? Not that it matters, of course, because until I can beg/borrow/steal a decent light meter, I will still need to center on any differently lit parts of the subject so I can determine exposure.
>> Anonymous
>>191933
minolta 7d has a button right next to the rear dial that you can use switch between the af mode and mf.
>> Anonymous
OP: Yes, manual focus is the answer, but you'll want a focusing screen and a magnifier since your XTi has a lousy viewfinder.

>>191781

I don't know about earlier models, but I've shot with a 40D and manually focusing is very easy even on the stock screen.

>>191903

Not true. HCB did sometimes develop his own stuff, when he was traveling and far removed from any other way of getting them developed in a timely way. He hated doing it, though, and always had a lab do the prints.
>> Anonymous
>>192374
>Not true. HCB did sometimes develop his own stuff, when he was traveling and far removed from any other way of getting them developed in a timely way. He hated doing it, though, and always had a lab do the prints.
Good, you did your homework. But again, a valid point. Not wanting to develop your own shit doesnt make you any less interested in photography. That's all the guy did, ffs.
>> Anonymous
yes and as a photographer autofoucus should noly be on if your shooting action shots or you are a lazy newfag
>> Anonymous
>>192400
Oh, yes, definitely. Very few novelists are their own editors (except, of course, initial editing and all) and I seriously doubt a single film director has ever taken all the film from his movie into the darkroom and done it himself.

And HCB was a painter as well.
>> Anonymous
>>192415
>And HCB was a painter as well.
And that's where I didn't complete my homework.

Now.. will you agree, that this guy here>>191871is either an elitist snob or a fucking troll?
>> Anonymous
>>192416
I think he's both, actually.

I do personally think it's preferable for a variety of reasons for a photographer to develop his own film/process his own raw files, but if someone prefers to work another way, that's fine. Art is, from beginning to end, subjective.

HCB started out as a painter, trained classically with his uncle (a painter) and, after his uncle was killed in WWI, in a studio, and associated with the surrealists. In 1930, he left the studio, went to live in Africa, and while there switched to photography because "The adventurer in me felt obliged to testify with a quicker instrument than a brush to the scars of the world."

Later in life (around the early 1970s, IIRC) he went back to doing mostly painting.
>> Anonymous
>>192422
>I think he's both, actually.

I read "troll" as "tool." As in, "an elitist snob and a fucking tool."
>> Anonymous
Oh, and another photographer who I know for a fact doesn't do his own developing and printing: Sebastio Salgado. Instead, he has a special crew of master darkroom workers.