focus.

gloo

{insert witty remark here}
Joined
Jan 22, 2012
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I love photography but I'm basically self taught in everything. I've always wondered - do you guys pre focus manually for landscapes and if any of you do action stuff those too?

Do any of you work with the hyper focal distance stuff? I just discovered it and haven't really had a chance to play around with it, but it seems like that's what a lot of Pro's do - I've certainly noticed that a lot of my shots could be so much better if I could get that focus just perfect.
http://www.dofmaster.com/hyperfocal.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocal_distance
 
I often switch to manual focus, usually when I want it at infinity. For other times when I may or may not want it to infinity, I've been flipping my camera to live view mode, then move the box to a point I want it to focus in on and let it do the slow auto focus method. I then flip it back to manual focus. What I've found is that the images tend to be much sharper and better focused with this method. I had been told that the live view focus, while slower, is much more accurate and I'm pretty sure that's the case.

As for action shots, the closest thing I do to that is jump shots and I usually just set it on manual focus and infinity.

 
Good advice from Nick, above. For landscapes in broad daylight I usually shoot at f/10, which gives me a fair amount of depth of field. And use a tripod. For closer-up subjects, the Live View is invaluable. My vision isn't what it used to be, so autofocus is a lifesaver for me.
 
yeah the live view is nice on my 60D, though I only use it when I'm at that awkward angle where I can't use the view finder. I seem to have a bias against using the live view for what ever reason, maybe its time to break it. I usually just stick with selecting the region i want to autofocus and let the camera do its work or once its focused stick it into manual so I can wait for my shot. everytime I try to play around with manual I mess it up or can't tell very well (glasses and manual focus don't seem to be ideal mates).
 
On the majority(probably all) of camera bodies the center focus point is a lot more accurate and quicker than any of the other focus points. A lot of times I will set the camera to the center focus point only. I focus using that point and then re-compose if I have to. This method works particularly well in low light situations. I have noticed that by using the center focus point my cameras focus more accurately and quicker and enable me to get shots that I might miss because the camera would otherwise be still trying to focusing. It also works fairly well for action shots as long as you want your focus point to be in the middle of the frame. Using fast lenses(ie. 1.8-2.8 aperture) also helps with focusing because more light is coming in the lens.
 
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