User Panel
User Panel
User Panel
|
Posted: 5/22/2016 5:39:04 AM EDT
[#1]
I would look at the images you shot, figure out a common focal length and do my tuning there.
As for the fine tune itself, I recommend the dot tune technique. Takes just a few minutes and you don't need to take even a single picture. In short, set up a nice focus target a good distance away, subject distance matters as well as focal length, you can cheat a bit using extension tubes for this one. 50x focal length seems to be the preferred setup but if your shots are near infinity, might need an extension tube to cheat that part a bit. Anyhow, the basic work flow goes like this. Get everything locked down rock solid and pointed at your target, then get a live view absolute focus. Either using af or manual. Once it's locked in, switch the body or lens or both to manual only focus so it will stay put. Next go in the menus and verify 0 fine tune. I don't know about canon stuff but on my nikon you can half press the shutter or the af-on and the focus indicator will light up and it will either be a steady dot for 5 seconds or it will have some sort of fiddly behavior, perhaps with an arrow telling me which way to move the fine tune. If you are solid for a good 5 seconds at 0, it's worth jumping to say +10 and checking. If that's invalid, work back one by one. Find the upper limit of stable focus. Then jump to -10 and do the same. If that's stable, jump farther down to -15 or whatever until you find something unstable, then work back to 0. Basically you are finding the range, and once you know the range say... +8 to - 4 you want to dial in the af fine tune at the midpoint. If you are not stable at 0, you just need to skip around until you find something stable, make that your new base and find the range around it using the method described for 0. Your lens may be +13 to +4. Find the midpoint and that's your fine tune value. Keep in mind that with a zoom it can change depending on focal length and distance to target. The best you can hope for is a happy balance that works in most situations or a spot on solution that works for one specific situation. dot tune example Hope this helps. |
|
|
|
Posted: 5/22/2016 11:18:07 AM EDT
[#2]
It's been a long time since I shot an airshow, or anything with a long lens, for that matter. And I don't know anything about fine tuning the autofocus or Canon equipment. So take anything I say with a grain of salt.
A few questions first. Are the subjects moving or static? What kind of shutter speeds are you using? And does your equipment have image stability? Of course the reason I ask, is because technique is very important when using long lenses. For static subjects, I like to keep my shutter speed up around 1/600 or faster, when using a lens in the 300-400mm range. If you have some type of image stability, that changes thing dramatically, but without it, fast is good. If the subject is moving (airplanes at some distance), I like to use at least 1/1000 (absolute minimum) shutter speed. If I'm closer to a moving subject (say...horse racing), I go as fast as I can with shutter speed. 1/2000 or better. I'll increase the ISO to get the speed. In my humble opinion, there is just no substitute for speed, when using a long lens. With a static subject and image stability, I could sometimes get as slow as 1/60, but without VR, or with a moving subject, speed is everything. Also, try to stay in the f-stop, sweet spot, for your lens. I guess that's typically around f/5.6 to f/8, but every lens is different. Some are good all they way down to wide open, but of course, they usually come with a hefty price tag. Well anyway, I would try a few test shots before I started messing with the fine tune on the autofocus. Speed, speed, speed! |
|
|
|
Posted: 5/22/2016 12:02:16 PM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I would look at the images you shot, figure out a common focal length and do my tuning there. <snip> Hope this helps. Thanks. I should have mentioned I'm familiar with the dot tune process. As for finding a common focal length - it's all over. At smaller airfields sometimes 100mm is too much with larger aircraft, and fly-by shots are at 200mm. At other airfields we're further away from the showline and I'm shooting at 300-400mm. |
|
|
|
Posted: 5/22/2016 12:31:54 PM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It's been a long time since I shot an airshow, or anything with a long lens, for that matter. And I don't know anything about fine tuning the autofocus or Canon equipment. So take anything I say with a grain of salt. A few questions first. Are the subjects moving or static? What kind of shutter speeds are you using? And does your equipment have image stability? Of course the reason I ask, is because technique is very important when using long lenses. For static subjects, I like to keep my shutter speed up around 1/600 or faster, when using a lens in the 300-400mm range. If you have some type of image stability, that changes thing dramatically, but without it, fast is good. If the subject is moving (airplanes at some distance), I like to use at least 1/1000 (absolute minimum) shutter speed. If I'm closer to a moving subject (say...horse racing), I go as fast as I can with shutter speed. 1/2000 or better. I'll increase the ISO to get the speed. In my humble opinion, there is just no substitute for speed, when using a long lens. With a static subject and image stability, I could sometimes get as slow as 1/60, but without VR, or with a moving subject, speed is everything. Also, try to stay in the f-stop, sweet spot, for your lens. I guess that's typically around f/5.6 to f/8, but every lens is different. Some are good all they way down to wide open, but of course, they usually come with a hefty price tag. Well anyway, I would try a few test shots before I started messing with the fine tune on the autofocus. Speed, speed, speed! Thanks. Static photos are fine, but taken with a different lens. I need to try some static images next show with the 100-400 and see if the fuzziness is there as well. Been shooting with this camera/ lens combo since last August. Keeper rate improved significantly after an initial learning curve, and has improved a bit more as I continue to use the combo. Aircraft taxiing are usually OK, mostly the in-flight shots are the issue. Mainly old warbirds, so slower shutter speeds to get prop blur. I vary the shutter speed between 1/160s and 1/320s depending upon focal length. Image stabilization is ON, lens is sharp wide open so I usually shoot in shutter priority and let the camera adjust aperture (usually between f/8 and f/14). ISO is AUTO, set within 100 and 1600 (last show all of the images ended up being captured at 100). I'm hoping to get to an airshow this next weekend or the following, where I have the chance to shoot jets. I'll be able to ramp the shutter speed up to 1/2000s and turn IS OFF. I'm hoping this is just a case of my slight OCD combining with technique that still needs improvement. To me, the images with this issue don't look like motion blur, they look like focus just missed critical focus by a small amount. I'll go through my images again over the next few days and see if I have any examples left - if so I'll post some 100% crops to see if anyone thinks it might just be motion blur. |
|
|
|
Posted: 5/22/2016 1:42:43 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Mainly old warbirds, so slower shutter speeds to get prop blur. This is a monster challenge, and I never got it right. I would slow down the SS to get the prop blur, and end up with blurry planes. There must be some kind of special talent required to take these pictures, and I never had it. Good thing there are plenty of jets to take pictures of. I always turned VR (image stabilization) off for moving subjects. Horse racing was very frustrating for me, the first couple of times I tried it (especially when they threw me out of the track for using "professional" equipment...LOL). I initially wasn't sure if I missed the focus while panning, or if it was from having the shutter speed too slow. But when I increased the shutter speed, my keeper rate went up. Good luck, and don't give up! |
|
|
|
Posted: 5/22/2016 5:00:00 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Mainly old warbirds, so slower shutter speeds to get prop blur. I vary the shutter speed between 1/160s and 1/320s depending upon focal length. Image stabilization is ON, lens is sharp wide open so I usually shoot in shutter priority and let the camera adjust aperture (usually between f/8 and f/14). ISO is AUTO, set within 100 and 1600 (last show all of the images ended up being captured at 100). Ultimately, you will find that this is a problem with your technique. Lots of practice using good technique is the cure. That said, do some focus tests with the lens to see that there is not a problem there too. Can't say I recommend the "dot" method. |
|
|
|
Posted: 5/22/2016 5:23:40 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Ultimately, you will find that this is a problem with your technique. Lots of practice using good technique is the cure. That said, do some focus tests with the lens to see that there is not a problem there too. Can't say I recommend the "dot" method. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Mainly old warbirds, so slower shutter speeds to get prop blur. I vary the shutter speed between 1/160s and 1/320s depending upon focal length. Image stabilization is ON, lens is sharp wide open so I usually shoot in shutter priority and let the camera adjust aperture (usually between f/8 and f/14). ISO is AUTO, set within 100 and 1600 (last show all of the images ended up being captured at 100). Ultimately, you will find that this is a problem with your technique. Lots of practice using good technique is the cure. That said, do some focus tests with the lens to see that there is not a problem there too. Can't say I recommend the "dot" method. Have you ever tried it? It works, and it's a lot faster than the old take 40 pictures and pick the best one...and a lot cheaper than the AF programs you can get. |
|
|
|
Posted: 5/22/2016 6:14:37 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted: This is a monster challenge, and I never got it right. I would slow down the SS to get the prop blur, and end up with blurry planes. There must be some kind of special talent required to take these pictures, and I never had it. Good thing there are plenty of jets to take pictures of. I always turned VR (image stabilization) off for moving subjects. Horse racing was very frustrating for me, the first couple of times I tried it (especially when they threw me out of the track for using "professional" equipment...LOL). I initially wasn't sure if I missed the focus while panning, or if it was from having the shutter speed too slow. But when I increased the shutter speed, my keeper rate went up. Good luck, and don't give up! Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Mainly old warbirds, so slower shutter speeds to get prop blur. This is a monster challenge, and I never got it right. I would slow down the SS to get the prop blur, and end up with blurry planes. There must be some kind of special talent required to take these pictures, and I never had it. Good thing there are plenty of jets to take pictures of. I always turned VR (image stabilization) off for moving subjects. Horse racing was very frustrating for me, the first couple of times I tried it (especially when they threw me out of the track for using "professional" equipment...LOL). I initially wasn't sure if I missed the focus while panning, or if it was from having the shutter speed too slow. But when I increased the shutter speed, my keeper rate went up. Good luck, and don't give up! Thanks - and yes, it's not easy. The improvement between three years ago and recently is pretty decent, so I'm making progress on the technique. Need lots more practice.  |
|
|
|
Posted: 5/22/2016 6:22:23 PM EDT
[#9]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Ultimately, you will find that this is a problem with your technique. Lots of practice using good technique is the cure. That said, do some focus tests with the lens to see that there is not a problem there too. Can't say I recommend the "dot" method. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Mainly old warbirds, so slower shutter speeds to get prop blur. I vary the shutter speed between 1/160s and 1/320s depending upon focal length. Image stabilization is ON, lens is sharp wide open so I usually shoot in shutter priority and let the camera adjust aperture (usually between f/8 and f/14). ISO is AUTO, set within 100 and 1600 (last show all of the images ended up being captured at 100). Ultimately, you will find that this is a problem with your technique. Lots of practice using good technique is the cure. That said, do some focus tests with the lens to see that there is not a problem there too. Can't say I recommend the "dot" method. Thanks! My long lens technique is still a work in progress, but much better than it has been in the past. And I'm fine with it being the weak point here - I can keep working on improvement. Just seems that some images that should have been sharp are slightly fuzzy and it doesn't look like motion blur to me. I don't relish the thought of trying to find the right focal length and the right distance to try and tune the zoom, only to find I get focus issues where I didn't have them before. Weather permitting, I plan on setting up the tripod and doing some tests at different distances and focal lengths this week and see what happens. |
|
|
|
Posted: 5/26/2016 1:12:13 AM EDT
[#10]
Well, I ended up shooting a series of images vs trying to do dot tune - my eyes don't do well trying to get critical focus on the small LCD. Ended up with -3 looking sharpest at 400mm and just shy of infinity. Cloudy dreary day, so if I get to the hotel early enough Friday, I'll run some test shots in better light to confirm. Plus, some faster movers this show so I'll be able to ramp the shutter speed up and I can see how those look.
|
|
|
Win a FREE Membership!
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.
