focus issues

catdobbs

catdobbs

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Name
catherine
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hi there i have been having some issues getting to grips with shapness and focus i posted these thinking the horse looked pretty good for not being able to get into the feild and what have you. please may you let me know where you think im going wrong

IMG_1907.jpg

focal legnth 54 mm
f/8.0
iso 800
shutter speed 1/250s
IMG_2302.jpg

focal legnth 300mm
f/6.3
iso 800
shutter speed 1/500s
 
Change your AF, at the moments its using all the points available to choose what to focus on, this results in focusing on the fence post in the first pic and the coat in the second pic.

Change to single point AF and single servo AF.

You can then point the camera at what you want to focus on (the horses head), and push down the button halfway. Hold the button down and then recompose (move) to get the shot you want.

The shutter speed seems right, its just slightly out of focus due to the wrong focus point caused by using all the points and the camera choosing.

You might be able to take down the ISO to 400 as well
 
You should use one shot focus in canon and use the dial at the back to change the focus points where ever you want to focus.If it is a bright day change the iso to 200 rather than 800.
 
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thankyou for that hopefully i make a little bit of progress
 
Do you have Digital Photo Professional installed ? (Its on the disc that came with your camera) open your pics in the viewer module select a pic then click on alt+L and it shows which focus point/s the camera used when taking the shot, go through your pics and you might be surprised at what the camera picks if you leave it to its own devices. If nothing else it will make you more aware of the focus selection point at the point of taking the pic.
 
Its a Canon 350D and a Tamron 28-300 lens its in his camera bag in his profile.
I had a Tamron 28-300 a while back btw and it was notoriously flaky at giving consistently sharp shots. Just something else to consider.
 
Use single point AF, as suggested above. Usually the centre point because it's more sensitive, lock it, then recompose. With a subject like that, the rule is normally to focus on the nearest eye.

The problem with multi-point AF is the camera will usually default the the nearest point of (what it thinks is) the main subject but can also get drawn to areas of high contrast elswhere. Basically, it hasn't got a clue what it's doing and is really only useful in situations where it can pick up a moving subject more quickly than you can, and where there is nothing in the foreground to distact it and go wrong.
 
i got my camera second hand so didnt get a disk with it i keep meaning to get a 50mm lens as i have been told there one of the best for a begginer to have as you need to know alot about your settings for the lens i have not sure if it is the case just what i have been told. can you get the disk directly from canon.
 
Yes but for some reason known only to canon you need the original disc to install the downloaded disc :cuckoo: !!
However there is a way round it, Canons Japanese site still has a downloadable and installable copy of the Digital Photo Professional suite version1.0. So all you have to do is install it then go to Canon Uk and download the latest version and because you have version 1.0 installed it allows it. Seemples!

Available here..........


http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/sdl/data/dpp100-e.exe


Install then get latest from here

http://software.canon-europe.com/products/0010732.asp

That should get you all the software that would have come with the camera anyway Job Done.


Next

i keep meaning to get a 50mm lens as i have been told there one of the best for a begginer to have as you need to know alot about your settings for the lens i have not sure if it is the case just what i have been told.
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Absolute rubbish, the lens you have (and 99% of all others all work on exactly the same principals other than some zoom and some don't). Learn with what you have and do not be talked into spending more money chasing an easy solution (there isn't one) to what has to be learned the good old fashioned way. Read up on the basics take lots of shots of different subjects in different lighting etc, make loads of mistakes and learn from them. Try this link and work your way through some of these excellent tutorials but just take one at a time get it straight in your head then move on to the next. Ignore the first one about sensors its way to techy and not relevant to a novice why its at the start of the list baffles me.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm

Having fun is the most important thing to take alongside your camera otherwise whats the point.

Don't be scared to ask for help either the forums are full of people prepared to take novices by the hand and guide them as best we can.
 
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thanks for that will get on with that now and hopefully have some really good pictures soon. i thought it was abit strange when my lens has a good range on it that i would need another for learning. again though thankyou all for your help already been playing around with af points think kids getting annoyed now lol.:):)
 
catdobbs said:
thanks for that will get on with that now and hopefully have some really good pictures soon. i thought it was abit strange when my lens has a good range on it that i would need another for learning. again though thankyou all for your help already been playing around with af points think kids getting annoyed now lol.:):)
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Agree with Gary - learn to get the most out of what you've got. The standard kit zoom has a lot of potential. The only advantage of the 50 1.8 (apart from being cheap) is that it runs to f/1.8 for shallow DoF effects, which is probably not going to be that helpful to you in this case.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
Change to single point AF and single servo AF.

You can then point the camera at what you want to focus on (the horses head), and push down the button halfway. Hold the button down and then recompose (move) to get the shot you want.
Click to expand...

For a lving and moving subject I wouldn't do this. I'm assuming your 350d has some sort of AF-Tracking, so you can pick where you want to focus and then the camera will follow this. Servo (or continuous AF) is fantastic for things that can move. Its worth using
 
boyfalldown said:
For a lving and moving subject I wouldn't do this. I'm assuming your 350d has some sort of AF-Tracking, so you can pick where you want to focus and then the camera will follow this. Servo (or continuous AF) is fantastic for things that can move. Its worth using
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Servo AF is not great on a 350D, so proceed with caution. And also, unless you can keep the AF point on exactly the right place all the time, it won't work. In other words, it's no good for focus-recompose technique which is what I think the OP needs to try first.
 
HoppyUK said:
Servo AF is not great on a 350D, so proceed with caution. And also, unless you can keep the AF point on exactly the right place all the time, it won't work. In other words, it's no good for focus-recompose technique which is what I think the OP needs to try first.
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Fair enough - I have to admit to not being that familiar with the 350d.

I think for cameras where this does work well its well worth learning to use - especially as your selected focal point will also move to remain on the original point of focus as you recompose
 
i downloaded the software that i needed as i dont have the disc and when i press alt+l to see where i focused on the first it is focused on his cheek and the second just missed his head and got his coat. it is great to have though as now i can see where in alot of cases i went wrong using more than one af point .:thumbs:
 
catdobbs said:
i downloaded the software that i needed as i dont have the disc and when i press alt+l to see where i focused on the first it is focused on his cheek and the second just missed his head and got his coat. it is great to have though as now i can see where in alot of cases i went wrong using more than one af point .:thumbs:
Click to expand...

Bear in mind that only shows which focus point was used, not necessarily what was focused on. If you use focus-recompose, then obviously it's going to be completely different.
 
cool didnt realise that was the case but you can only learn from asking and trying i will remember that for future refferance about the recompose as i do that alot as i stumble alot due to have lower back problems.
 
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