Help With Focusing!

grinch8 · Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:23 pm Post subject: Help With Focusing!

Im haveing Problems with Focusing..

Its mainly on dirt jumps but i havnt taken much downhill yet.
so i wouldent really know.

Basicly i just need some tips on the best way to focus or how you focus..

For example.. Pre focusing on the landing. then switching to manual and tweaking it slightly..

Or is it best to just autofocus and then take the photo whilst there in the air?

Any help would be get.. just tell me your basic technique!

Thanks!

Hamish · Forum Veteran Joined: 29 Sep 2006 Posts: 1011

Depends on a lot of things:

If the riders are predictable and you're staying in the same place then manual can work really well. This is easier with a wide angle lens and more difficult with a telephoto with shallow DOF. It's also a good choice if it's dark or there's not much contrast, which causes problems for the AF.

If your camera has a good, fast AF and the lens/camera is quick enough th handle subjects coming head on the AF can work well (it's better to prefocus just in front though, so there's less catching up than starting at infinity. RTFM to find out which AF modes work best - my D200 focusses best with continuous and single area AF whereas the dynamic modes are a little slower.

Also experiment and see what works well for you.
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JAW · Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:06 pm Post subject:

I usually auto focus on the down-ramp or lip of a jump to, but as Hamish says depends on the angle. I must confess i have practically never used manual focusing for biking shots!
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Roo · Forum Master Joined: 16 Aug 2006 Posts: 442

Coming from a compact camera, I'm not surprised you are having a little trouble, they have a huge DoF compared to a digital SLR with a 50mm at 2.8. I usually go for the prefocus route and then tweak if it looks a little out.