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Comment by Daydreamjay posted on Portrait lenses above 50mm at 01/01/2012 - 20:46
That would be awesome Alan. Cheers.
Comment by Daydreamjay posted on Completely Dejected (auto focus K5) at 31/12/2011 - 21:08
fatspider wrote:
Plenty of us Jason, where are you?
I'm in Dewsbury mate.Plenty of us Jason, where are you?
Comment by Daydreamjay posted on Completely Dejected (auto focus K5) at 31/12/2011 - 20:17
At this stage I would like someone local to me to give me a second opinion by having a go with my camera.
Are any users in the West Yorks area?
Are any users in the West Yorks area?
Comment by Daydreamjay posted on Completely Dejected (auto focus K5) at 31/12/2011 - 19:34
Going round in circles a bit, I'll just sum up -
I experimented extensively (a few hours) with manual focus. I set the diopter as advised in the manual by looking at a plain wall. The camera front focused - that is words that were readable by looking through the lens were unreable in the image.
Just in case I hadn't set the diopter correctly I them repeated the process across the whole range of the diopter and apart from the extreme left, where everything was blurred, wherever I put it the camera front focused considerably (enough to make words unreadble that are readable through the lens.)
I then got my girlfriend to repeat the process in case my eyes were somehow at fault and she got the same results.
I cannot explain it - I have had the camera on the tripod for about 18 hours in total messing about with it and haven't got one image perfectly focused.
Am I just being too unreasonable in expecting it to focus accurately on an exact point at f1.4?
I experimented extensively (a few hours) with manual focus. I set the diopter as advised in the manual by looking at a plain wall. The camera front focused - that is words that were readable by looking through the lens were unreable in the image.
Just in case I hadn't set the diopter correctly I them repeated the process across the whole range of the diopter and apart from the extreme left, where everything was blurred, wherever I put it the camera front focused considerably (enough to make words unreadble that are readable through the lens.)
I then got my girlfriend to repeat the process in case my eyes were somehow at fault and she got the same results.
I cannot explain it - I have had the camera on the tripod for about 18 hours in total messing about with it and haven't got one image perfectly focused.
Am I just being too unreasonable in expecting it to focus accurately on an exact point at f1.4?
Comment by Daydreamjay posted on Completely Dejected (auto focus K5) at 31/12/2011 - 17:58
MarkTaylor wrote:
How can it front-focus at both extremes but be perfect when in the middle (it isn't perfect when in the middle by the way, it front focuses.)Daydreamjay wrote:
Well when it gives the same error to the front focus both ways it is.
Except the correct adjustment for your eye is probably not at either extreme, but somewhere in between (or if you have poor eyesight, somewhere off the scale entirely). The only meaningful result is when it's correctly adjusted from your eye, not when it's incorrectly adjusted for your eye regardless of to which end of the scale.Well when it gives the same error to the front focus both ways it is.
I've tried it in increments, all the way across, probably about 7 or 8 and it front focuses everywhere. I am at my wits end.
Comment by Daydreamjay posted on Completely Dejected (auto focus K5) at 31/12/2011 - 16:59
Well when it gives the same error to the front focus both ways it is.
Comment by Daydreamjay posted on Completely Dejected (auto focus K5) at 30/12/2011 - 23:45
johnriley wrote:
That last test was rough-and-ready but more meaningful. For more usual apertures the DOF would mean focus was close enough, but for precision focusing you'll need more light by the look of things.
Your manual focusing was terrible, so adjust the dioptre properly as detailed previously. If you can't tell the difference from one extreme to the other then you're probably trying to set it whilst looking at an approximately in focus image. Defocus completely and concentrate on getting the lines etched in the viewfinder sharp.
Seriously mate did you read my post, I said I adjusted the diopter from one extreme to the other and the the error was still consistent.That last test was rough-and-ready but more meaningful. For more usual apertures the DOF would mean focus was close enough, but for precision focusing you'll need more light by the look of things.
Your manual focusing was terrible, so adjust the dioptre properly as detailed previously. If you can't tell the difference from one extreme to the other then you're probably trying to set it whilst looking at an approximately in focus image. Defocus completely and concentrate on getting the lines etched in the viewfinder sharp.
Comment by Daydreamjay posted on Completely Dejected (auto focus K5) at 30/12/2011 - 21:52
I've just done some more tests, all shot at 1.4, tripod with remote. The lens was the Pentax FA 50mm
This one was EV 0.3 so pretty dim, not expecting much here, Auto Focus (single point on the large letter T of the word "The" on the left of the page.)
This one was the same as above but Live View
I added some more light and brought it up to EV3.6, this shot was AF single point.
This was Liveview.
For the sake of the test I just left the camera on Av and let it figure out its own exposures.
I then tried manually focusing and I reckon I have sharp eyesight, my efforts were nowhere near as close as any of the above. In fact bizarrely when I focused I could clearly read the word I was focusing on (in this case the word 'village' just underneath the large T) but when I looked at the pic it is barely readable and the part that IS in focus was totally unreadable when looking through the view finder.
I adjusted the diopter from fully to the right to almost all the way to the left and this effect still happened i.e. text I could read through the lens was unreadable in the result.
This is the manual focus pic
Clearly something is amiss. Are there any forum users in the West Yorks area that could take a quick look at my cam and verify my results...?
This one was EV 0.3 so pretty dim, not expecting much here, Auto Focus (single point on the large letter T of the word "The" on the left of the page.)
This one was the same as above but Live View
I added some more light and brought it up to EV3.6, this shot was AF single point.
This was Liveview.
For the sake of the test I just left the camera on Av and let it figure out its own exposures.
I then tried manually focusing and I reckon I have sharp eyesight, my efforts were nowhere near as close as any of the above. In fact bizarrely when I focused I could clearly read the word I was focusing on (in this case the word 'village' just underneath the large T) but when I looked at the pic it is barely readable and the part that IS in focus was totally unreadable when looking through the view finder.
I adjusted the diopter from fully to the right to almost all the way to the left and this effect still happened i.e. text I could read through the lens was unreadable in the result.
This is the manual focus pic
Clearly something is amiss. Are there any forum users in the West Yorks area that could take a quick look at my cam and verify my results...?
Comment by Daydreamjay posted on Completely Dejected (auto focus K5) at 30/12/2011 - 19:21
I what Algernon says is true then it is impossible is it not?
If I shoot a portrait from a metre or so away and want the iris sharp I have a margin of error of 2cms. I am saying that without luck you're not going to nail it consistently without a focusing aid.
I would live to be wrong! It would solve a lot of problems.
If I shoot a portrait from a metre or so away and want the iris sharp I have a margin of error of 2cms. I am saying that without luck you're not going to nail it consistently without a focusing aid.
I would live to be wrong! It would solve a lot of problems.
Comment by Daydreamjay posted on Completely Dejected (auto focus K5) at 30/12/2011 - 14:55
So working that back I would need something around 57mm on my crop sensor.
I did actually purchase an old Zeiss 58mm F2 lens a while ago which is perfect but I could do with an auto lens.
I wouldn't mind a zoom, maybe 50mm - 120mm or around that. Or alternatively a fast prime.
What are the best choices for me please? It may need to be a budget option....