Beginner Camera shake vs focus?

arturo7

arturo7

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Hello all,
I was taking low light photos using manual focus. Several images were not crisp.
Is there a way to tell if this is due to camera movement or just poor focus?
thank you
 
If its camera shake the entire photo will look out of focus. If some areas are sharp but outers not it will probably be a missed focus.
 
Camera shake sometimes looks a little like a double exposure - edges can be doubled.
 
if you have a tripod then take the same photo hand held and on tripod. as a quick test
 
That leads to another question. I wear distance glasses and reading glasses. Which are better for the viewfinder?
 
Exactly. Just about every camera will have a diopter. You just need to adjust it. What camera is it?
 
Why are you manually focussing?

What camera you using?
 
arturo7 said:
That leads to another question. I wear distance glasses and reading glasses. Which are better for the viewfinder?Dep
Click to expand...
Depending upon camera brand, the focusing screen has a virtual distance of 30" to 1 meter distance. You should focus with weak reading glasses, since reading a paperback novel is assumed to be closer than 30"or 1m..about 12-14" or about 30cm
 
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arturo7 said:
The sleeve is in focus. Missed it by thaaat much...View attachment 413277
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Nothing in the image is sharp. Yes, you missed it, but it looks like you had camera shake too.

Some Nikon DSLRs have a focus assist light that works with manual focus lenses. Many mirrorless cameras offer edge highlighting in the viewfinder to show where the point of focus is.

DSLRs aren't designed to help you manually focus, and it's very hit-and-miss.
 
You say it was low light so whats the shutter speed, aperture and focal, length. Maybe that your shutter speed is too low or your aperture is too wide ie no dof. Manual focus with modern cameras can be tricky no split image etc.
 
Thanks, everyone.

The camera is a Canon EOS Rebel T3.
50mm prime lens. f1.8, exp 1/20th, ISO 3200

It does have a dioptric adjustment. Is there a proper way to set it?
 
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Phil V said:
Why are you manually focussing?

What camera you using?
Click to expand...
I was in a dive bar. Auto focus was taking too long. Most of pics didn't turn out, too dark.

It is a new lens, first outing with it. Still learning...
 
arturo7 said:
Thanks, everyone.

The camera is a Canon EOS Rebel T3.
50mm prime lens. f1.8, exp 1/20th, ISO 3200

It does have a dioptric adjustment. Is there a proper way to set it?
Click to expand...

What I would do is have it autofocus on an object first. Preferably on a tripod, so that the camera doesn't move. You know the focus is correct then. Then I would look through the viewfinder and adjust the diopter as necessary until it appears perfectly focussed.
 
Gav. said:
Differant model but same process :)

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Thank you, Gav.

This explains how to change the adjustment, but is there a procedure for doing the adjustment?

I put the camera on a tripod the then autofocused on subject 3m away then snapped a pic. I then switched to manual focus, adjusted the diopter, and took another pic.

Downloaded and viewed the pics. auto was in focus, manual was not. I did not touch the focus ring on the lens.
 
arturo7 said:
Thank you, Gav.

This explains how to change the adjustment, but is there a procedure for doing the adjustment?

I put the camera on a tripod the then autofocused on subject 3m away then snapped a pic. I then switched to manual focus, adjusted the diopter, and took another pic.

Downloaded and viewed the pics. auto was in focus, manual was not. I did not touch the focus ring on the lens.
Click to expand...
Adjusting it until the AF markers are clear like in the link, or as @Plain Nev said above :)
 
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arturo7 said:
I was in a dive bar. Auto focus was taking too long. Most of pics didn't turn out, too dark.

It is a new lens, first outing with it. Still learning...
Click to expand...
edit: I see you've posted an answer.

If there's not enough light for your camera and 50mm lens; then it's fair to assume, there's not enough light to allow you to focus an AF SLR either, you likely could focus a manual focus camera, or indeed a modern mirrorless,

1/20 isn't fast enough to freeze a breathing human at that distance either.

Always keep pushing, and keep learning too, but on this occasion, there wasn't enough light to get your shot.
 
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arturo7 said:
Thank you, Gav.

This explains how to change the adjustment, but is there a procedure for doing the adjustment?

I put the camera on a tripod the then autofocused on subject 3m away then snapped a pic. I then switched to manual focus, adjusted the diopter, and took another pic.

Downloaded and viewed the pics. auto was in focus, manual was not. I did not touch the focus ring on the lens.
Click to expand...

I have a simple way to adjust the dioptre - look at the camera information in the viewfinder and adjust until it appears sharpest.
 
arturo7 said:
Thanks, everyone.

The camera is a Canon EOS Rebel T3.
50mm prime lens. f1.8, exp 1/20th, ISO 3200

It does have a dioptric adjustment. Is there a proper way to set it?
Click to expand...
1/20 is too long to handhold even a 50mm lens and at f1.8 your DOF is going to be very narrow. You should have a shutter speed of about 1/60. Rule of thumb min shutter speed 1 over the focal length.
 
arturo7 said:
I was in a dive bar. Auto focus was taking too long. Most of pics didn't turn out, too dark.

It is a new lens, first outing with it. Still learning...
Click to expand...

Do you get focus confirmation with canon? Manually focus and get a light come on when the target is in focus?
 
ancient_mariner said:
Do you get focus confirmation with canon? Manually focus and get a light come on when the target is in focus?
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There is on the ones I have..

Hold Half pressed shutter release or hold BBF, then focus the lens, the AF square will blink and hold & AF dot bottom of OVF blinks and stays, the camera will bleep to confirm focus.
 
Everyone, thank you for the replies. They've been quite helpful.

The 50mm lens and shooting in low light are new to me. I need to do some homework on focal length vs depth of field as well as shutter speed.

cheers
 
I've done just this kind of work in the past with my band, shooting in very dimly lit pubs where AF would miss but the focus assist would let me get a manually focused image.
 
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