Focussing at night

gercam

gercam

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Name
Gerry
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Was out other night trying to take photos of Christmas lights. I have set camera to have centre point focus but noticed when trying to focus I couldn't choose a point - in fact there were a few points chosen by camera.
Any tips?
 
If your camera has a manual focus mode use it and set it to infinity and shoot away.
 
Should be able to auto-focus if you place the centre focus over one of the lights, half press the shutter, recompose, then press the shutter all the way
Shooting without lights in the scene is MUCH harder!

Focus on infinity is OK if your lens has a distance scale - most of mine don't.
 
If you haven't got a distance scale you can still do it... just focus on something close, then on something further away... this will confirm what direction you need to go in and then you just go further... voilà.
 
Laser pointers works too although it can be tricky to line up but you can buy ones with a grid / matrix pattern.
 
Thanks for all your help.

Set lens to infinity or camera?

The centre point doesn't show when half pressing - seems Ti just pick up random points. Same when put it on manual
 
Try to focus the lens at infinity... into the distance, if it's possible to set it to manual focus.
 
Lens. But as you say your shooting Christmas light so your camera should focus on them. It sounds like your in the wrong focus mode? What camera is it that you have?
 
Focus on the Moon, a brightly lit building, anything bright a long way away then lock it there.
 
Why is everyone talking about focusing to infinity, that is not very good advise if the subject the OP is trying to photograph is only a few metres away :thinking: I would suggest going for manual focus if your camera can, what camera are you using? if you have it I would also suggest the use of live view to aid in focusing :thumbs: just focusing to infinity will not necessarily be very helpful :thumbsdown:

Matt
MWHCVT
 
MWHCVT said:
Why is everyone talking about focusing to infinity, that is not very good advise if the subject the OP is trying to photograph is only a few metres away :thinking: I would suggest going for manual focus if your camera can, what camera are you using? if you have it I would also suggest the use of live view to aid in focusing :thumbs: just focusing to infinity will not necessarily be very helpful :thumbsdown:

Matt
MWHCVT
Click to expand...

OP says he has a 40D in earlier post!!

Doesn't sound like the camera is set it to center point focus as you say it chooses other points randomly. Check the manual and make sure you set it right.
 
I don't think focusing is the issue here. He's saying he has set his camera to the center point but the camera is selecting the focus points for him hence why i asked what camera it was.

I'm not too sure about a 40D, I'm a Nikon man but as stated it sounds like your in the wrong focus mode.

Are you in auto area rather than single point. Check that when you have changed modes you area AF mode stays the same.
 
What I don't understand is the talk of autofocus, surely the simple answer is manual focus.
 
Thanks again all.

When I put it to manual focus should the red focus dots still appear? Cos they don't :)
 
The dots appear if you hold the autofocus button down while manual focusing (either shutter half press or the back button if you've enabled back button focusing). But if the dots light up then you can use autofocus.

Ploddles said:
Doesn't sound like the camera is set it to center point focus as you say it chooses other points randomly. Check the manual and make sure you set it right.
Click to expand...

This. If you've set your camera to use the centre point only and it's selecting points then either something's wrong with the camera, you've knocked it back into all points mode or it was never set to centre point only in the first place.

You should be able to autofocus on lights at night because of the contrast between the dark background and the bright lights. It might be a bit hit and miss depending on the maximum aperture of your lens and how bright the light is but I've never had any problems.
 
This is the problem, new photographers have not grown grown up in photography with manual cameras, I suggest £50 on ebay for all new photographers a manual camera and a roll or two of film.

My DSLR spends as much time on MF as AF
 
options

MF
Laser pointer
Small focussed torch
distance scales on lens
 
Thanks again. Last night I tried it on manual and auto focus. Def on auto I can't choose the focus spot. And when on manual I can't either!
Can anyone tell me what focus settings I should have in camera- in case I am on wrong ones! Thanks
 
gercam said:
Thanks again. Last night I tried it on manual and auto focus. Def on auto I can't choose the focus spot. And when on manual I can't either!
Can anyone tell me what focus settings I should have in camera- in case I am on wrong ones! Thanks
Click to expand...

Unless I am wrong or reading it wrong you have not uderstood manual focus, there are no focus spots, I am not sure I know what you mean.

It is simple to manual focus.

Switch to MF, look through the viewfinder at anything, tree, leaf, light etc and simply turn the focus ring on the lens back and forth till it looks sharp in the viewfinder, takes perhaps 1/4 second.
 
The way I read this is that the Op is switching between auto an manual on the camera? Auto will do everything for you including taking away control of focus points.
 
gercam said:
Thanks again. Last night I tried it on manual and auto focus. Def on auto I can't choose the focus spot. And when on manual I can't either!
Can anyone tell me what focus settings I should have in camera- in case I am on wrong ones! Thanks
Click to expand...

Are you confusing auto/manual on the dial on the top plate with what I am talking about which is auto/manual on the lens
 
JSER said:
Are you confusing auto/manual on the dial on the top plate with what I am talking about which is auto/manual on the lens
Click to expand...

Sorry if I am not explaining myself well.

When I turn lens to manual focus there are no red spots - that is what it should be?

When I turn lens to AF but have camera on manual settings I can't seem to be able to choose focal point - a few points flash but I can't choose. I have on centre point but this doesn't seem to work on night shots.

Hope this has made it clearer and thanks again
 
I've got a 20d so I'm guessing it's fairly similar.
Using manual focus the red squares only light up when the shutter is half pressed and the area within the square is in focus. The confirmation is nice but it does kind of defeat the object of focussing manually, I might as well have used af!
Again, on my 20d there is a button on the back that when pressed allows me to choose my af zone (red square) by rotating the main dial. If you set it this way then you can isolate one square.

Shooting Xmas lights and the such, I would personally switch your af point to the centre point, focus, then flick your lens to 'mf'. If you don't change position then you're free to decompose at will, then repeat the stages when you move. Either that or use manual focus all the time !!
 
I think you need to read your camera manual, it sounds like you're misunderstanding a setting somewhere.
 
MWHCVT said:
On the 450D so I'm sure on many other Canon's when in manual focus and one shot mode you will still get a beep and red flash to confirm focus :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Oh yes focus confirmation, but I ignore it as it may think I have chosen a different focus point to it.
 
But the red flash is from the focus point it chooses so you'll always know what it thinks you've focussed on :confused:
 
gercam said:
Was out other night trying to take photos of Christmas lights. I have set camera to have centre point focus but noticed when trying to focus I couldn't choose a point - in fact there were a few points chosen by camera.
Any tips?
Click to expand...

It seems that you are in the wrong mode, ie it is choosing a number of points to focus on and shows the points it is trying to focus with. You need to change the af mode to af-s (single point). On my d3100 I cannot select a point if it is in auto-area AF. There is focus mode (constant, once/single or manual) and af mode which is the part you need to change.

If you have sections with enough light, you do not need to use manual focus, the autofocus should work.
 
Thanks for advice.

Does anyone know how Ti change focus mode mentioned before? Is that just one shot?
 
If you want to choose the AF point you press the * button on the back of the camera (I think). Then you half press the shutter button activate the AF, and then use the menu direction buttons on the back to move the active focus point to the one you want. If the camera has a little joystick, as some of the higher models in the Canon range do, then you can use that once the AF is active. I think you may also be able to choose the focus point with the scroll wheel too or repeatedly pressing the * button.

However, if you choose the Auto Scene mode then it will default back to using all the focus points, and normally uses whichever focus points are over the nearest thing in the scene. If you choose Program Mode instead, then it will work in the same way as Auto, but will allow you to change things, and the AF is one of the options which you get can get control of.


I may be a touch vague about the Canon options being a Nikon user, but the manual should give the exact AF options for the camera. ;)
 
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