Landscape focusing

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gaz_jameison

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Gary
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Hi guys.

Any time I'm taking scenic/landscape shots I never quite seem able to nail the focus. I appreciate that with a lot of these shots is going to be tough getting everything 100% tack sharp, but have any of you any tips on this?

I think I remember hearing somewhere to focus 1/3rd of the way into your frame but I never seem to get good results.

I always have a tripod, generally shoot with my 35mm prime (sometimes with my 18-55 kit lens for wider shooting) use the 2sec shutter delay on my camera, shoot at f/8 or smaller (usually a lot smaller, which may be my problem?!?!)

Any ideas?
 
Hi Gary.

You generally seem to be going about landscapes the right way, but if you are using apertures smaller than f13 then you may well run into defraction issues. All lenses differ so some may allow a tighter aperture, whilst some less so.

One thing which comes to mind is to turn off any image stabilisation when using the lens on a tripod.

Estimating a third into the frame is not always easy, and if you do estimate it correctly, the camera may not focus accurately if there is insufficient contrast at that point or low light prevails.

I would suggest you use live view for landscapes taken on a tripod as it is then easy to see which parts of the image are in focus, particularly if you use the image magnification facility. Also get hold of a depth of field chart from the internet or download an app for your phone to remove any doubt as to where you should focus.

One last thing is to either use manual focus or move AF to a back button if you camera so allows. Then when you have focussed at the correct distance as derived from your DOF calculator or app and then re-composed the shot, the focus won't move when you press the shutter button.

Hope this helps.
 
Helps a lot Yellowbelly, thanks for replying. Why would I turn off VR/image stabilisaton when zusing a tripod?
 
Mechanical VR, implemented using gyros, requires the camera to be non-resisting. The implied mass the gyros deliver can cause the lens elements to 'swim' slightly, making images exposed using longer shutter speeds - as required by low light/low ISO/ small aperture techniques - to consequently blur slightly. You don't get the same problem with s/w VR systems.
 
I spot focus a third in a lock it then recompose, or my camera has a flexible spot focus so no need to recompose. I seem to like F11 -16 but no higher. Use tripod turn off any I.S.
 
manual focus 1/3 into the scene - dependent on what sensor size (crop, ff etc) aperture should be f/11 - f/16 for front to back sharpness

using liveview is good as well and don't forget the good old DOF preview button
 
IF you can, use manual focus at the hyperfocal distance. Doubtful your kit lens will allow you but if it does then your onto a winner.
 
Focussing a 1/3 into the frame is a useful guide - but it is no more than that - a guide - and depending on the scene it might not be applicable anyway. As well as getting the point of focus right you need to make sure you're using an aperture that gives sufficient depth of field for your purpose.

Hyper-focal focussing is the "mathematical" way of doing it - look it up on Interwebz - there's loads of stuff out there. It will tell you the focus distance and aperture for a specific focal length to get from x inches from the camera to infinity in focus. In the field there are two downsides to using hyperfocal calculations (by tables or mobile phone apps) - you may not know the focal length accurately from the scale on a zoom lens and how do you know what is EXACTLY 2.14 metres from the camera to focus on........ You don't have to be far out for hyperfocal to not give the results you want......

In the real world I've found the best way is to use live view, stop the lens down, zoom in the liveview image, manually focus, check the areas nearest and furthest away from the camera that you want sharp and adjust focus and aperture accordingly. It's called "depth of field preview" for a reason!! (It's also the reason for my last camera upgrade - to be able to use live view specifically for this type of focussing)
 
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Manual focusing is the way forward for landscapes, if you have live view use that and zoom in to nail the focus exactly where you want it.

Turn live view off whenever you're not using it to preserve battery life and to stop the sensor getting hot which will introduce noise.
 
Also try enabling "mirror lock up" so vibrations from the mirror moving out of the way doesn't affect the image.

Also limit filters etc that are in front of the lens and only use good quality filters.

Hope that helps.
 
If you are shooting fairly wide on a DX lens at f11-f16 it hardly matters where you focus, it will pretty much all be within the DoF

Shooting 1/3 in is fine too as a guide - I wouldn't bother with manual focusing unless there's nothing really to focus on (i.e. a calm sea)

Defo DON'T use VR - for anything really unless you have Parkinson's Disease, its a largely pointless gimmick - but especially don't use it on a tripod

Hyperfocal focusing works, but is only really useful when you want extremely close foregrounds sharp too and (as suggested) it can be tricky to use then too

Don't use anything above f11ish unless you really have to, diffraction softens images after that

If you are shooting landscapes using a tripod, the timer to shoot, f8-f11ish, focus about 1/3 in and its still not sharp then something is wrong with the lens - more likely is that you're pixel-peeping at 100% and misinterpreting what you are seeing, gets some A3 prints done and then see if they aren't sharp enough :)

Dave
 
Only getting back to this now guys thanks a million for all you input. Mucho appreciatede
 
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