To Infinity... And Beyond!!!!

captures.in.time

captures.in.time

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Last night I was out shooting the fireworks in Edinburgh. I took with me my newish 75-300mm L Series Canon lens which focal length wise was perfect for the shots I wanted to shoot.

I had real issues however with focussing. I knew due to the low light conditions I would need to manual focus. I got there nice and early and gave myself ample time to set up. But as I went to focus my camera I thought all I would have to do to focus to infinity was simply to fully screw the focus ring... but no!!!!

It seemed to focus onto infinity... then go beyond! As im a glasses wearer I find manual focusing tricky... and the 5dmk1 does not have live view.

So I guess my question is... Where is infinity?

On all my more traditional lenses on my film camera... which is how long ago it was that I last shot fireworks... you simply screwed the barel to infinity... So what do I do now... I stuggled last night and did get a fair few good images but equally a fair few poor ones. I guess because of auto focus i've never had to use that lens on manual focus before so what a time to come accross this obstacle! There is basically a symbol like this ¬ but is it at the start or the end of the line?

Mark
 
A lot of 'old' lenses go past infinity too - some have a mark for infinity in infra-red light in this region. L-series lenses usually have a distance scale with an infinity mark; even the new ones :)

But for next time - here's my 2p
Use the centre focus point (it's the most sensitive) and place it over a distant streetlight; you will get focus lock. Switch to manual focus and shoot away. The only problem is that some lenses change focus when the zoom is changed; need to test your lens; if it does then I'm afraid you will need to re-focus every time you change the zoom.
Focussing in situations that have no distant streetlights needs a trick learned from the Urbex community. Use a laser pointer and focus on that; even a low power pointer can be focussed on up to about 1/3 mile which is way beyond what you need to use for focussing. If you use a green laser pointer (not red) it has the advantage that you can see the beam, which makes finding the dot easier.
 
I'll need to check if my focus changes with zoom for all my lenses... I never thought that would!

I did try to use manual focus using the centre point but the lens just hunted back and forth... so hence I went to manual focus.

However where about on the infinity mark is the actual point of infinity? Is it at the start of the mark where there is a little return line... or is it towards the end... or does that depend on where the lens is zoomed too?
 
Sorry yes... my brain was suffering from lack of sleep! Yes the 70-300... So far all I can say about it is ... buy one! It's an amazing lens and blows anything else i've ever had away in that range... the clarity of the pictures especially compaired to my old 75-300 IS is brilliant! I dont need a particularly fast lens for what I do photography wise... so for me its perfect... without spending daft money! Size and weight wise it's great!
 
Nice to hear - don't need one at the moment but the spec when announced looked good. Cheers
 
I can confirm that the 70-300mm L lens does focus beyond infinity - it quite worried me when I first noticed it - and the REAL infinity point does seem to be where the little return line is.

As long as your pics are sharp (as you confirm they are) then I wouldn't worry about it.

.
 
With old manual lenses you just wacked them round to the end stop and there you were - infinity. Auto focus lenses have to travel "beyond infinity" to be able to focus "on infinity". Like women parking between two cars. They shunt forward and backwards until they hit the cars in front and behind them, then settle for somewhere in the middle.
 
MisterE said:
With old manual lenses you just wacked them round to the end stop and there you were - infinity. Auto focus lenses have to travel "beyond infinity" to be able to focus "on infinity". Like women parking between two cars. They shunt forward and backwards until they hit the cars in front and behind them, then settle for somewhere in the middle.
Click to expand...

I have 2 auto focus lenses which have a physical "stop" at infinity, these are the 28/2.8D & 35/2D.

My 50/1.4G however will focus "beyond" infinity - actually kind of annoying as I do not particularly like using auto focus.
 
HoppyUK said:
And in the handbook... ;)
Click to expand...

Yes I deserved that... I really should have read the lens book... I think I flicked through it... but not in any detail! Lesson learnt!

Thanks for bringing me back down to earth with a jolt and reminding me of the basics!

Tail between the legs... M
 
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