Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda
Username  

  New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site
  New Feature: SMS Notification alert
  New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist
  

FM Forums | Canon Forum | Join Upload & Sell

  

Archive 2017 · 16-45/4 hard stop and how to focus?

  
 
nandadevieast
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · 16-45/4 hard stop and how to focus?


Hi
I got a new 16-35 F4
There is no infinity hard stop, but there is a soft stop both side of the scale. Is that soft stop supposed to be correct infinity focus?
Is there a simple and effective tip/trick for manually focussing this lens for landscapes?
Anurag



Feb 21, 2017 at 09:29 AM
stevesanacore
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · 16-45/4 hard stop and how to focus?


I discovered this issue with another Canon zoom. I was told by a Canon tech that the infinity setting changes as per temperature and focal length. If there is a way to set the focus manually to infinity, I'd also like to know how. I have this lens and it's superb but I've been relying on AF for focus which has worked well so far.

ASAIK.



Feb 21, 2017 at 09:52 AM
hotdog12
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · 16-45/4 hard stop and how to focus?


Many lenses focus "beyond" infinity as a way of allowing correction for lens expansion/contraction in hot/cold weather, especially for zooms with their incredibly complex optics.

A simple way of finding "infinity" is to just focus on a mountain, star, cloud, building, even something, say, a hundred meters away. Just about anything a reasonable distance away is "infinity" to this lens, especially with its f/4 minimum aperture.



Feb 21, 2017 at 09:58 AM
jcolwell
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · 16-45/4 hard stop and how to focus?


nandadevieast wrote:
Hi
I got a new 16-35 F4
There is no infinity hard stop, but there is a soft stop both side of the scale. Is that soft stop supposed to be correct infinity focus?
Is there a simple and effective tip/trick for manually focussing this lens for landscapes?
Anurag


The most simple apporach would be to set the focus distance to the little up-tick on the 'infinity' focus region in the lens focus window, and then shoot away. If you do this, it would be worthwhile to test the accuracy of this setting, using one of the LiveView methods mentioned below.

For tripod shooting, I use the magnified LiveView image on the rear LCD or on a remote display, like a smart phone or SmallHD monitor. For handheld shooting, the 'best' solution is to use the same LiveView magnified image on the rear screen, with a Zacuto Z-Finder or similar gizmo mounted on the rear LCD. Unfortunately, the Z-Finder solution is kind of big and clunky, but it works really well. Otherwise, you're stuck with using the "rocking back and forth" approach, that's commonly used with viewfinder manual focus for subject distances less than infinity.



Feb 21, 2017 at 11:21 AM
nandadevieast
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · 16-45/4 hard stop and how to focus?


I am new to landscape/long exposure photography, have only shot people and candids till now. Even wildlife is new to me.

Have been really struggling with how to frame in the dark and how to focus manually. Not having an infinity mark is so lame.

Till now i have only done guesswork in this type of shooting. I don't want to get into time taking and cumbersome methods either.

Looks like there is no easy solution to this.



Feb 21, 2017 at 11:32 AM
Gunzorro
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · 16-45/4 hard stop and how to focus?


This is a main reason I use Sony a7RII for MF without a tripod. The magnified view in the EVF makes MF of this lens (I have the 16-35/4L IS) so much easier for gauging what is in focus at the selected aperture (stopped down, or wide open).

As Jim C says above, on a tripod I would use LV with the 5DsR to achieve the same effect, particularly for twilight shots of buildings or cityscapes.

An optical VF is very difficult to use to achieve the most critical manual focusing -- on the fly, I generally rely on AF with properly AFMA'ed lenses, rather than attempting to nail MF through the OVF.

Even with lenses, like Zeiss with hard infinity stop -- you would be foolish to simply accept that the stop is accurate. There are a lot of graduations in plane of focus from 50' to infinity, and you frequently need to evaluate exactly where in that range to place your plane of focus depending on DOF. Even if the hard stop is accurate at celestial distance infinity, you are best advised to your own testing in advance.

Canon has for many years, going back into the FD era, used a soft infinity stop, for the reasons given elsewhere.



Feb 21, 2017 at 11:41 AM
Roland W
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · 16-45/4 hard stop and how to focus?


The main reason most modern lenses have no hard stop is because the autofocus operation needs to go past infinity and then come back to the sharp spot which is critical focus at infinity. Temperature variation is of course an additional potential reason, but the amount of that is small compared to the amount of over travel needed for autofocus.

Besides, haven't you heard of the photographic axiom that we all live by ... "To Infinity and Beyond", first promoted by Buzz Lightyear.



Feb 21, 2017 at 11:56 AM
molson
Online
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · 16-45/4 hard stop and how to focus?


nandadevieast wrote:
Not having an infinity mark is so lame.



Not as lame as having one that is correct only part of the time...



Feb 21, 2017 at 12:38 PM
nandadevieast
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · 16-45/4 hard stop and how to focus?


Thanks. Was helpful.
I agree on EVF being very helpful in maually focussing though i wonder why, and I have read at many places that DSLRs are preferred choice for long exposures. Someone said a camera with an optical finder is a must.
I suppose reasons are about battery life and temperature-noise spoiling the photos perhaps, and not ease of focussing.

Gunzorro wrote:
This is a main reason I use Sony a7RII for MF without a tripod. The magnified view in the EVF makes MF of this lens (I have the 16-35/4L IS) so much easier for gauging what is in focus at the selected aperture (stopped down, or wide open).

As Jim C says above, on a tripod I would use LV with the 5DsR to achieve the same effect, particularly for twilight shots of buildings or cityscapes.

An optical VF is very difficult to use to achieve the most critical manual focusing -- on the fly, I generally rely on AF
...Show more



Feb 21, 2017 at 01:04 PM
mb126
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · 16-45/4 hard stop and how to focus?


Magnified live view is really, really simple to use. I love my A7r as much as the next guy but for landscapes the EVF is no better than live view.


Feb 21, 2017 at 01:09 PM
melcat
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · 16-45/4 hard stop and how to focus?


nandadevieast wrote:
I am new to landscape/long exposure photography, have only shot people and candids till now.


You do not actually want to focus at infinity, but partly in to the scene. Any real landscape, even distant, will have some actual depth, e.g. front and back of the trees. Even at ultra-wide focal lengths, this is necessary.

And once you get to ultrawide focal lengths, the interesting images tend to be of closer subjects than infinity.

But supposing your subject is actually at infinity, the way this problem was traditionally solved was using the depth of field scale on the lens. You focus the lens on the most distant part of subject, and note the distance reading. Then turn the focussing ring so that distance aligns with the far mark corresponding to the f stop the lens is set at. What is in focus is then everything between the two markings with that f-stop. For the special case of infinity, just line the infinity mark up with the far marker for that f number.

Twist zooms, including this one, don't have the depth of field scale because it varies by focal length. Trombone zooms usually had curved lines that lined up with the extending barrel. Canon's fixed focal length L lenses usually have a depth of field scale, but often only for one or two f-stops and so narrow it's effectively useless. Zeiss manual focus lenses have decent ones.

You can get "depth of field calculator" phone apps that calculate the near and far zones of focus and carry those with you.

Have been really struggling with how to frame in the dark and how to focus manually.

I have this lens, and have never once attempted to manually focus it. I wheeled out my old f/2.8 instead for night photography last week, but even then autofocussed. If you possibly can, I recommend autofocus with this lens - f/4 is slow, and the lens is actually dimmer than that. For reference, I do manually focus my Zeiss 100mm f/2, my Canon TS-E, and my Canon macro lens. But not this one.

Edited on Feb 22, 2017 at 09:07 PM · View previous versions



Feb 22, 2017 at 07:17 AM
EB-1
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · 16-45/4 hard stop and how to focus?


+1 on LV.

EBH



Feb 22, 2017 at 07:27 AM





FM Forums | Canon Forum | Join Upload & Sell

    
 

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username       Or Reset password



This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.