How To Focus A Camera Manually

How to focus manually – elevation 20 tips

December 28, 2020

Manual-focus lenses can deliver superb results and you can get some existent bargains at the moment, either used or new. Fifty-fifty if your lens has autofocus, AF may find it hard to lock on in low lite for example, or you might need to focus manually when taking close-ups. Or when taking a long exposure landscape, using AF may non be appropriate. Angela Nicholson shares her top 20 tips for learning how to focus manually, speaking to a range of photographers.

Image credit Douglas Fry

Practice
Most of us are used to powering up our photographic camera, composing the shot, then pressing the shutter release to get a sharp image. Manual-focus lenses take a little more effort. Douglas Fry has been shooting professionally for over 25 years. In 2000, he switched to using autofocus kit but he was never really happy with it and switched back to manual-focus lenses in 2014. He at present uses them exclusively for around 300 commissions every year. His number-i tip is to practise focusing with manual-focus lenses. He says, 'Practice is a priority – you get meliorate and faster at focusing, so eventually you're able to keep upwards with a moving subject. It's just a case of knowing how fast and how far to rotate the focus band to keep pace with your subject.'

Prepare the diopter
As you're using your eyes to assess the focus when using a manual-focus lens, information technology'due south essential that you go the best possible view and that the diopter on your camera's viewfinder is set correctly. The little aligning dials are easily knocked out of position on some cameras, then it's worth checking your camera's earlier you get-go shooting. Information technology'south just a case of rotating the punch ane manner or the other until the point of focus is at its sharpest. Of course, this relies on the lens being focused, so information technology might be an idea to pop an autofocus lens on your photographic camera only to cheque yous're happy.

Look for light
Just like an autofocus arrangement, our eyes need to be able to come across some particular or dissimilarity to be able to focus. That means in that location needs to be some light and the bespeak of focus probably shouldn't be a featureless monotone panel. If the subject area you are interested in lacks contrast or is in a dark area, consider moving it into some light or directing a light source towards it. Alternatively, focus on something in the low-cal and with item that is about the same distance away from the photographic camera.

Image credit Jeremy Walker

Apply live view mode
If you apply a mirrorless camera, you lot shoot in live view mode permanently, which has some advantages for manual focusing (more on this subsequently). If you're using a DSLR, information technology's worth considering activating the live view and composing the epitome on the screen on the dorsum of your camera – you can't use live view with a DSLR's viewfinder. It's not platonic to apply the screen in all shooting situations, but information technology'southward great for even so life, landscape and macro photography – anything when the camera and subject are yet.

Magnify
One big advantage of a live view feed is that y'all can zoom into the preview image to enlarge the nigh important office of the scene. This is a huge bonus when you're focusing manually – provided that neither you nor your subject is moving. With some camera and lens combinations, the live view image automatically enlarges where the active AF point is (fifty-fifty though the camera/lens is set to manual focus) as soon as the focus is turned. That doesn't happen with lenses that don't have electrical contacts, but it'due south often possible to customise a button to activate the magnification/zoom with a printing.

Prototype credit Robert Pugh

Use focus peaking
Focus peaking is another useful feature of mirrorless cameras and some DSLRs in live view style. When this is activated, the camera highlights the points of highest contrast on the screen (or in the viewfinder with a mirrorless camera). The highest contrast areas are unremarkably the points of sharpest focus, so you can utilise peaking to guide your focusing. It'south usually possible to set the focus peaking indicator to i of a small pick of colours – white, red and yellow are common. Ideally, select a colour that contrasts well with the scene you're photographing.

Focus wide-open
Some manual-focus lenses close downwardly to the shooting aperture at the point of capture, but not all do. If you have to manually shut the discontinuity on a lens, close information technology after you've focused. Besides equally giving you the brightest possible view while you focus, the depth of field is at its most limited, which means that you see the strongest difference between what'southward in and out of focus.

Image credit Jeremy Walker

Use hyperfocal altitude focusing
The hyperfocal distance is that magical focus distance at which the lens produces the maximum possible depth of field at whatever given discontinuity. You can use this technique with any lens, but the focusing scale on about manual-focus lenses makes it easy. All you lot need to do is make up one's mind the aperture you want to use, then on the focus scale, line upwards one of the two markers for that aperture with the infinity symbol. The other marker for the aperture indicates the closest point of focusing. Landscape photographer Jeremy Walker says, 'I routinely use hyperfocal distance focusing to become
the all-time from my Zeiss Milvus and Leica lenses. Some photographers adopt to focus on a specific subject in the scene, simply I like to think in terms of depth of field.'

Focus and move
The focus-and-move technique is specially useful with macro lenses, especially when you desire to go the greatest magnification possible. Just set the lens to its closest focusing betoken and motion the camera forwards (or backwards) until the point that you desire to be in focus is perfectly abrupt. You only demand to make very small movements to have a dramatic effect with a macro lens, so it tin help to accept the camera mounted on a micro positioning plate on a tripod. This enables you to move the photographic camera very gradually past turning a screw thread.

Pre-focus
Manual-focusing masters such as Douglas Fry take no trouble focusing on fast-moving subjects, but fifty-fifty he recommends pre-focusing when you know where your field of study is going to appear. With the focusing done, you tin can cheque the exposure and concentrate on getting the composition just correct when the subject area arrives.

Paradigm credit Douglas Fry

Set the optimum settings
Manual-focus lenses are neat for street photography because, with a fiddling preparation, you lot can shoot instinctively. The first step is to decide what aperture yous want to use; f/8 makes a good starting point because information technology produces reasonable depth of field. Then, either ready the focus scale to focus on a point you find works well for your bailiwick and lens – for example, 2m – or set the lens to the hyperfocal distance (see tip number viii).

Then, prepare a shutter speed that freezes any accidental camera movement just doesn't require a very high sensitivity (ISO). A shutter speed of i/60sec or 1/125sec is a proficient selection for handheld street photography. Finally, set the sensitivity to automatic so that yous don't need to worry well-nigh having to keep changing the settings – yous can just concentrate on the limerick and getting the subject area inside your focus range. One time you're comfortable with this set-upward, you don't even need to lift the camera to your eye, you can shoot with the camera at your hip or any other level.

Endeavour something different
All Lensbaby lenses are manual focus, and while they can produce 'straight' images, their magic is in the creative effects they can create. Wedding ceremony and portrait photographer Robert Pugh regularly uses a Lensbaby Twist 60 on his Sony full-frame cameras for date, wedding ceremony and portrait shoots, considering he loves the swirl result information technology creates towards the edges of the image. He explains, 'I like to shoot something a flake dissimilar and to practice the work in-photographic camera. It saves me time editing my images and when I evidence my customer a shot or two on the dorsum of my camera during the shoot, it helps them loosen upwardly and enjoy themselves, so we get even better images.'

Pic credit Robert Pugh

Become technical
Manual-focus lenses offer a couple of technical advantages over autofocus lenses that tend to go overlooked. For instance, if you lot're shooting a series of images to run up together to make a panorama, you can't forget to turn off the AF and the focus won't shift halfway through the sequence. So next time you plan to create such an image, maybe reach for a manual-focus lens. Also, unlike autofocus lenses, some manual-focus lenses accept markings to indicate how the focus needs to be adjusted for infrared photography – that's handy if you have an IR adapted camera.

Switch focusing screen
Back in the days of film, we used to bandy focusing screens like camera straps. We bought one that we liked and suited our purposes. A split image focusing screen, for example, makes it easier to see when y'all've nailed the focus manually. If you're shooting with a flick camera, it'southward definitely worth investigating whether information technology can accept a different screen and seeing what options are available. It's far less common to change the focusing screen in a digital camera, but if you lot hunt around on the net, they can be found for some models.

Use a loupe
Many people find it easier to concentrate on the limerick of their images when surrounding distractions are excluded from the view – in other words, when they utilise the viewfinder rather than the screen. However, if yous want to use live view on a DSLR, you accept to utilise the screen. A screen loupe basically turns the screen on the back of camera into a large viewfinder, cutting out any distractions and, most importantly, cutting out reflections so information technology's easier to see details and focus manually. Alternatively, wait for a viewfinder magnifier that will slip on
to your camera's viewfinder instead of the eyecup to give you a clearer view of the scene when yous focus.

Get an adapter
In that location are literally thousands of second-hand manual-focus lenses available to purchase, with many costing less than £l. If you lot hunt around clemency shops, you may be lucky and discover some treasure for fifty-fifty less. Then all you lot need to use them on your modern camera is an adapter. SRB Photographic is a great port of call for these: they sell a huge range, with prices starting at effectually £16. And once you accept an adapter, you'll have a new hobby – looking for additional lenses to mount on it.

Image credit Jeremy Walker

Shoot continuously
I'm non a fan of the phrase 'spray and pray', but it can be helpful to set your camera to continuous-shooting manner in some situations. When you've prefocused, for instance, if your subject is moving very quickly, you lot might not exist able to time your shot equally perfectly as you'd like, so shooting at a few frames per 2d can actually help. All the same, part of the beauty of using a manual-focus lens is that information technology helps you engage with your bailiwick and photography, so don't shoot in continuous-drive way at the expense of developing that connexion.

Image credit Robert Pugh

Embrace the flaws
If you spend a fiver on an old lens and it turns out to have the best optical quality you've always seen, fantastic! Give thanks your lucky stars. Only the chances are, it's been effectually a while and is a little battered. And, of course, it may never take been that adept in the commencement place. Modernistic production methods and avant-garde coatings mean that we are actually spoiled by the lenses of today. Older lenses may be rather soft and suffer from heavy vignetting, chromatic aberration and flare. Only rather than fight it, savour these aspects of your lens. Plow it towards the dominicus so that the lite bounces around inside, use the vignetting to frame your field of study and learn to beloved the fringing. You're shooting with the real bargain, not adding furnishings on the computer after the consequence.

Try a modern transmission lens
While there are lots of great second-hand and vintage transmission-focus lenses, there are quite a few in electric current production, too. Zeiss, for example, makes some fabulous manual-focus lenses for modern cameras, Leica's M-range is entirely manual focus and Voigtländer has some gems. One of the benefits of opting for a modern transmission-focus lens is that the manufacturer has ploughed all their knowhow into the optics to create the best image quality they can for the coin.

Epitome credit Dougas Fry

Take your time
All three of the professional photographers mentioned in this article love using transmission-focus lenses. And one of the reasons why they beloved them is because they feel that past focusing manually, they are fatigued further into the process of creating their images, then they get more than important to them and they enjoy their photography more.

Every bit Jeremy Walker explains, 'I'm a landscape photographer, then my subjects don't motion much and I can take my time when composing the epitome. I find that using a manual-focus lens helps me to think much more carefully most what I desire to say about a scene, how much depth of field I want and which aperture I need to apply. It's an enjoyable process that has certainly benefited my photography – and if I could give only ane piece of communication to anyone who's thinking of using a transmission-focus lens, it would exist to slow downwardly and accept your time.'

Farther reading
Master manual focus, exposure and flash