Live View: I have live view on my camera but i understood in the instruction booklet that it was for video? an i wrong? Would live view be the way to go if say i was focusing on...

dblackard Loc: Rockport Texas

I have live view on my camera but i understood in the instruction booklet that it was for video? an i wrong? Would live view be the way to go if say i was focusing on several people's faces but they were not in the middle of a pic. i had some pics where i had a subject on each side of the train tracks and the tracks were in focus but not the subjects.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

dblackard wrote:

I have live view on my camera but i understood in the instruction booklet that it was for video? an i wrong? Would live view be the way to go if say i was focusing on several people's faces but they were not in the middle of a pic. i had some pics where i had a subject on each side of the train tracks and the tracks were in focus but not the subjects.

First and most important, be careful around train tracks. Trains can operate in any direction at any time and there are many ways to trip and fall in the track area. Also, the tracks are owned by the railroad and being on or around them is trespassing.

As for your focus problem, live view must be used for video but you can also use it for still photography. Using live view won't have any affect on your focusing. What were your settings? A shot like that would call for a deep Depth of Field. Does your camera have AF Lock? If so you can focus on one of the people, lock it in, then recompose. You can also do the same thing in manual focus.

heyjoe Loc: cincinnati ohio

you can use live view without video,say if you are taking pic of group of people,camera is on tripod and you are setting up your shot

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Mac wrote:

First and most important, be careful around train tracks. Trains can operate in any direction at any time and there are many ways to trip and fall in the track area. Also, the tracks are owned by the railroad and being on or around them is trespassing.

We have lots of freight train activity around here, and I was surprised to learn that freights don't operate on a schedule. When they're ready, they go. For a while, we had a problem with a train that would stop and block the road while the crew went into Dunkin Donuts. You can't just tow a 100-car freight train out of the way.

More train trivia - freights take priority over passenger trains, since they use the same tracks. Things are more important than people (but we all knew that, didn't we?).

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

heyjoe wrote:

you can use live view without video,say if you are taking pic of group of people,camera is on tripod and you are setting up your shot

When in Live View, you can press the magnifying glass and zoom into an area to check the focus.

dblackard Loc: Rockport Texas

thanks for all the train facts, i actually did know that about the priorty, my parents said when they rode they had to stop and back up frequently for the stock trains. took them forever to get where they were going.
i do have AF lock on my camera but do not know how to use it yet. will break out the instruction booklet again for that one. thanks!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

dblackard wrote:

thanks for all the train facts, i actually did know that about the priorty, my parents said when they rode they had to stop and back up frequently for the stock trains. took them forever to get where they were going.
i do have AF lock on my camera but do not know how to use it yet. will break out the instruction booklet again for that one. thanks!

We were thinking of taking a train trip from NY to CA, but all the traveling would have been done at night, with days being spent waiting in another city.

I've never used the AF/AE lock, either. I'm so good that I don't need it.

dblackard Loc: Rockport Texas

thanks for the tip!!

jerryc41 wrote:

heyjoe wrote:

you can use live view without video,say if you are taking pic of group of people,camera is on tripod and you are setting up your shot

When in Live View, you can press the magnifying glass and zoom into an area to check the focus.

tramsey Loc: Texas

When you are in the train yard be very careful and always look in back of you. When I was in the Police Dept. a friend of mine was a railroad detective. He was working one night and was run over by a ghost car. A ghost car is one that was given a push and sent on its way without and engine or anything to keep it going or to stop it. It's used to send a car on a dead track. He didn't hear it and it killed him. He had been working railroad all his life, 40 years +. You can not be too careful around trains.

RocketScientist Loc: Littleton, Colorado

jerryc41 wrote:

heyjoe wrote:

you can use live view without video,say if you are taking pic of group of people,camera is on tripod and you are setting up your shot

When in Live View, you can press the magnifying glass and zoom into an area to check the focus.

That is precisely what Live View is for, nailing the focus. the feature kicks ass when doing macro with a tripod.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

RocketScientist wrote:

jerryc41 wrote:

heyjoe wrote:

you can use live view without video,say if you are taking pic of group of people,camera is on tripod and you are setting up your shot

When in Live View, you can press the magnifying glass and zoom into an area to check the focus.

That is precisely what Live View is for, nailing the focus. the feature kicks ass when doing macro with a tripod.

Yes D, that is what it's for. Don't forget you need to be on manual focus though, or it won't help. I use it all the time. I turn live view on and focus, then turn it off, or your sensor will heat up and cause noise. But, don't worry, it won't hurt your sensor.
D, you can also set one of your side focus points and your camera will do the auto focus for you, as long as the point is on your subject.
Good luck