folkus

I plan to be at the Netherlands Carillon for the Washington DC fireworks on the 4th. My main focus is the fireworks - about 7,500 ft away. My secondary focus is the Washington Monument - about 10,000 feet away. The third ficus if interest is the Lincoln Memorial - about 5,500 feet away. And the last focal interest is the Capitol - 17,500 feet away. If all works as planned, I will have a pic with, from left to right, the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and the Capital all under some fabulous fireworks. Now my question - given the above info, can You determine the best distance to focus to meet these criteria ( Yes, I know the "boots on the ground" answer ) . I'll be shooting either a 2.8 90mm lens or a 2.8 50 mm lens. Thanks for reading this and taking the time to respond. Happy 4th!! 🎉 🇺🇸 🎉

Kuzano

What floor and room will you be in? Extremely important to angle of incidence, overall range in focus and Windage!!!

folkus

Windage is 3 clicks based on the last time i was at the range!

Leitz Loc: Solms

Infinity.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Windage affects DoF?!?!?
No wonder I'm ALWAYS OFF on windy days!!!
SS

Kuzano

For most landscape shooting, winds lateral to the shooting postion, in excess of 15Mph either direction, seriously affect focus, which then affects DOF, depending on the nature of the foliage involves. Class 5 tornado's affect every aspect of the photographic process.

marki3rd Loc: Columbus, Indiana

At those distances the 90 is the better choice, I think. Even longer if available. Also, at those distances I agree with the previous post that infinity is a good choice.

BebuLamar

In 1984 I was shooting in front of your location on the bank of the Potomac at the same direction. I was using a 200mm @f/8 and I got the Lincoln memorial, the Washington Monument and the firework which I remember correctly is further away than the 2 landmarks. I simple set the lens at infinity. I was using ISO 100 film and the result is printable but overexposed firework negative (that is I had to use extra long exposure time during the printing process). With 8 seconds I had good exposure for the 2 landmarks.
I did some multiple exposure shots with 8 exposures of 1 second each to capture many fireworks. It might have been good but the tripod wasn't steady enough during the multiple exposure so the camera moved a bit.

folkus

Thanks. I bet you had a great time anyway!

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

Make your focus point 11,256 feet with your 50mm and 11,257 with your 90.

An ordinary dressmaker's tape measure would be fine for the job.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

And shooting a tornado (F5 or otherwise) should always be done from the rear with the tornado moving AWAY from you. And you always watch for additional tornados, hail, lightning, emergency vehicles, and other stupid people. (was a storm chaser (my internship while getting my degree in EE/Computer Design at University of Oklahoma) with the Norman Oklahoma National Severe Storm Lab while in college back in the 80's. LOL.
Seriously, DOF was never an issue for me shooting fireworks. I always expose for the illumination which is bright in a dark sky (like shooting the moon, your camera tends to over expose because the meter is trying to average the bright moon against a very dark sky so the camera tends to over expose the moon and you don't see the craters etc.) I generally use a tripod and shoot at f/16 or so and a timed exposure. I might drop to f/8 but you are shooting digital so take some practice shots. There are plenty of fireworks being shot tonight to practice on before the big 4th of July event tomorrow. Then, make notes for next year so you don't have to re-experiment.

My images will be of the Clearwater Fl. show over Clearwater Harbor tomorrow night but I will shoot neighborhood fireworks tonight to get approximate readings for tomorrow.

SonyBug

They didn't teach you how to close an opening elipse there, I guess...

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

Yes they did, but in this case that was irrelevant.

Carl D Loc: Albemarle, NC.

Love it!!!!

ABJanes Loc: Jersey Boy now Virginia

Here is an inexpensive App for the iPhone, there are other offerings for phone formats as well..... https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/simple-dof-calculator/id301222730?mt=8 It is a very helpful DoF Calculator and really helps with the use of fast lens at short distance when trying to fill the frame.