Advice I wish I had been given about the eclipse (Page 2): You could have tried autofocus, and if that didn't look right, manual focus would be next. Try again April 8, 2017.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Fotoartist wrote:

No, I'm not blind, just depressed. My shots are not sharp.
Everyone said to use manual focus, wrong! What is wrong with group focus or another autofocus mode? Turns out my eyes were wrong on that day.
I made test shots days before and looked at them on the computer, fine. But I should have taped the lens down at that point with a roll of tape. No one suggested that.

You could have tried autofocus, and if that didn't look right, manual focus would be next. Try again April 8, 2017.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Fotoartist wrote:

No, I'm not blind, just depressed. My shots are not sharp.
Everyone said to use manual focus, wrong! What is wrong with group focus or another autofocus mode? Turns out my eyes were wrong on that day.
I made test shots days before and looked at them on the computer, fine. But I should have taped the lens down at that point with a roll of tape. No one suggested that.

Well, when I shoot night sky images I prefocus my lens during the day and tape the settings on the lens with Gaffer Tape. Use gaffer tape does not leave residual on the lens

jtal Loc: South Carolina

After taking photos this time; next time (God willing) I'll leave my camera at home.
The experience is too amazing to enjoy through an eyepiece.
There are generally two types of photos of an eclipse: Scientific and Editorial
I found very few editorial style that showed the true look of an eclipse.
Our eyes are miracles. They adjust for the brightest and darkest areas of a scene to give the perfect look.
Cameras are a tool that only works with our imput to deliver the desired look.
I will use Autofocus, then lock it off to manual. I know what you mean with infinity focus on manual. It seldom works to be tact sharp.

cthahn

What are you talking about. Tape the lens down. You will just have wait another forth years.

TheDman Loc: USA

Fotoartist wrote:

No, I'm not blind, just depressed. My shots are not sharp.
Everyone said to use manual focus, wrong! What is wrong with group focus or another autofocus mode? Turns out my eyes were wrong on that day.
I made test shots days before and looked at them on the computer, fine. But I should have taped the lens down at that point with a roll of tape. No one suggested that.

Manual focus can't be wrong; it's done by you. If it didn't work it's because you didn't do it right. It's the same a saying manual mode doesn't expose things correctly.

MDicnMan

jtal wrote:

The experience is too amazing to enjoy through an eyepiece.

Reasonably happy with my images but I could not agree with you more.

MichaelL

I also followed directions and ended with one camera out of focus for most of the eclipse - first 10 minutes were great though. I guess camera was bumped or something. Looked the same on Live View as the initial good ones but I did not move the pictures to my ipad to verify - I also do not see well using the Live View screen and that is an issue.

Good news is the other camera did work - albeit under exposed but that can be fixed. Favorite shot came during totality where I missed most of the corona but got a really sharp picture of the very near corona and solar flares.

I figure this was the practice, 2024 will be the test and 2099 will be a perfect shoot (oh wait I will miss that one but will have a good excuse)

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

I also had two cameras set up but forgot to use the second camera during totality. We were told these things would happen.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

OK. I've come up with a plan to salvage my blown eclipse shots that were out of focus. It's going to take quite a bit of Photoshop work but I think it can be done. It won't be just artwork either, it will be real photography. No joke. Stay tuned to this forum. I will post as, "My recovery from blown eclipse shots". I Hope I can do this.

Kozan Loc: Trenton Tennessee

williejoha wrote:

Why would you mot have used manual mode and set it to infinity? If your pictures would not have been sharp, you would have bigger problems then auto focusing.
WJH

My d500 with the 55-300mm lens focuses past the moon at infinity. So, focusing to infinity doesn't always work. I shot with manual focus and some shots were still not correct. I might have gotten better results with auto-focus. Who knows. Practicing with the moon is not the same as during an eclipse. Oh well, on to 2024.

Stan (Kozan)

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Fotoartist wrote:

No, I'm not blind, just depressed. My shots are not sharp.
Everyone said to use manual focus, wrong! What is wrong with group focus or another autofocus mode? Turns out my eyes were wrong on that day.
I made test shots days before and looked at them on the computer, fine. But I should have taped the lens down at that point with a roll of tape. No one suggested that.

Just how long of lenses are people using? 10,000mm? How are the Sun and Moon not at infinity focus?

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

I couldn't turn off auto focus. I used a compact mega zoom camera. It is the only way to get the "reach" I have. Darned thing is awfully smart. It put in a -3 stop exposure compensation that, in the heat of the moment, I forgot to do myself. Glad it did.

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

jerryc41 wrote:

You could have tried autofocus, and if that didn't look right, manual focus would be next. Try again April 8, 2017.

Do we need to sing the Cher song whilst we go back to April 8th?

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

If one knows the 'circle of confusion' diameter of your camera's sensor (possibly the resolution limit) you could calculate its hyperfocal distance and set your camera to that. It is always important to take into account the visual acuity of the hunan eye in these 'circle of confusion' considerations - it is about 1 arcminute for the 20/20 eye, or 1.75 mm at 6 meters distance.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

John_F wrote:

If one knows the 'circle of confusion' diameter of your camera's sensor (possibly the resolution limit) you could calculate its hyperfocal distance and set your camera to that. It is always important to take into account the visual acuity of the hunan eye in these 'circle of confusion' considerations - it is about 1 arcminute for the 20/20 eye, or 1.75 mm at 6 meters distance.

Once you start talking about the difference between having 10,000' in focus and 100,000' not in focus, then precision of lens setting {do I turn it 1/2 degree left or 1/2 degree right to get sun in focus} is more important than any other number.