WOW....why have I never seen this before? My 9 year old son and I are going out to the McDonald Observatory this weekend. I can't wait to try this method! Great video!
@@nightscapeimages.richard well, my son and I just got back from the McDonald Observatory. 6 hours there on Friday, to Fort Davis, six hours back today (Sunday). The weather fiercest was favorable for Saturday, with clear skies! YAY. It snowed on the way there Friday, cleared up Saturday morning. Crystal clear skies all day. We drove up to the Observatory from Fort Davis at about noon, ate at the visitors center, toured the facility, etc. It was a perfect day. Then the sun set and..... high thin clouds rolled in. CLOUDS! They became heavier as the night went on. Smh. The sky OBVIOUSLY didn't get the memo from the weatherman.
Thanks again for watching John. Yes it's an interesting way of looking at it regarding focus. Not many people discuss this. However it still relies on us having good eyesight ..!!!!
Thank you so much for watching, although what I'm demonstrating here is not actually hyperfocal distance . .it's actually a classic depth of field table. Hyperfocal focus is not generally accurate at the infinity end.
Hi Richard again. Ok went to photopills and brought up depth of field table . I even went to photopills You Tube video and was not able to answer my question. They talk in the pro conversation language lol . In the chart they ask for your focal length. Are they talking about ,FOR ME I USE a 18-55 mm lens and set mine at 18. IS 18 THE NUMBER THEY WANT? Here is an idea for you. For us old and wise beginners lol , A glossary with simple explanations for common terms like Focal length. Google search just got me more confused ,and here I am back to you asking rookie question. Thanks John
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thank You. I am finding and learning lots. Winter is back here and snow on the ground. So will be a week or so before I can get out and practice more. I will do a panorama of my front yard with the snow and send it to you. Temps are getting colder. One last push before spring
Yeah, I wish I watched this one a couple years ago. I had to learn the hard way of trial and error lol. That's exactly what I concluded too, once you see those faint stars pop up around your target star, you've nailed it.
Thank you! Being a trained photographer (analog days) and a dedicated night photographer I still learn new things. And I really did that in this video!
Hi mate. I've watched a few videos now, and I think I'm missing something, or it didn't seem clear. You set the closest part of your subject I.e. tractor to infinity to have that and the stars in focus. Do you then refocus for everything from the camera to the subject, especially when there's a distance of 6-10 metres? Cheers
Thanks for watching Michael. What I'm basically saying is that the infinity focus distance for wide angle lenses is fairly close. .perhaps about 6 meters from the camera . .so everything beyond that distance will be in focus. Now I stress that this is for wide angle lenses only. The longer focal length you choose, that infinity focus distance gets a lot further away. You can check all of this by looking at a Depth of Field Table. See here: www.photopills.com/calculators/dof-table
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thanks for your prompt reply. I have been watching some tutorials on hyperfocal distances which has made it a bit clearer. I suppose you could photo stack if required but this does not appear necessary in your photography. Keep up the great UA-cam lessons and the sharing of your art. Regards
Autofocusing my 20mm lens on a distant object (100-200 yards away) during the daytime, then taping my lens with electrical to that position, then setting the lens to manual focus, works great for me.
Yes that will work fine Sid. Although if you want to do any light painting of objects a lot closer to the camera which would normally require a re-focus .. .you could end up in trouble.
G'day Richard, I'm going out tonight (well early this morning around 3am) and I'll capture my first milkyway photo of the year (partially up but I have a good idea for a composition).. Anyways, Just watching some of your older videos to rehash the info and tips. Great video mate. Cheers, Grant.
Thanks, I have an older Sony A850 which does not have live view and struggle with night focusing. I have been setting the distance to infinity or past infinity on the 14mm Rokinon lens. Next time I will use the DOF method on the PhotoPills App and see if my stars and the Milky Way is sharper.
I am growing into photography by now, still I consider myself an amateur cuz I fail to shoot at night. I have been struggling with the focus, having that my eyes aint that good anymore from years of photoshop-ing and post-processing. But with ya valuable help, I shall start my night sessions this weekend. Just bought Photopills. You should add links so you can benefit as well. Thanks for teh video Rich
excellent explanation i wasn't sure how to set the infinity focus at home or on the field... you should have a page on fb so that we can show you what we did and how it turned out :>)
Was just watching this to get ready for Saturn and Jupiter on Monday. I was out yesterday and nailed it manually. Very difficult. My eyesight not the best. Reading glasses aren't meant to look so close. And using the 800mm and 2x extender, the DoF calculator is no help ;) Where's the moon when you need it ;)
Yes these methods are only useful for wider angle lenses unfortunately. It is always difficult to nail focus on long focal lengths when the target is moving. Hope you got some good shots.
Each of your videos is great Richard. I am also using Photopills and i agree it is a great help to focus in the dark. Just a comment to help people better understand the use of this app. Inside this app you find the term hyperfocal distance.
Thank you George .. thanks for watching. Yes Hyperfocal is a method used primarily in landscape photography to establish "acceptable" focus throughout the focal plane. In other words it primarily focuses part way into the frame to give a little more focus towards the camera with the potential to lose a fraction of sharpness at the long end. I never use this method as I always want my stars to be sharp and it's possible to lose that far end sharpness using hyperfocal scales. This becomes less of a problem with ultra wide angle lenses ... for example 14 - 16mm on full frame. If I need really sharp images at both ends of the focal range then I will use focus stacking techniques which means multiple exposures blended together.
Really helpful video and I am looking forward to trying out the tips. Found the music to be a distraction..with all the good content you give us the music really is not needed. Thank you
Thanks again 😁 I went out last night full of enthusiasm to capture a few night shots.... man I was deflated when I got home and found that only two of them were in focus.... 😂😂 I’ll have another go tonight😁 Cheers
Hello Richard, Another excellent instructional video. A quick question,... I am concerned that once I find the correct focus setting that it could change (if the lens is bumped etc). Have you ever used a rubber and or tape to secure the focus point for that shot? Best regards, Kevin, Colorado, USA
Thanks so much for watching Kevin. Yes it is very possible that the focus can be bumped ... but no I never place any tape on my lenses .. I am often re-focusing anyway so that would be very annoying to continually remove.
Will this method work if I live in the city and need to use a filter to see any stars? That's probably a dumb question. I've been interested in astrophotography, and wanted to start by taking photos of the stars with my Sony a6000, but unfortunately live in the city.
Thanks a lot Mike, yes this focusing method will work as long as you can see something to focus on. One of the biggest problem with light pollution is that the stars get washed out.
@@mikedcxx The Haida Clear Night Filter comes highly recommended. www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1343421-REG/haida_hd3704_67_67mm_nanopro_mc_optical.html/reviews
Hi Gary, generally I'll shoot at an iso somewhere between 2500 and 6400 As a rule I would shoot at the lower iso to eliminate noise although the Nikon's are iso invariant which means you can under expose in camera and raise the exposure in post production without adding noise. As I mentioned in the video most cameras need a fairly high iso for the rear lcd screen to be bright enough to see stars to focus on.
Your videos are really helpful, thank you :)! I have the d750 and when I go out at night, my live view is completely black. I've tried different shutter speeds, 2.8f and betteen 6400 & 12800iso in order to see something but still nothing. I also tried brightening the screen to 5+ and still nothing. Any idea what can be happening? (I have the tamron 15-30 2.8g2). I live in Vermont so light pollution is not a problem. In other words I cant see anything in live view so I can't find a focus point :( thank you!
Thank you so much for watching Paola, really appreciate that. Have you tried the live view during the daytime to make sure it's actually working ..??? I'm sure you should be able to see something with the settings you described. I think you'll need to try the same technique with a very well lit subject and see if that works. Let me know how you go.
Amazing! I even have that app a wondered how to use that chart. Out of interest, in your chart the other figure is 2.99. Is that the distance from 6 metres away towards you or in focus will be up until 2.99 metres away from the camera? Can’t believe you got the house and the stars in focus. Mind blown! Another amazing video.
That is what is known as Hyperfocal distance. I never use that for my focus as it will often be soft at the long end .. .which means it's not actually focusing on infinity at all. It's widely used by daylight landscape photographers as they don't care so much about distant clouds etc.
@@nightscapeimages.richard wow fast reply thanks love your videos just found ur channel I have a 50d with some great lenses and wanna try night scaping
I'm sure this is rather simple but looking at my Photopills, I'm confused about subject distance and near / far DOF plane. If my near plane is 2m and my far plane is ∞, does that mean anything from 2m - ∞ will be in focus?
I don't usually use both of those fields in the chart. If you click on the white dot in the app in the Calculate column you'll see it only has one number. Don't confuse it with Hyper Focal Distance which is a different and less accurate measuring tool.
Cranking that iso up really did the trick to find a star and be able to zoom in and focus in on it Thanks mate 😁👍 Hope you don’t mind I tagged you on Instagram when I uploaded it to @thirteenpics. Enjoying your tassie journey Cheers Dan
I came to this because I thought I knew how to use the screen to focus. However, when Jupiter disappeared behind a cloud, I could not find anything bright enough to pick up on the screen at 3200 ISO. Next time I’ll crank up the ISO! Thank you.
Nightscape Images Thank you for the response. And, great work. I have the shots I need , just trying to figure out how to get the background shot as the background layer and edit out the sky if that makes sense. Anyway, thanks for the great tutorials. I look forward to more.
Sorry, what you are explaining and doing is guessing, not focussing. Ever heard of fwhm based methods (need of a laptop), the bathinov mask, or sure sharp? The temperature drop during the night will throw off your (preset) focus over the time of the shooting, always keep that in mind, too.
Thanks heaps for watching Daniel. To some extent any method of focusing which relies on our vision has a somewhat variable outcome. I've certainly heard of those other focusing methods but during my intensive testing I've found that the science doesn't lie. Using a depth of field chart is indeed accurate. I do not use a "preset" focus as I re-focus between my shots on a regular basis. I agree with you regarding temperature variations.
@@nightscapeimages.richard As soon as you start using a bit longer focal lenghts, you will have no other choice. The Depth of field chart means, that you are in an accepted range of unsharpness, not that you have an accurate focus. That's an important difference. But with low wide angle focal lenghts maybe acceptable, if you are not planning to do high quality prints and just do low quality web based (instagram) stuff.
@@Zak_McKracken I take your point on the longer focal lengths as it becomes too far to see an accurate focus anyway. Just to be clear, I am not using what is known as Hyperfocal distance as that method is very unreliable.
@@Zak_McKracken Yes I think you're right Daniel. Hyperfocal is a different thing to a straight out Depth of field table. Lots of confusion considering the very similar naming. always good to discuss these things.
Brilliant information! Thank you very much!
I very much appreciate you watching my friend.
WOW....why have I never seen this before? My 9 year old son and I are going out to the McDonald Observatory this weekend. I can't wait to try this method! Great video!
Thanks heaps for watching, really appreciate it.
@@nightscapeimages.richard well, my son and I just got back from the McDonald Observatory. 6 hours there on Friday, to Fort Davis, six hours back today (Sunday). The weather fiercest was favorable for Saturday, with clear skies! YAY. It snowed on the way there Friday, cleared up Saturday morning. Crystal clear skies all day. We drove up to the Observatory from Fort Davis at about noon, ate at the visitors center, toured the facility, etc. It was a perfect day. Then the sun set and..... high thin clouds rolled in. CLOUDS! They became heavier as the night went on. Smh. The sky OBVIOUSLY didn't get the memo from the weatherman.
Great Video, thanks for directing me to this video with more info from the last video. John from Oregon
Thanks again for watching John. Yes it's an interesting way of looking at it regarding focus. Not many people discuss this. However it still relies on us having good eyesight ..!!!!
Great video..
Thanks so much for watching.
And finally i know how to use the DOF Table. So thankful 🙏🏻
Thanks for watching Marcus .. glad it was helpful.
Excellent video, very clear and easy to understand and most simple explanation of hyperfocal length!
Thank you so much for watching, although what I'm demonstrating here is not actually hyperfocal distance . .it's actually a classic depth of field table. Hyperfocal focus is not generally accurate at the infinity end.
Thank you for great instructions, now i don't have to struggle finding infinity focus, i love your images great work.
Thanks so much for watching. Appreciate your comments.
Hi Richard again. Ok went to photopills and brought up depth of field table . I even went to photopills You Tube video and was not able to answer my question. They talk in the pro conversation language lol . In the chart they ask for your focal length. Are they talking about ,FOR ME I USE a 18-55 mm lens and set mine at 18. IS 18 THE NUMBER THEY WANT? Here is an idea for you. For us old and wise beginners lol , A glossary with simple explanations for common terms like Focal length. Google search just got me more confused ,and here I am back to you asking rookie question. Thanks John
You make a very good point John. Yes 18mm is the focal length. They will also ask for your camera model. Let me know how you go.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thank You. I am finding and learning lots. Winter is back here and snow on the ground. So will be a week or so before I can get out and practice more. I will do a panorama of my front yard with the snow and send it to you. Temps are getting colder. One last push before spring
Thank you so much this tutorial was amazing. Love your work as well!!!!
I'm really pleased it was helpful Ryan. Appreciate you watching.
Yeah, I wish I watched this one a couple years ago. I had to learn the hard way of trial and error lol. That's exactly what I concluded too, once you see those faint stars pop up around your target star, you've nailed it.
Thanks a lot for watching my friend.
Thank you! Being a trained photographer (analog days) and a dedicated night photographer I still learn new things. And I really did that in this video!
Thank you so much Ove, really appreciate you watching
Excellent Instruction!
Really appreciate you watching and for the comment. Thank you.
This helped me sort things out. Thank you very much.
I'm really pleased it was helpful. Thanks for watching.
@@nightscapeimages.richard you have a new fan. Your Instagram is a stunner!
@@steveo715 Thank you so much
Hi mate. I've watched a few videos now, and I think I'm missing something, or it didn't seem clear. You set the closest part of your subject I.e. tractor to infinity to have that and the stars in focus. Do you then refocus for everything from the camera to the subject, especially when there's a distance of 6-10 metres? Cheers
Thanks for watching Michael. What I'm basically saying is that the infinity focus distance for wide angle lenses is fairly close. .perhaps about 6 meters from the camera . .so everything beyond that distance will be in focus. Now I stress that this is for wide angle lenses only. The longer focal length you choose, that infinity focus distance gets a lot further away. You can check all of this by looking at a Depth of Field Table. See here: www.photopills.com/calculators/dof-table
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thanks for your prompt reply. I have been watching some tutorials on hyperfocal distances which has made it a bit clearer. I suppose you could photo stack if required but this does not appear necessary in your photography. Keep up the great UA-cam lessons and the sharing of your art. Regards
@@michaelogorman5907 Yes with wide angle lenses focus stacking isn't such as issue. Thanks again for watching.
Autofocusing my 20mm lens on a distant object (100-200 yards away) during the daytime, then taping my lens with electrical to that position, then setting the lens to manual focus, works great for me.
Yes that will work fine Sid. Although if you want to do any light painting of objects a lot closer to the camera which would normally require a re-focus .. .you could end up in trouble.
Many thanks Richard for this Great DOF tutorial. HT
Really hope it's helpful Huyen, thanks for the comment.
Thank you so much for reccomendkng this video to help with my focusing issue. Really answered a lot of questions! Great video!!
Thanks for your comments Jay, really appreciated
G'day Richard, I'm going out tonight (well early this morning around 3am) and I'll capture my first milkyway photo of the year (partially up but I have a good idea for a composition).. Anyways, Just watching some of your older videos to rehash the info and tips. Great video mate. Cheers, Grant.
Good on you Grant. I hope it goes well mate.
I owe you a tinny mate. Learning about DoF tables is great information. I have Photopills, so now it's even more useful.
No worries, appreciate you watching
Thanks, I have an older Sony A850 which does not have live view and struggle with night focusing. I have been setting the distance to infinity or past infinity on the 14mm Rokinon lens. Next time I will use the DOF method on the PhotoPills App and see if my stars and the Milky Way is sharper.
Good on you Nick. Often you cant rely on the accuracy of the markings on the lenses.
Great technicks! THanks for sharing the knowledge!
Really appreciate you watching DD
Superbly explained Richard. Might have to give that photopills a go.
Yes it's a wonderful app. Lots of other stuff in it as well.
Using the Southern Cross in the demo is a nice touch
Thanks Greg ... it just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Mate you're so helpfull for all of us, you making my photography so much easier, thx you!
You are very welcome Josip .. glad to help.
thanks Richard, now i learn how DOF works.
Thanks for watching Elton
Wow, your comments are very interesting and I learn so much. Thank you. Have a nice day and a perfect night. Thumbs up.
Thanks Rudi. I'm pleased that you got something from the video.
I am growing into photography by now, still I consider myself an amateur cuz I fail to shoot at night. I have been struggling with the focus, having that my eyes aint that good anymore from years of photoshop-ing and post-processing. But with ya valuable help, I shall start my night sessions this weekend. Just bought Photopills. You should add links so you can benefit as well. Thanks for teh video Rich
Thanks heaps Cooper, hope it all goes well.
excellent explanation i wasn't sure how to set the infinity focus at home or on the field... you should have a page on fb so that we can show you what we did and how it turned out :>)
Thanks heaps for watching, I'm glad you found it helpful.
Man, you're awesome! Thank you so much ❤️
I'm really pleased you like the videos Mahmoud
@@nightscapeimages.richard the pleasure is all mine 😊 Do you think I can get the same result using my d750 and my 24-120mm f4 kit lens?
@@curseofpharaohs You'll have to push the exposure a lot more with the f4 lens. But yes you'll get a shot for sure.
Hello. great videos. one question. Whic DOF app do you use in the video? thanks!!
Thanks for watching Diego. I'm using the DoF Table in Photopills.
Was just watching this to get ready for Saturn and Jupiter on Monday. I was out yesterday and nailed it manually. Very difficult. My eyesight not the best. Reading glasses aren't meant to look so close. And using the 800mm and 2x extender, the DoF calculator is no help ;) Where's the moon when you need it ;)
Yes these methods are only useful for wider angle lenses unfortunately. It is always difficult to nail focus on long focal lengths when the target is moving. Hope you got some good shots.
Each of your videos is great Richard. I am also using Photopills and i agree it is a great help to focus in the dark. Just a comment to help people better understand the use of this app. Inside this app you find the term hyperfocal distance.
Thank you George .. thanks for watching. Yes Hyperfocal is a method used primarily in landscape photography to establish "acceptable" focus throughout the focal plane. In other words it primarily focuses part way into the frame to give a little more focus towards the camera with the potential to lose a fraction of sharpness at the long end. I never use this method as I always want my stars to be sharp and it's possible to lose that far end sharpness using hyperfocal scales. This becomes less of a problem with ultra wide angle lenses ... for example 14 - 16mm on full frame. If I need really sharp images at both ends of the focal range then I will use focus stacking techniques which means multiple exposures blended together.
Love it 👏👏🇮🇪👍
Thanks again
Really helpful video and I am looking forward to trying out the tips.
Found the music to be a distraction..with all the good content you give us the music really is not needed.
Thank you
Thanks for watching Barry, I take your point about the music.
Thanks again 😁 I went out last night full of enthusiasm to capture a few night shots.... man I was deflated when I got home and found that only two of them were in focus.... 😂😂
I’ll have another go tonight😁
Cheers
Yes we've all been there
Hello Richard, Another excellent instructional video. A quick question,... I am concerned that once I find the correct focus setting that it could change (if the lens is bumped etc). Have you ever used a rubber and or tape to secure the focus point for that shot? Best regards, Kevin, Colorado, USA
Thanks so much for watching Kevin. Yes it is very possible that the focus can be bumped ... but no I never place any tape on my lenses .. I am often re-focusing anyway so that would be very annoying to continually remove.
Thank you, Thank you excellent video
Thanks very much Kato
Will this method work if I live in the city and need to use a filter to see any stars? That's probably a dumb question. I've been interested in astrophotography, and wanted to start by taking photos of the stars with my Sony a6000, but unfortunately live in the city.
Thanks a lot Mike, yes this focusing method will work as long as you can see something to focus on. One of the biggest problem with light pollution is that the stars get washed out.
Nightscape Images is there a certain type of filter you recommend for taking photos of the stars in areas with light pollution?
@@mikedcxx The Haida Clear Night Filter comes highly recommended. www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1343421-REG/haida_hd3704_67_67mm_nanopro_mc_optical.html/reviews
You cranked up the ISO to focus on the stars, but I am not sure after you established focus do you bring the ISO back down to eliminate noise?
Hi Gary, generally I'll shoot at an iso somewhere between 2500 and 6400 As a rule I would shoot at the lower iso to eliminate noise although the Nikon's are iso invariant which means you can under expose in camera and raise the exposure in post production without adding noise. As I mentioned in the video most cameras need a fairly high iso for the rear lcd screen to be bright enough to see stars to focus on.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thanks
Your videos are really helpful, thank you :)! I have the d750 and when I go out at night, my live view is completely black. I've tried different shutter speeds, 2.8f and betteen 6400 & 12800iso in order to see something but still nothing. I also tried brightening the screen to 5+ and still nothing. Any idea what can be happening? (I have the tamron 15-30 2.8g2). I live in Vermont so light pollution is not a problem. In other words I cant see anything in live view so I can't find a focus point :( thank you!
Thank you so much for watching Paola, really appreciate that. Have you tried the live view during the daytime to make sure it's actually working ..??? I'm sure you should be able to see something with the settings you described. I think you'll need to try the same technique with a very well lit subject and see if that works. Let me know how you go.
Ill go out this weekend gain :) thank you and stay safe :)
@@paolasmith2052 I hope it goes well.
Ur trick worked for me
I'm really pleased to hear that my friend. Thanks for watching.
Amazing! I even have that app a wondered how to use that chart.
Out of interest, in your chart the other figure is 2.99. Is that the distance from 6 metres away towards you or in focus will be up until 2.99 metres away from the camera?
Can’t believe you got the house and the stars in focus. Mind blown! Another amazing video.
That is what is known as Hyperfocal distance. I never use that for my focus as it will often be soft at the long end .. .which means it's not actually focusing on infinity at all. It's widely used by daylight landscape photographers as they don't care so much about distant clouds etc.
Really awesome 😁👍 Thankyou so much for this tutorial.
Thank you so much for your support
Hello their what's the software called I cannot find it under the android apps?
Thanks for watching. It's called Photopills
@@nightscapeimages.richard wow fast reply thanks love your videos just found ur channel I have a 50d with some great lenses and wanna try night scaping
@@ricardo19851 Go for it Richard
You are outstanding. Come to USA and do a seminar. Count me in!!!! I would gladly pay 2000 to go out and study with the master.
Really appreciate your encouragement Michael ... thank you.
I like the summary also.
Thanks so much for watching Jim
I'm sure this is rather simple but looking at my Photopills, I'm confused about subject distance and near / far DOF plane. If my near plane is 2m and my far plane is ∞, does that mean anything from 2m - ∞ will be in focus?
I don't usually use both of those fields in the chart. If you click on the white dot in the app in the Calculate column you'll see it only has one number. Don't confuse it with Hyper Focal Distance which is a different and less accurate measuring tool.
Cranking that iso up really did the trick to find a star and be able to zoom in and focus in on it
Thanks mate 😁👍
Hope you don’t mind I tagged you on Instagram when I uploaded it to @thirteenpics.
Enjoying your tassie journey
Cheers Dan
No worries at all .. thanks for watching
I came to this because I thought I knew how to use the screen to focus. However, when Jupiter disappeared behind a cloud, I could not find anything bright enough to pick up on the screen at 3200 ISO. Next time I’ll crank up the ISO! Thank you.
All good my friend, thanks so much for watching.
i just downloaded the photo pills application on iphone / ipad what the recomnded lens for night milky way for Z 6 camera ???
I use the Nikon 20mm f1.8 and the Nikon 14-24 f2.8 via the FTZ adapter
I'm going to be practicing next week. My night shots have always been hit and miss.
Fantastic Steven, I'll be very interested to see how you go.
Great Video ....Where were you, my good teacher?
Thank you. I was actually in my back yard in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia Alex.
Very helpful.
I'm glad you liked it Tato
Interessantes Video
Thank you Dirk
how about how to edit these damn things
Haha that's a whole new video right there Allo Film. I do touch on some editing in some of the videos though.
Nightscape Images Thank you for the response. And, great work. I have the shots I need , just trying to figure out how to get the background shot as the background layer and edit out the sky if that makes sense. Anyway, thanks for the great tutorials. I look forward to more.
I use layer masks in photoshop and simply paint it out the bits I don't want
Sorry, what you are explaining and doing is guessing, not focussing. Ever heard of fwhm based methods (need of a laptop), the bathinov mask, or sure sharp? The temperature drop during the night will throw off your (preset) focus over the time of the shooting, always keep that in mind, too.
Thanks heaps for watching Daniel. To some extent any method of focusing which relies on our vision has a somewhat variable outcome. I've certainly heard of those other focusing methods but during my intensive testing I've found that the science doesn't lie. Using a depth of field chart is indeed accurate. I do not use a "preset" focus as I re-focus between my shots on a regular basis. I agree with you regarding temperature variations.
@@nightscapeimages.richard As soon as you start using a bit longer focal lenghts, you will have no other choice. The Depth of field chart means, that you are in an accepted range of unsharpness, not that you have an accurate focus. That's an important difference. But with low wide angle focal lenghts maybe acceptable, if you are not planning to do high quality prints and just do low quality web based (instagram) stuff.
@@Zak_McKracken I take your point on the longer focal lengths as it becomes too far to see an accurate focus anyway. Just to be clear, I am not using what is known as Hyperfocal distance as that method is very unreliable.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Ok, maybe that's the circle of confusion.😉😂
@@Zak_McKracken Yes I think you're right Daniel. Hyperfocal is a different thing to a straight out Depth of field table. Lots of confusion considering the very similar naming. always good to discuss these things.
I love photo pills for night shots....
It's very good isn't it