tech question; is there a way to get flower and fly in focus?

[JBW]

[Stagecoach]

Yes there is Brian, but your ability to do it for any situation will be determined by your sensor size, aperture and subject distance. The DOF data can be found in numerous DOF calculators available on the web. If you had of used manual focus for this shot you could have angled the camera so that the fly plus whichever part of the flower you wanted were both on the same plane to the sensor.

The other way of course is to focus stack but this is not a subject you are likely to be able to do that with.

Grahame

[JBW]

Yes there is Brian, but your ability to do it for any situation will be determined by your sensor size, aperture and subject distance. The DOF data can be found in numerous DOF calculators available on the web. If you had of used manual focus for this shot you could have angled the camera so that the fly plus whichever part of the flower you wanted were both on the same plane to the sensor.

The other way of course is to focus stack but this is not a subject you are likely to be able to do that with.

Grahame

and as my camera does not have manual focus....

[Stagecoach]

and as my camera does not have manual focus....

Brian, with your camera all you have to do is press the shutter button half way down when the AF has targeted onto something close to where you want your focus and then focus is locked. You can then physically move the camera whilst looking through the viewfinder to get what 'you' want in focus.

'Focus Lock' page 33 of the manual.............

Grahame

[jcuknz]

I think elementary focus stacking in just taking a couple or three frames and stacking them in editing is worth pursueing and might have been possible in that situation but I am not sure my brief look at GIMP it has the tools I use .... anyway I tried it again a couple of days ago for a very cooperative subject quite unrelated to your subjects so I will not post my result ... it encourages me to try again

In the meantime my old eyes suggest that the tips of the petals as well as the fly are a wee bit soft but selective sharpening brings them and the fly up to an acceptable level .... putting both the original and the work-up as separate layers and toggling the top layer on-and-off shows an appreciable improvement that even my old eyes can enjoy.

I do wonder if the bright exotic colour you have around you may be clipping their segment of the spectrum and causing them to look soft.... without having gone into the subject I think under exposing by half or one stop might help.

[JBW]

Brian, with your camera all you have to do is press the shutter button half way down when the AF has targeted onto something close to where you want your focus and then focus is locked. You can then physically move the camera whilst looking through the viewfinder to get what 'you' want in focus.

'Focus Lock' page 33 of the manual.............

Grahame

the focus lock locks the distance. so if I lock onto the fly i would not get the bottom of the flower.

[Stagecoach]

the focus lock locks the distance. so if I lock onto the fly i would not get the bottom of the flower.

Brian, you have the option of both moving the camera back and forth and also changing the angle of the sensor plane to your subject/s.

Grahame

[JBW]

Brian, you have the option of both moving the camera back and forth and also changing the angle of the sensor plane to your subject/s.

Grahame

Yes I do. But the camera will go to the brightest thing it can find. I most definitely had the fly in the cross-hairs when I took the shot (about 6 of them) but every time the fly was out of focus.
B

[Stagecoach]

Brian,

I do not understand your comment that the camera will go to the brightest thing it can find?


If you use 'Focus Lock' once the focus is 'locked' with the shutter button half pressed the AF no longer has any movement and the camera goes to where you want when you move it.

Although you had the fly in the focus point cross hairs you took this shot at 1/27" hand held so there's a good chance there was camera movement plus likely some fly movement. BUT, if we look at the hairs on the leaf and some points inside the flower they suggest a greater sharpness than the fly.

Edited.......... Are you using 'Centre' AF Point Mode rather than 'Multi' when you are not using 'Macro' mode? As per page 81 of the manual.

Grahame