Trouble focussing macro.

[DanK]

Denise,

I've been following this thread, and this morning I realized that two things may be getting mixed together.

I don't know your camera, but I will assume that you can magnify live view.

First, I think we can rule out a few things. The Tamron lens, assuming you have a good copy, is an excellent macro lens. No problem there. Mirror lock-up: may not be necessary, but certainly no harm. Shutter action: not an issue. Glasses--may make it hard to focus, but they won't make a blurry image look good. Maybe a problem for other reasons, but not the problem here, IMHO.

The first issue is this:

The central focus area always seems to move a fraction as I lock it.

I and others took this to mean that the central area drops a bit after you position the camera. As several people have said, this is common. I used to use an inexpensive tripod head that seemed fine outdoors, but it drove me nuts doing macro work for precisely this reason. The problem wasn't that I wasn't locking it down enough; the problem was movement before the locking took effect.

There are several things you can do to deal with this. If you do enough macro indoors, you might find it worth buying a geared head, assuming your tripod can handle the weight. The amount of sag is trivial, but they are expensive (google Manfrotto junior 410), and if you want an arca clamp, you have to buy that extra. Also, given your arthritis, you'd want to make sure that you are comfortable rotating the knobs for the gears. If you don't do that, it may help to balance the weight more, as Grahame suggests. Also, you can aim slightly high before locking the head, and frame loosely enough that a small amount of movement won't move anything you want out of the frame.

However--this is what hit me this morning--while this affects framing, it should have very little effect on focus. The movement is along an arc, and in the limit--in very small amounts--it will approximate a simple vertical drop. Unless you are shooting at a very high level of magnification or with the aperture wide open, this shouldn't matter much.

So I am guessing now that the focusing issue is entirely separate. They key there may be the small size of the lcd, which will hide small errors of focus, and in macro work, small errors are all that is needed to make an image look blurry. I have been doing macro a long time, and even with a lot of practice, I often find that if I focus first with live view without magnification and then switch to 5X magnification, I discover that the focus that I though was right on the money is in fact not close enough.

So my suggestion is to start with something simple and see whether it works:

1. frame loosely enough that you have some room at the top, just in case.
2. aim slightly high before you lock down the head so that the sagging will move in the direction you want.
3. AFTER the motion has stopped, put the live view magnification area over the part of the image where you want sharpest focus, use at least 5 x magnification, and focus.
4. Avoid a small aperture.

See if that helps.

Dan

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Denise,

I was thinking along the same lines Dan has now stated; there are two separate issues here.

It would be very helpful to know if you were already using any magnification in Live View?
UPDATE: now answered below
As not, that's liable to be the cause of the random (often wrong) focus issue right there.

Hope all the above replies help,
Dave

[Geranium]

Hi Alan . Thanks for your reply. I hadnt thought of using the view finder and the green dot. I will have a go at focussing that way. Thanks very much.

[Geranium]

Hi Alan . Thanks for your reply. I hadnt thought of using the view finder and the green dot. I will have a go at focussing that way. Thanks very much.

[Geranium]

Hi Robin. Thanks for your reply. No I did NOT know there was a digital zoom function in live view!! I have used digital zoom on my smaller Panasonic ( FZ 300) to focus in macro but not the D 7100. Wow ! Have just looked it up in the instruction manual and will try it tomorrow. ( 11.30 pm here ) . Thanks SO much for pointing that out. I do most of the other things you mention although use a wireless remote. I will have a go at downloading a couple of shots here also.

Thanks heaps and cheers.

[Geranium]

Hi Mitchell. Thanks for your suggestions ...and your sympathy ! My cameras all have diopter adjustment but because of using "live view" to focus i have been blocking off the view finder as per instructions. I need my glasses for focussing in "live view" and it would be unworkable to be taking the view finder cover on and off all the time. However maybe it would be better to leave it off altogether and check focus through the view finder before taking the shot. Someone here has also pointed out the magnification function on live view which i didnt know about. I will also check out the idea of a focussing rail. Many thanks for your suggestion. Regards Denise. .

[proseak]

have you tried focus stacking?

[DanK]

have you tried focus stacking?

Just my two cents, but as someone who uses focus stacking a great deal, I wouldn't recommend that yet, until Denise solves her problem. Effective use of focus stacking requires that one nail the closest and farthest focus points quite precisely. Or at least one. My own approach is to nail the closest (that's the important one for framing) and then make sure I go far enough back to include the farthest, even if I overshoot and throw out a bunch of images focused too far back. Once she does have the ability to nail focus, then I would agree with you: focus stacking is the way to go if you have less DOF than you want in macro shots.

[Geranium]

Hi Robin. Here are three photos ..one of them is an OK one just to let you know it must be me not the equipment that is not working!
They are taken at F16 1/30 1250, f14 0.8 500, and F32 1/8 +0.67 1250 respectively.

And Ps Is there a way of seeing the whole thread with my posts included ..on a page on this this web site. ?

[Geranium]

Hi Robin. I am having no luck uploading photos. Sorry.I have tried a number of times but no luck. I am sure I am following instructions I actually find this site really difficult to use!

[Geranium]

[Geranium]

This time ..No response from" Click here to upload photos..." Very frustrating.

[Stagecoach]

Denise,

When you selected the 'Click here to upload photos' you then need to select the 'Choose file' box.

This will take you to your computer directory where you select your file.

If the 'Click here to upload photos' within the 'Additional Options' area does not respond, select the 'Go Advanced' box.

In addition your files you upload should be between 1200 to 1400 px width so they can be viewed at a decent size for scrutiny.

[Geranium]

photo no 2 . Success!

[Stagecoach]

Well done Denise,

Right, what you have here is an image that is Sharp, but not where you want it to be sharp.

It is Sharp because the hair on the cloth is sharp but the snail is suffering from movement blur and the majority of it is out of focus due to the narrow DoF. Contrary to belief snails are fast movers for photographing

Your shutter speed was too low. Your options are, more light, higher ISO (more noise) of wider aperture (less DoF).

Grahame

[Geranium]

Photo no.3. Done at last.

MOD COMMENT:
Denise, the reason that No.3 didn't work, here and below is because you were (this time) using the wrong icon to insert the image link in to the post.

I have now (effectively) changed the icon you used and hey-presto, the image has appeared.

For future reference (although I see you have done it OK later in the thread, the Insert Image icon is the square one with with dots in corners, not the round globe one with a chain link on.

Also, it is always best to click "Go Advanced" before attempting to Upload pictures to TinyPic.

HTH, Dave

[Geranium]

Nope! I don't know where its gone.

[Geranium]

Final try. Have been battling with this for three hours ! picture 3
http://s9.tinypic.com/svt6pi_th.jpg

[Geranium]

Really don't know why picture 3 only has the link but the others do not. Getting VERY disenchanted with this web site.Surely it could be a direct download from ones computer!! Grrrrrrrrrr!!!!

[Geranium]

Thanks Grahame. This is F14, Shutter speed O.8 and ISO 500. Yes I was starting to realise after taking a few shots that the speed of the snail was quite an issue. So would you use Shutter priority for say a snail of a caterpillar? I am surprised at you saying shallower DoF. Thank you so much for your careful consideration. this was also taken at night with a makeshift spotliight with a cool white LED globe. I may need a better light. I certainly need a lot more practice!