Take Better Photos Episode 5 - Focussing

This is the recording of a Live Webinar from October 6 2021. Following on from the Depth of Field presentation, (Episode 4) Nick Rains presents case studies that illustrate different ways of focussing; contrasting manual and autofocus, and exploring their respective pros and cones.

[@dustyroads9972]

These are the best videos I have ever watched on photography. I now understand so much more. Thank you.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Wow, thanks!

[@BobSchipper]

Good that you kept going and wasn’t too worried about the dog. Thanks for all the work!

[@rich9914]

Thank you Nick enjoyed it and learned a great deal. Please consider making a few short tutorials on focusing with the different cameras. e.g. CL vs Sl2

[@ronaldsand3000]

Once again, absolutely terrific video! Very helpful

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Glad to hear it!

[@hanvandewal917]

Brilliant video as always! About the M10 shooting a subject outside the frame, focus on the eyes and move in an arc, risking to move out of focus. You might increase the depth of field by different aperture and compensate for the slight error that could occur the arc movement.. If light is low, increase shutterspeed to 1/60 or so. Greetings from Holland!

[@goldfinch2283]

Another great tutorial. Thanks from Switzerland. 👍👏

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

My pleasure!

[@Tedwill-home]

Enormously helpful. Thank you!

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

You're very welcome!

[@62smarty]

Great workshop! That's how I learned focusing... I'm from the pre-autofocus times .... birn in 1962. Superbe for "youngsters" to learn. Thanks so much. Btw I'm using M and SL.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Well said!

[@wilfredshum3703]

Your repeat focusing technique is new to me, so I will try it on some fast moving subjects with my SL2. Thanks.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Glad it was helpful!

[@andyvan5692]

Also Nick, one other reason rangefinder focus is an "expert" skill, is that the DOF. is NOT shown in the focussing procedure, as in SLR's ( if you see through the lens, you see through the iris too), BUT as these are separate units, the iris is NOT coupled to the rangefinder, so the true dof. is NOT known, so you have to guess, or like LF photographers, using say a Linhof technika hand-held, use dof/filter/bellows factor charts for the lens/format in use.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Hi Andy. True, but it's not so easy to preview DoF on other cameras either, but for the opposite reason - too little DoF because you usually look through the lens with the aperture wide open. Yes, you can do some sort of stop down preview but the base view is misleading. So, yes, you do need to anticipate - or shoot a shot and look at the results on the back of the camera.

[@andreweast743]

Really useful and very well presented. Even as an aspirational Leica user. Chock full of great tips and information whatever camera you happen to be getting by with.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Internationaljus]

thanks so much for all of these videos

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Glad you like them!

[@andyvan5692]

@28:55 this is where AF lock, or AF-on button use, like on Nikon /canon DSLR's comes in handy, find focus, LOCK it!!, and it doesn't move until YOU want it to, kind of the "o.e.m." turn key solution to your focus/recompose strategy,or hybrid MF\AF solution, have auto to speed the process, and Manual to stop the computer loosing the shot.

[@stephenlpitts]

Very well presented and laid out video!

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Thank you kindly!

[@absonus]

Excellent .Never been over impressed with the AF on my SL2S .... shoot a lot of action with horses and the AF wanders off subject .You`ve suggested some useful techniques to mitigate this which I`m going to try. I`ve never consciously separated the focus function to the back button but it appears to be the default on my SL2S (which was bought new ) .

[@nocommentnoname1111]

If your AF wanders with your SL2S, may I suggest you try a Sony.

[@thomastuorto9929]

@@nocommentnoname1111 for top performance in AF, there is no other by comparison. When I think Leica, AF is not in my thoughts. Doesn't mean I wouldn't purchase a Leica. You just need to know ( as with any tool And it strengths ) it's limitations, Or the application your going to use it for.

[@andyvan5692]

nick @18:54 one other point about that smoke shot is: light is too low for auto-focus to get a lock onto the subject (

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Good point. Thanks.

[@sanfordlavine1760]

And again. A brilliant presentation. Thanks Nick. I frequently use focus stacking for macro photography, even with a focus rack.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Great to hear!

[@thomastuorto9929]

Can you magnify your preview & crank up the iso (gain) for night (like stars/astro) or low light focus , & then turn down your iso back down to a reasonable or whatever you need to shoot your photo at? I heard someone mention this with another brand camera & thought it was a pretty good idea having never thought of it. Just a thought. Happy shooting.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Yes you can absolutely do this. The new firmware in the Leica SL2 and SL2-S also boosts the gain on the EVF/LCD so you can see faint objects better in low light. I have not tried it with stars however, they are very faint.

[@Joe32942]

Great Video, bring the dog with you next time. He can relax just beside you on the ground, I am sure he'd love that.

[@JasonEfstathiou]

Hey! Thanks a lot for these videos. Heads up that you may wanna reverse the order of them in your playlist though. It currently starts with the latest one and plays them in reverse order.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Thanks for the tip! I think it should be in Episode order now...

[@JasonEfstathiou]

@@LeicaCameraAustralia yes, perfect, thanks again 🤙 learning a lot from this!

[@Photos_by_Cowz]

Hi Nick. I shoot a M10P and SL 601. I absolutely love the back button focus of the SL and ability to quickly move the focus point around the frame. I soon hope to add the 24-70mm f2.8. I have purchased a CL with 18-56 and I admit to being hesitant due to not being able to back button focus.. do you find this an issue???

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Yes and no. I'd prefer to have a back button but I manage OK without. The CL punches well above it's weight (and price), it's quite hard to tell any difference between the SL, M10 and CL in up to A3+ prints. The SL2 and M11 are clearly better but they should be!

[@Photos_by_Cowz]

@Leica Camera Australia i do enjoy using m glass on it with the quick twist of the right dial for critical focus... manual auto focus lol

[@danielschulman4909]

I use mostly R lenses with my SL2-S so manual focus is great. I have one SL lens (the 75) and I just hate the manual focus on the SL lenses -it's just terrible . . so much so that if I am in a situation needing manual focus and have my SL lens on the camera, I will autofocus to something close and then use my body to move the camera closer to and further away from the subject to achieve manual focus (the manual focus ring on the SL lenses is just that bad!).

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Try using Manual Focus with SL lenses - but don't use the lens ring to focus, use the rear joystick to move the focus point and to trigger autofocus. This implementation of rear button focus is, IMO, the best of any camera I have ever used.

[@stephenlpitts]

Sorry, Nick what Webinar on how to adjust the M scales of depth of focus depending on the size of the print? And hopefully, we are keeping track of the effects of diffraction. Thanks!

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

I touch on these subjects in the previous video in the series: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHOUfH1veZdgetU

[@stephenlpitts]

​@@LeicaCameraAustralia Thanks Nick. You are totally right--I had watched this previous video but missed the sheer scale of this correction--it is at 46 minutes in the video. Thanks!

[@r423sdex]

Try focus recompose at f1

[@jklphoto]

As an SL shooter, I have to wonder if software or hardware will allow Leica to catch up to the likes of the Nikon Z9 for eye-focus. The image of the woman with face painting really illustrates the need. Leica's SL APO lenses are without peer. But if not focused on the eye, their sharpness is wasted.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

The SL2 and SL2-S both do in fact have eye-focussing. It's just not very obvious, and it's not explicit in the manual. The Face tracking option has body, face and eye tracking. The first two show different box sizes, but the eye tracking has no kind of indicator.

[@jklphoto]

@@LeicaCameraAustralia OIC, perhaps a good excuse to upgrade from my SL (601). Your portrait examples highlight how small the DOF of the Leica APO Summicron 90mm f/2 ASPH. Can't imagine needing more light gathering or bokeh creating then that lens can provide. And quite a relative bargin comparing to Noctilux offerings!

[@andyvan5692]

great video, but one thing, @3:03 that comment is about "neuro_typical" people, someone with Autism Spectrum, ADHD, etc ( all social disabillities) LACK this "basic" instinct of visual/non-visual communication, it IS genetic, no one "learns" this, but some of us HAVE TO!!, so THIS topic is a great one!!, the more tools you know how to use the better, esp. where to focus. one other point you said that the first shot was easy.... esp. at f8 - f11; BUT for Large Format shooters this apature is NOT "easy", as in LF f9 is the widest opening, hence NARROWEST Depth of field!!, some do have f5.6 wide open, but NOT common, f9 is the most common!

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

Regarding LF photography - years ago I used a 57mm Super-Angulon on a 6x12 field camera with a tiny bit of front tilt. Shoot at f11 and you have all the DoF you need. I said it was an 'easy' shot because you just need to stop down to an appropriate aperture for your camera, there is no difficulty in picking the focus point as everything is at a distance with no close foreground.

[@chukolna]

I expected a lot more from this video. Nothing helpful for M cameras. In general information is focused towards new photographers. I wish there was M manual focus video somewhere for advanced users. More pricesly, tips and tricks on focusing moving targets or wide open(or both). Shooting people, and not talking portraits, but events, weddings and stuff like that is very challenging using leica M and expecially if you try to shoot wide open at 1.4 or less. There is nothing on youtube abut that.

[@LeicaCameraAustralia]

The video is intended, as you noticed, more for a beginner audience. It does not mention M shooting because this is quite a specialist topic and, more importantly, very difficult to explain in a video. The only 'tip' I can tell you about using a rangefinder is simply practice. Hands-on experience is really the only way to master rangefinder focussing. If you listen to Allan Schaller talking about how he gets accurate rangefinder focus you will discover that he treats it like learning a musical instrument. He practiced estimating focus every day at home. Hours and hours of practice over time led to his uncanny ability to guess focus distances and set the camera accordingly. Not sure what country you are in but some of our Leica Akademies offer one on one training with experienced M users. This might help.

[@MikeKleinsteuber]

I quite like Leica Camera Australia but videos like this really piss me off as it seems to assume there is such an absolute term as 'good' or 'bad' photograph and that there can be rules to create 'better' photographs. The eyes have to be in focus ? What bollocks. It's videos like this that breed lookalike cookie cutter photographers that create dull and boring images. There are no rules in photography and (for example) some of the greatest photographs ever taken are totally out of focus. Take no notice of blarney like this as it will only hamper your own development....Try things out, make mistakes and shoot, shoot, shoot. Find your own style if you have one.