mis-focus frustration with afd1

[timelessinoaxaca]

I have been taking some simple portraits with the afd1.

I do not shoot tethered and I have no assistant to check for sharpness. Camera is on tripod.
In the vertircal orientation, I keep getting misfocus pictures:- ie: the face is out of focus but the front or back of the face is in focus.

Becasue the afd1 has only the center focusing point, I have to aim the center point on the face(which is on the top third of the picture) and recompose. I am not sure if this is costing the problem.
If i were to just use the center focusing point to focus on the body, the face will not be sharp too.

I use the 80mm and shoot my stuff at f4.0.

I do not wan to compose and manual focus the face till it is sharp. it would be very exhuasting as i have to concentrate on other aspect of the shoot.

any suggestions? it is really very tiring to re-atuofocus for every picture.

thanks in advance

[Morgan_Moore]

I have been taking some simple portraits with the afd1.

I do not shoot tethered and I have no assistant to check for sharpness. Camera is on tripod.
In the vertircal orientation, I keep getting misfocus pictures:- ie: the face is out of focus but the front or back of the face is in focus.

Becasue the afd1 has only the center focusing point, I have to aim the center point on the face(which is on the top third of the picture) and recompose. I am not sure if this is costing the problem.
If i were to just use the center focusing point to focus on the body, the face will not be sharp too.

I use the 80mm and shoot my stuff at f4.0.

I do not wan to compose and manual focus the face till it is sharp. it would be very exhuasting as i have to concentrate on other aspect of the shoot.

any suggestions? it is really very tiring to re-atuofocus for every picture.

thanks in advance
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=108292\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Firstly you need to check that your AFD is functioning correctly by maybe focusing on the 15cm of a 30cm ruler tilted away from the camera if 10 or 20 comes out sharp then you are in trouble

IF the chip is not alligned right then that needs reapairing or servicing


===

Assuming the mechanics are good then welcome to MF digital capture

The resolution of the modern digital capture shows up you inaccuacies very well

You need to find a focussing teqnique that works for you AF and lock and recompose or MF or whatever

When I had a AFD I used to gently rock forwards and backwards in a slightly demented manner hoping that one in three of my pics would be sharp

I find single focus and move works well with my H1 now but have to rock with my manual 1.2 50 on my D200 even at 2.8

If you are shooting waist up you may need to bend your knees rather than swing the camera when recomposing becuase swinging the camera will cause a triangulation effect that will lose you focus

===

Edit - just re-read your post - tripod - thatd be maunal focus bracketing then

SMM

[pss]

I have been taking some simple portraits with the afd1.

I do not shoot tethered and I have no assistant to check for sharpness. Camera is on tripod.
In the vertircal orientation, I keep getting misfocus pictures:- ie: the face is out of focus but the front or back of the face is in focus.

Becasue the afd1 has only the center focusing point, I have to aim the center point on the face(which is on the top third of the picture) and recompose. I am not sure if this is costing the problem.
If i were to just use the center focusing point to focus on the body, the face will not be sharp too.

I use the 80mm and shoot my stuff at f4.0.

I do not wan to compose and manual focus the face till it is sharp. it would be very exhuasting as i have to concentrate on other aspect of the shoot.

any suggestions? it is really very tiring to re-atuofocus for every picture.

thanks in advance
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=108292\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

welcome to MF AF! single zone says it all....unless the face is smack in the center of the frame you will focus on the chest...same with all MF systems....the afdII has a 2 zone af, but it is not much better, still have to:focus, frame, focus, frame,.....
i mostly use manual focus....especially with people and longer lenses.....or just my RZ where i can actually focus very easily through the WLF....
unless a MF system comes out that is as "advanced" as a 10 year old SLR sytem....the Hy6 supposedly has  multiple zones....

[John_Black]

If you're shooting with a narrow DOF, focus and recompose will result in alot of OOF's.  Depending on the subject distance, generally, I don't focus-recompose unless the aperture is around F5.6 to F8.  The AFD II adds a zone, so either focus is center, or a wider array.  I found the AFD II's focus to be pretty good, though, limiting since it's essentially center focus only.

[timelessinoaxaca]

help help!
any other options than afd2?
cheers...

[godtfred]

Do you use a viewfinder mask?

I don't have a mamiya, but if i place the viewfinder mask underneath the matte screen on my H2, the af is stilll spot on, but the manual focus is just a little out... If i place it on top, there is no problem.

If i use af on the face, and then recompose (particularly when shooting in portrait format) I find i have to move my head and camera back a couple of cm to get focus on the eyes. Its not an exact sience, but at least the sharp area then covers the eyes and everything is OK. (I would prefer to achieve critical focus on the eyes like i can with the multi zone af on my canon, but hey... I love shooting MF

-axel

PS: I have the Phase-One VF mask by the way, its supposed to go underneath, but puts the focus out. HB's VF mask is a crappy little plastic thing that slides out to the side and generally does not work unless you tape it there. A laser etched matte screen is the way to go here for perfection.

I have been taking some simple portraits with the afd1.

I do not shoot tethered and I have no assistant to check for sharpness. Camera is on tripod.
In the vertircal orientation, I keep getting misfocus pictures:- ie: the face is out of focus but the front or back of the face is in focus.

Becasue the afd1 has only the center focusing point, I have to aim the center point on the face(which is on the top third of the picture) and recompose. I am not sure if this is costing the problem.
If i were to just use the center focusing point to focus on the body, the face will not be sharp too.

I use the 80mm and shoot my stuff at f4.0.

I do not wan to compose and manual focus the face till it is sharp. it would be very exhuasting as i have to concentrate on other aspect of the shoot.

any suggestions? it is really very tiring to re-atuofocus for every picture.

thanks in advance
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=108292\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

[pss]

help help!
any other options than afd2?
cheers...
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=108409\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

not even the afdII is a real solution for your problem....we are all in the same boat...we all have to learn to live with it, we all have our own ways of working around it....and for the most part that is not using af at all...

[kolyasik]

I have AFD for lust 4 years. first year i try to use AF no luck  
from now on only manual.
in situation like yours i am using my old 1Ds...

[timelessinoaxaca]

use afd and not use af???

[pss]

use afd and not use af???
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=108463\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

what is so hard to understand? have you ever used any medium format system with AF? since they all only have one center zone, you can either focus, reframe, focus reframe (with wide open apertures) or focus, hold the focus, fire a couple of shots, check focus,........or use manual focus, which is what most people do when shooting portraits....there are no surprises here, nothing new....the afdII has a wider center zone (and is the only medium format camera that offers anything like it..for now), but it still does not solve the problem......
how do you expect it to work? the camera is supposed to "know" where the face is? you know where the af zone is....just like with any P&S....focus, frame, fire.....

[free1000]

Also worth checking the accuracy of manual focus in a systematic way. Some digital backs may need factory adjustment if the chip is not in the right plane. If focus is out with manual/focus assist, they wont work with AF either.

[RobertJ]

Becasue the afd1 has only the center focusing point, I have to aim the center point on the face(which is on the top third of the picture) and recompose.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=108292\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Bingo.  

I never understood why people think focusing and recomposing will result in a perfectly focused image.