Forums > Photography Talk > finding focus in the dark

Photographer

LILFEAR PHOTOGRAPHY

Posts: 10

Green Cove Springs, Florida, US

I was shooting with my 70-300 and only light I wanted to use was my speedlights, however, that lense is not AF therefore had to find my focus, ideas on how I can do that in the dark without adding light?

Nov 13 17 12:23 pm Link

Photographer

FIFTYONE PHOTOGRAPHY

Posts: 6597

Uniontown, Pennsylvania, US

LILFEAR PHOTOGRAPHY wrote:
I was shooting with my 70-300 and only light I wanted to use was my speedlights, however, that lense is not AF therefore had to find my focus, ideas on how I can do that in the dark without adding light?

I've had someone aim a Flashlight at the Model to attain focus in low light situations, simply turn off the Flashlight prior to taking the shot (requires an assistant).

Nov 13 17 12:29 pm Link

Photographer

AVD AlphaDuctions

Posts: 10747

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

neither your camera nor speedlights have a focus assist beam?

Nov 13 17 12:34 pm Link

Photographer

Leonard Gee Photography

Posts: 18096

Sacramento, California, US

LILFEAR PHOTOGRAPHY wrote:
ideas on how I can do that in the dark without adding light?

zone focus and guesstimation

weegee shot with a 4x5 crown graphic at night with flash. since it was large format "street" photography, there was no way to focus. usually, he set the camera at f16 at 10 feet. i've had to shoot without putting the camera up to my eye and just estimated the distance. it takes practice, but it's easy to do with constant work.

to practice, just guess the distance to a subject, set the lens distance scale; then put the camera up to your eyes to see if you got it. your eyes can be trained very accurately - if you do it enough. generally, f-stops of f4-f5.6 at 10-15 feet is forgiving enough. closer distances require more accuracy, but you tend to be more accurate at closer range; so it evens out. also you have more flash power closer so f8, f11 will work.

note: the depth-of-field for distance work is 1/3 in front and 2/3 in back of the focus point. as you focus closer the depth-of-field gets more into 1/2 in front and 1/2 in back of the focus point. so for 10-15 feet or more it's better to estimate closer than too far out, because you have more focus depth in back. for wide angle lenses, there is the hyperfocal distance setting, which always works well.

https://photographylife.com/hyperfocal- … -explained
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutori … stance.htm

Nov 13 17 01:01 pm Link

Photographer

Zack Zoll

Posts: 6895

Glens Falls, New York, US

Guessing it is. Get enough practice, and it's not guessing anymore.

That particular lens is also hard to focus in the dark, because it's not terribly bright. But if you can learn to focus that guy, you should be good to go with anything else.

Nov 13 17 03:49 pm Link

Photographer

Graham Glover

Posts: 1440

Oakton, Virginia, US

Another option is using Live View.  Unless it is perfectly dark, you can usually see something there, and you can focus from that.

Nov 13 17 03:59 pm Link

Photographer

AG_Boston

Posts: 475

Boston, Massachusetts, US

I have issues with this too. I use external lights to focus, and if using AF, I've used a laser on one of my camera's focus points to focus.

A few years back, I considered building up and LED specifically for autofocus. I was planning on having it on while I was autofocusing, then have it shutting off when I went to take the actual picture. I never built it because I thought I was the only one who was annoyed by this, and also the only one who would use my light. Eh.

Nov 13 17 04:56 pm Link

Photographer

Zack Zoll

Posts: 6895

Glens Falls, New York, US

Graham Glover wrote:
Another option is using Live View.  Unless it is perfectly dark, you can usually see something there, and you can focus from that.

Maybe not. Live view requires a processed image, with a short exposure - it's basically video that doesn't get stored. Since you're at f/5.6 or whatever and SS is limited to (around) 1/30 or faster, all but the best cameras will display a LV image too noisy to assure focus.

For a little perspective, I use an A7II. Not state if the art, but quite respectable. Shooting in studio under normal lighting, at f/8 (if you use old lenses, it's always set to your selected aperture - not just for shooting) , I can't see to focus accurately. I use a 1000 watt halogen so I can see to focus; at f/16 it's maxed, and I could actually use a little MORE light.

I used to do the same thing with my NEX-7, and the difference in noise was such that even with the light, I was basically guessing past f/4. But that camera was much worse in low light.

Nov 13 17 06:04 pm Link

Photographer

hbutz New York

Posts: 3923

Ronkonkoma, New York, US

I would put a foot pedal on the floor to turn on a spot light to focus, then take my foot off to shoot.  I've done this with a fog machine.

Nov 22 17 03:11 pm Link

Photographer

Keith Moody

Posts: 548

Phoenix, Arizona, US

AVD AlphaDuctions wrote:
neither your camera nor speedlights have a focus assist beam?

This...  or manual focus with the lights on and lock focus.

Nov 22 17 07:49 pm Link

Photographer

Warren Leimbach

Posts: 3223

Tampa, Florida, US

hbutz New York wrote:
I would put a foot pedal on the floor to turn on a spot light to focus, then take my foot off to shoot.  I've done this with a fog machine.

Brilliant!

Nov 24 17 04:20 pm Link