S5 IS Help please

[Blast]

I am struggling with taking a shot of the moon. It seems that in manual focus when I press the shutter half way, my focus changes, I have all of the camera help switched off that I know of but it sure seems to change my focus.

I shot some macros today in manual and got the same thing it seems. I will post the macros here. and the moon shot below.

[Blast]

Moon crop here.

[Blast]

Moon crop here.

Thanks for all the input, I am surprised on a daily basis by the outpouring of camaraderie.

Blast

[Marcy]

When I did some moon shots with my s5 IS I put the manual focus on infinity - set upon a tripod - applied a 2 second delay and then shot the picture - I even did some 15 second exposures of the big dipper and they turned out pretty good too but there are limits with this camera when trying to these type of shots - when I had my s1 is it had an infrared remote control which worked better but the new s5 IS does not have that feature- too bad can't have everything.
On the macro shots - tripod realy helps too because usually you are so close to the subject and either I shake or the wind blows - so you might try that

[Collin85]

Thanks for all the input, I am surprised on a daily basis by the outpouring of camaraderie.


You're not a patient person are you?

I agree with Marcy about the tripod.

[Blast]

You're not a patient person are you?

I agree with Marcy about the tripod.

Well I thought I was patient, maybe not. Thanks for the input.


harry

[Blast]

When I did some moon shots with my s5 IS I put the manual focus on infinity - set upon a tripod - applied a 2 second delay and then shot the picture - I even did some 15 second exposures of the big dipper and they turned out pretty good too but there are limits with this camera when trying to these type of shots - when I had my s1 is it had an infrared remote control which worked better but the new s5 IS does not have that feature- too bad can't have everything.
On the macro shots - tripod realy helps too because usually you are so close to the subject and either I shake or the wind blows - so you might try that
ditto on the tripod and I did a ten second delay. but every time it would change the focus, I dont understand it yet.

Thanks for the input. Harry

[beeGjay]

You might check the info at this link on another board.

http://www.s3users.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3975

[Blast]

You might check the info at this link on another board.

http://www.s3users.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3975

Thanks beeGjay, will do.

Harry

[teekay]

I am struggling with taking a shot of the moon. It seems that in manual focus when I press the shutter half way, my focus changes, I have all of the camera help switched off that I know of but it sure seems to change my focus....

I have delayed posting a reply, Blast, because I have been experimenting myself with the various ways of getting macro shots with the S5, but here are some comments that may help.

First, I think your two macro shots of flowers are fine, in that the camera did its job of focusing on one part, but since you had the aperture set wide the depth of field was too small to get the whole thing sharp.

I agree that using manual focus for macro is tricky, but I found most of my problems were because when using macro the zoom has a limited range. One can see this by watching the line in the top of the VF while zooming - it shows the focus range available. If one ignores this, and the zoom is outside the usable range, then when you press the button halfway the AF will try but fail to do its job and you will see a blurring.

I have found that in most cases one can achieve almost the same as setting macro just by getting about 3 feet from the subject and zooming to max, so most of the time I don't use the macro setting at all for moderately close work.

Here are some comparisons:

http://community.netidea.com/teekay/temp/MacroComp.jpg

As you will see, there isn't a heck of a lot of difference in results. I used AF centered on the SD card and used other objects in view to get an indication of depth of field.

And thanks, beeGjay, for that most informative link about the S5 manual infinity setting being a bit "off".

[Blast]

I have delayed posting a reply, Blast, because I have been experimenting myself with the various ways of getting macro shots with the S5, but here are some comments that may help.

First, I think your two macro shots of flowers are fine, in that the camera did its job of focusing on one part, but since you had the aperture set wide the depth of field was too small to get the whole thing sharp.

I agree that using manual focus for macro is tricky, but I found most of my problems were because when using macro the zoom has a limited range. One can see this by watching the line in the top of the VF while zooming - it shows the focus range available. If one ignores this, and the zoom is outside the usable range, then when you press the button halfway the AF will try but fail to do its job and you will see a blurring.

I have found that in most cases one can achieve almost the same as setting macro just by getting about 3 feet from the subject and zooming to max, so most of the time I don't use the macro setting at all for moderately close work.

Here are some comparisons:

http://community.netidea.com/teekay/temp/MacroComp.jpg

As you will see, there isn't a heck of a lot of difference in results. I used AF centered on the SD card and used other objects in view to get an indication of depth of field.

And thanks, beeGjay, for that most informative link about the S5 manual infinity setting being a bit "off".

Hey Teekay,

Thanks for all the detective work, I appreciate it. It must be me as it sure looks like my focus is changing even in manual. Thanks for all the hard work as this is some great info.

Harry

[AJW1100]

Hi All, this is my first post. I was searching to find an answer to my macro photos being well out of focus and by luck came across this thread. I recently dropped my Z3 (Minolta not BMW!):cry: so needed a replacement, I have now purchased an S5 IS and am trying it out. I am usually more of a Auto, point and push photographer but want to understand more about the subject, hence my joining here:)

Anyway, with my Z3 I could get close and personal (Hand held) with the subject on macro and got some very good results, on this Canon I get better results (Sharper images) from further away using the zoom then crop and enlarge the subject. Isn't this defeating the object of having macro? In macro when I frame the subject, say a flower, and get a perfect layout in the VF then push the button halfway down it goes out of focus! I have only tried in Auto mode so far so I will have to investigate further.

As Teekay says:
I agree that using manual focus for macro is tricky, but I found most of my problems were because when using macro the zoom has a limited range. One can see this by watching the line in the top of the VF while zooming - it shows the focus range available. If one ignores this, and the zoom is outside the usable range, then when you press the button halfway the AF will try but fail to do its job and you will see a blurring.I prefer taking detail shots of various subjects so I want to resolve this problem as soon as I can.