diopter ?????

hi all,i was out shooting with my new 85mm 1.4 rokinon manual lens the other day with the 70d,most of my shots turned out pretty decent when using live view to zoom in and focus accordingly,now i wear glasses so i set the diopter to my liking wearing glasses,i have found that when i focus using the view finder i am not actually in focus,it looks in focus to me but the photos tell other wise,is the diopter something u need to basically calibrate so when it shows focus its actually in focus,like i said i adjusted mine to suite my corrective glasses,when i used live view and focused my subject then looked thru the view finder without moving a muscle i might add haha,i did notice my subject was not as in focus as the live view,my full day shooting with the 1.4 my keeper rate was much lower with the view finder,i don't always like to use live view so I'm hoping someone will have some tips to calibrate my view finder,thanx in advance

Using LV at 5x or 10x will always be better than looking through the viewfinder for MF. As far as the diopter, don't over think it. Just focus it the sharpest you can for what you're using... bare eyeball or glasses.

Just to clarify for you....

Having the dioptre incorrectly adjusted cannot make something that's out of focus look like it's in focus. Adjust your dioptre so that the focus pints (etched rectangles) are as sharp as possible....the image is projected onto the same screen.

Bob

You're standard focus screen isn't great for focusing with lenses faster than f/2.8. Try shooting with the lens at f2.8 or get another precision matte focusing screen for your camera. You should be able to get decent results with MF at f2.8 though using the stock screen.

Honestly it just take practice, after a few months you'll be good. I have mine at -3 and I don't have problems, even with 1.4 glass.

thanx for all the replies,i have a 60d and i installed a split screen to help with my 2 manual lenses,its a bit easier to focus that way but the 70d doesn't have a removable focus screen i believe,il keep practicing,thanx for the replies,i rarely shoot the 85 at 1.4 its usually at 2.8 some some times,f2 to get some good background blur

does any one know off hand what setting u should put for the focus scene menu when u change the focus screen to a split screen,i installed a split screen and it didn't come with any instructions,thanx in advance

Does your 70D have a menu option for focusing screen type?

Typically you don't have to worry about any EC for fast lenses like your f/1.4 but it'll start to be needed when you have f/2.8 or slower lenses fitted. Spot metering becomes the first mode to be affected and then partial, centre weighted and evaluative (in that order) as the lens max aperture becomes slower.

Bob

i have the split focus screen installed on my 60d,it does have a menu for adjustments,it gives u letters as a choice,screen type a type d etc,the split screen i bought didn't come with any instructions,thanx in advance

Ah, sorry....I only saw mention of the 70D (which doesn't have the selection option).

The 60D does allow selection but not for a screen with a split prism. I'd stick with the standard screen selected and make any EC+/- adjustments based on the lens you're using....there shouldn't be any need for your 85/1.4 but you might need to make allowances if you use the 70-200/4 with the screen still installed.

Bob

genesimmons wrote in post #17126300
hi all,i was out shooting with my new 85mm 1.4 rokinon manual lens the other day with the 70d,most of my shots turned out pretty decent when using live view to zoom in and focus accordingly,now i wear glasses so i set the diopter to my liking wearing glasses,i have found that when i focus using the view finder i am not actually in focus,it looks in focus to me but the photos tell other wise,is the diopter something u need to basically calibrate so when it shows focus its actually in focus,like i said i adjusted mine to suite my corrective glasses,when i used live view and focused my subject then looked thru the view finder without moving a muscle i might add haha,i did notice my subject was not as in focus as the live view,my full day shooting with the 1.4 my keeper rate was much lower with the view finder,i don't always like to use live view so I'm hoping someone will have some tips to calibrate my view finder,thanx in advance

Heya,

I had the same problem on multiple APS-C cameras with manual focus lenses that were fast (F2, F1.4). Didn't matter if I changed the diopter at any point. It was always off a bit no matter what. I was fine in Live View of course for obvious reasons. But that gets old real fast and it's slower to use it for me. I ended up having to learn the predict where focus would be, when I saw it out of focus, and did ok with that. But how annoying it was. So I looked into other options for manual focus lenses. The answer was in the focus screen types. You want to be able to use a precision matte screen. I picked up a cheap 5D classic for $350 that was near end of life, and put an EE-S screen in it. I nail focus all the time with ease now. Bigger, brighter viewfinder and the precision matte screen shows me depth of field basically, so I know when I'm in focus based on the plane of focus. Easy as pie. I even do this through stacks of ND/CPL filters, manually. It's that simple.

Try and find a way to get a different focus screen into the 70D. They may not have an official one, but there's gotta be some custom work around options.

Very best,

Canon Bob wrote in post #17129650
Ah, sorry....I only saw mention of the 70D (which doesn't have the selection option).

The 60D does allow selection but not for a screen with a split prism. I'd stick with the standard screen selected and make any EC+/- adjustments based on the lens you're using....there shouldn't be any need for your 85/1.4 but you might need to make allowances if you use the 70-200/4 with the screen still installed.

Bob

sorry about that,i should put the 60d back in my sig,it was stolen from work so my company bought me a 70d to replace it,i ended up getting the 60d back,they ran the battery out and didn't have the charger so they tried to sell it on a local sale swap haha not to bright,

MalVeauX wrote in post #17129676
Heya,

I had the same problem on multiple APS-C cameras with manual focus lenses that were fast (F2, F1.4). Didn't matter if I changed the diopter at any point. It was always off a bit no matter what. I was fine in Live View of course for obvious reasons. But that gets old real fast and it's slower to use it for me. I ended up having to learn the predict where focus would be, when I saw it out of focus, and did ok with that. But how annoying it was. So I looked into other options for manual focus lenses. The answer was in the focus screen types. You want to be able to use a precision matte screen. I picked up a cheap 5D classic for $350 that was near end of life, and put an EE-S screen in it. I nail focus all the time with ease now. Bigger, brighter viewfinder and the precision matte screen shows me depth of field basically, so I know when I'm in focus based on the plane of focus. Easy as pie. I even do this through stacks of ND/CPL filters, manually. It's that simple.

Try and find a way to get a different focus screen into the 70D. They may not have an official one, but there's gotta be some custom work around options.

Very best,

thanx for the awesome reply,glad i wasn't the only one with this problem,focus is great with live view,i bought the split screen with hopes it would help,it works great in theory i can line up the screen and it seems to be in focus but the photo tells me other wise,ill try a matte screen and see if it helps,thanx so much for the awesome reply