Tip on focusing using Live View and Magnifier

Hello all,

I just thought I would share a tip I stumbled upon yesterday as I was using Live View and the magnifier to MANUALLY focus on something in the distance with my 55-250mm lens at 250mm. I have always had trouble doing this type of focus as the imagery would move too much with subtle movement due to the intense magnification...any slight movement, the image would bounce around so much that I was really not able to see and fine tune for focus.

However, (this is where the tip comes in), while attempting to focus manually like this, half press the shutter to engage IS. This will greatly stabilize the image and allow you to focus!

Perhaps this is a known thing to do, but I have had my camera for a while and I finally learned to do it this way and wanted to share.

Cheers!

I think I'd just use a tripod.

Oh, I was also on a tripod The tip still applies

Yeah, 250mm and 10x live view magnification on a tripod is still pretty shakey without IS.

kezug wrote in post #18665868
Oh, I was also on a tripod The tip still applies

The general rule is when mounted on tripod, turn off IS. That may not apply to that particular lens however. The manual mentions turning it off to save battery but personally if I'm doing manual focus, with or without Live View, I like it off.

rrblint wrote in post #18665686
I think I'd just use a tripod.

Yea, tripod does nothing with long lenses and the longer, the less effective. Even the strap swaying will impart enough vibration at 600mm to make focusing difficult. IS is the only way to go.

John from PA wrote in post #18665943
The general rule is when mounted on tripod, turn off IS. That may not apply to that particular lens however. The manual mentions turning it off to save battery but personally if I'm doing manual focus, with or without Live View, I like it off.

I don't think that this is true with new lenses. This was definitely true with some old lenses. The original 100-400 supposedly suffered from the shake return feedback issue but mine never seemed to. It would be nice to see a list of lenses that does not have the shake return fix.

John from PA wrote in post #18665943
The general rule is when mounted on tripod, turn off IS. That may not apply to that particular lens however. The manual mentions turning it off to save battery but personally if I'm doing manual focus, with or without Live View, I like it off.

This is what I was thinking too.

gjl711 wrote in post #18665970
Yea, tripod does nothing with long lenses and the longer, the less effective. Even the strap swaying will impart enough vibration at 600mm to make focusing difficult. IS is the only way to go.

I don't think that this is true with new lenses. This was definitely true with some old lenses. The original 100-400 supposedly suffered from the shake return feedback issue but mine never seemed to. It would be nice to see a list of lenses that does not have the shake return fix.

I have not tried modern versions of IS on tripod in LV. Perhaps I should.

rrblint wrote in post #18665985
I have not tried modern versions of IS on tripod

I have.

While I will use IS for focusing if needed, I turn it off when shooting. Sometimes with IS on results have been fine, sometimes I think not so much.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18666030
I have.

While I will use IS for focusing if needed, I turn it off when shooting. Sometimes with IS on results have been fine, sometimes I think not so much.

^^ This...Is what I am referring to, I should have been clearer. I engage the IS during my attempt to focus using Live View with Magnification...once I achieve the focus...I turn off IS and I am ready to shoot!

These are my steps on achieving better focus via Live View when using a telephoto such as 55-250 mm lens @ 250mm.

(Camera is on tripod)

- Turn on Live view
- Focus using AF
- then change lens to MF
- Magnify via Live View as needed
- half press shutter (to engage IS)
- manually focus the lens until you achieve best focus
- Optional: turn off IS once focus is achieved

Without doing the step above in bold, the live view image is very shaky as any movement (via wind, camera movement, etc...) will be greatly exaggerated making it very difficult to achieve the desired focus.