Auto-focus and f-stops

Savagebasher wrote in post #2381334
What I did was just focus on one of the fireworks at the start, then switch it over to manual focus. left it there for the rest of the shots

http://savagebasher.ma​ckycorp.org/fireworks

Thanks. The only problem with that is, the fireworks were being shot off from two different locations. I made the mistake of getting up close, and couldn't get them from both locations in one shot. Lots of quick movement back and forth from one location to the other is what was really getting me. It's very tough to find that balance, as I've learned, but I'll continue to try! I hope some other nearby town has fireworks soon so I can try again.

I still think I did pretty well with some of my fireworks shots (see image links below)...

http://static.flickr.c​om …06342546_f07a99​ee99_b.jpg

http://static.flickr.c​om …06349359_6f1cad​db4a_b.jpg

http://static.flickr.c​om …06342551_f96474​e0f2_b.jpg

The way i shot some fireworks recently was to wait until there was a cluster of light in the sky and focus on that. I found the AF had no trouble getting a quick focus. once i had done that i switched AF off and shot the rest of the night with that setting. As mentioned above the lens was set at infinity
Seemed to work for me

dave_bass5 wrote in post #2384655
The way i shot some fireworks recently was to wait until there was a cluster of light in the sky and focus on that. I found the AF had no trouble getting a quick focus. once i had done that i switched AF off and shot the rest of the night with that setting. As mentioned above the lens was set at infinity
Seemed to work for me

That too.. what you need is a nice bright light source against the black sky at infinity focus distance. The first burst will give you that, but I am trying to catch even the first burst

Two issues - the AF needs contrast to focus and a black sky has none. The other issue is that the lens does indeed focus wide open, at its widest f-stop and stops down to the selected f-stop just before the shutter activates. Simple test - select f5.6 and push the shutter half way down. You get a meter reading but the viewfinder doesn't dim. Now release the shutter button and depress the DOF preview button - viewfinder should dim noticeably. The widest f-stop on the kit lens at 55mm is something like f5.6? That's not much for the auto-focus to work with.

Good advice already given on how to overcome the issues.