How can I focus an Olympus OM-D E-M5 for night landscape photography?
Asked 4/19/2014
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I’m finding it difficult to focus my Olympus OM-D E-M5 at night. With my old Nikon D90, I could look through the optical viewfinder and manually focus near infinity, but with the E-M5’s electronic viewfinder there often isn’t enough light to judge focus, and autofocus may fail as well.
For night landscapes or other very dark scenes, what’s the best way to achieve focus? Is it safe to just turn the focus ring all the way to infinity, or is there a better method?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
4
Here are a couple of possibilities:
When I try focusing with the electronic viewfinder I find it helpful to zoom in on the live view. (Not sure if your camera can do that)
Depending on your scene, you can also use a torch to light the scene as focusing aid. If the subjects are too far away, use knowledge of hyperfocal distance to focus on something that is within the reach of your torch or laser pointer.
And I would not just put the focus to "infinity" as with most lenses that position is actually focusing beyond infinity most of the time. However as a last resort, you can always start at "infinity" and move the focus point by trial and error.
Update: Okay, here is my final advice after running into similar problems and the tips from my previous answer failed:
First thing is to find out where the actual infinity position is on your lens during daytime. Once you know that (on my Sigma its actually where it should be..) you can manually focus to that position at night.
The second thing is to shoot at high f-stop numbers, where the exact focus isn't that important for a sharp picture.
If everything else fails you can always come to your scene earlier and use your auto-focus with the available light. :-)
Originally by user25657. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user25657
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Don’t rely on turning the lens all the way to infinity. Many lenses can focus slightly past infinity, so the hard stop may not give the sharpest result.
Better options:
- Use live view/EVF magnification if your camera offers it, and manually fine-tune focus on a bright point or distant detail.
- Add temporary light with a torch/flashlight to help autofocus or manual focus.
- Focus on a lit object at roughly the same distance as your subject, then recompose.
- For landscapes, use hyperfocal-distance technique if you know your focal length and aperture.
- If nothing else works, use trial and error: start near infinity, take a shot, review at high magnification, and adjust.
Stopping down the aperture can also give you more depth of field, making focus less critical, if your exposure allows it.
So: no, don’t just crank the ring to infinity and assume it’s correct—use magnified live view, a focusing aid light, or test-and-adjust.
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