• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Best Way To Focus WA lens

Joined
Mar 30, 2011
Messages
66
Location
North Carolina
I have been having problems getting clouds in really sharp focus, even using a moderate WA. It's hard for me to manual focus on clouds. I have heard to use hyper focal distance and have heard use auto focus. Likewise have heard don't use auto focus and set at infinity. It's me not the equipment....any suggestions?....thanks
 
I usually set my camera to infinity. That way I don't have to worry about it auto focusing if I need a quick shot. I think the photos usually come out pretty decent.
 
+1 on the infinity. Learned that while shooting lightning. Camera has trouble focusing in low light, just set to infinity and open the shutter. As for clouds, alot of camera's sensors have trouble getting accurate AF on things like the sky.
 
Hmmm, this sounds odd. Two approaches ideas here:
1. Set to Manual focus mode, and then set the lens at infinity (depending what camera a single point AF might show up as pretty good)
2. Perhaps its your shutter speed being too low, this can give the appearance of movement in the photo which can appear as OOF. To correct this bump up ISO or Aperture if you can.
 
Thanks for the responses.....I'll experiment tomorrow set at infinity. Today, I was using an 11-18 & 24-105 and could not manual focus with either due to the focal lengths. Might just be this old man's sight.
 
Also, remember that lenses are at their sharpest at moderate apertures, and usually are less sharp at either end of their range. Most lenses I have are tack sharp at f/8 - f/11 *IF* that aperture allows for a fast enough shutter speed at the aperture/ISO I have selected. In the days of film and full size sensors there was an old rule-of-thumb that you need at least a shutter speed of 1/X where X=the focal length of your lens in order to hand hold the shot. With the APS sized digital sensors it is a good idea to go one stop faster than that.

Considering this is storm photography, you might not have the luxury of using f/8. My opinion is to bump the aperture at least one stop up from wide open if you can, then compensate with the ISO. In my opinion, a little more grain is much more acceptable than a soft shot due to camera movement.
 
Thanks for the responses.....I'll experiment tomorrow set at infinity. Today, I was using an 11-18 & 24-105 and could not manual focus with either due to the focal lengths. Might just be this old man's sight.

Set to infinity and use the focus index when you do so, not the viewfinder.
 
If the clouds lack sharp edges, you could try autofocusing on a distant horizon, which will typically give you an infinity setting.
 
The problem with many of the autofocus lenses is that they focus slightly beyond infinity. My old manual 35 mm lenses would easily stop at infinity. With autofocus, I'll usually let it focus on something near the horizon though getting a focus my be difficult in dark rainy conditions. Some folks will find infinity and make a small mark on the lens ring and the camera to align when needed.

Bill Hark
 
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