Lesson Info
45. Digital Focus Assistance
Summary (Generated from Transcript)
The topic of the lesson is focused on the fundamentals of photography, specifically digital focus assistance techniques.
Q&A:
What are some new features introduced in mirrorless cameras for focusing?
The LCD on the back of the camera and the electronic viewfinder (EVF) can be used for focusing, especially in bright sunlight.
How does the focusing scale on Fuji cameras work?
When the lens is turned, the focusing scale on the bottom of the camera moves, and a blue line indicates the depth of field in focus.
What is peaking and how does it help with focusing?
Peaking is a feature available on many cameras that highlights areas in focus by shimmering. It is a good general system, but may not be precise enough for lenses with a shallow depth of field.
What is dual image focusing on Fuji cameras?
It allows the user to have a second image box outside of the center frame for magnification, providing more flexibility in composition.
What is digital split image focusing and how does it work?
Digital split image focusing mimics the split image finders on older cameras. It uses lines that need to be aligned to ensure correct focus. This feature is available on modern cameras in both black and white and color.
What are the different options for manual focusing and autofocus?
For DSLRs, manual focusing can be done using the viewfinder or the LCD on the back of the camera. Autofocus options include single point, group point, and all point focusing.
What are the recommended autofocus options for action photography?
Group point and all point focusing are recommended for action photography. Continuous focusing with single point is difficult to maintain accuracy.
What are the focusing options in live view mode?
In live view mode, focusing options include single, continuous (not recommended for most situations), and face recognition. Some cameras also allow for focusing on the left or right eye of a subject.
What are the advantages of mirrorless cameras for focusing?
Mirrorless cameras offer the ability to focus equally well using either the viewfinder or the LCD on the back of the camera. The LCD is especially useful for alternative points of view and can be handy with cameras that have flip-out screens.
Which camera brand has good subject tracking for continuous focusing?
Nikon is mentioned as having a good subject tracking feature that can lock onto and track a specific object.
Lessons
Class Introduction
23:32 2Photographic Characteristics
06:46 3Camera Types
03:03 4Viewing System
22:09 5Lens System
24:38 6Shutter System
12:56 7Shutter Speed Basics
10:16 8Shutter Speed Effects
31:57Camera & Lens Stabilization
11:06 10Quiz: Shutter Speeds
07:55 11Camera Settings Overview
16:12 12Drive Mode & Buffer
04:24 13Camera Settings - Details
10:21 14Sensor Size: Basics
18:26 15Sensor Sizes: Compared
24:52 16The Sensor - Pixels
22:49 17Sensor Size - ISO
26:59 18Focal Length
11:36 19Angle of View
31:29 20Practicing Angle of View
04:59 21Quiz: Focal Length
08:15 22Fisheye Lens
12:32 23Tilt & Shift Lens
20:37 24Subject Zone
13:16 25Lens Speed
09:03 26Aperture
08:25 27Depth of Field (DOF)
21:46 28Quiz: Apertures
08:22 29Lens Quality
07:06 30Light Meter Basics
09:04 31Histogram
11:48 32Quiz: Histogram
09:07 33Dynamic Range
07:25 34Exposure Modes
35:15 35Sunny 16 Rule
04:31 36Exposure Bracketing
08:08 37Exposure Values
20:01 38Quiz: Exposure
20:44 39Focusing Basics
13:08 40Auto Focus (AF)
24:39 41Focus Points
17:18 42Focus Tracking
19:26 43Focusing Q&A
06:40 44Manual Focus
07:14 45Digital Focus Assistance
07:35 46Shutter Speeds & Depth of Field (DOF)
05:18 47Quiz: Depth of Field
15:54 48DOF Preview & Focusing Screens
04:55 49Lens Sharpness
11:08 50Camera Movement
11:29 51Advanced Techniques
15:15 52Quiz: Hyperfocal Distance
07:14 53Auto Focus Calibration
05:15 54Focus Stacking
07:58 55Quiz: Focus Problems
18:54 56Camera Accessories
32:41 57Lens Accessories
29:24 58Lens Adaptors & Cleaning
13:14 59Macro
13:02 60Flash & Lighting
04:47 61Tripods
14:13 62Cases
06:07 63Being a Photographer
11:29 64Natural Light: Direct Sunlight
28:37 65Natural Light: Indirect Sunlight
15:57 66Natural Light: Mixed
04:20 67Twilight: Sunrise & Sunset Light
22:21 68Cloud & Color Pop: Sunrise & Sunset Light
06:40 69Silhouette & Starburst: Sunrise & Sunset Light
07:28 70Golden Hour: Sunrise & Sunset Light
07:52 71Quiz: Lighting
05:42 72Light Management
10:46 73Flash Fundamentals
12:06 74Speedlights
04:12 75Built-In & Add-On Flash
10:47 76Off-Camera Flash
25:48 77Off-Camera Flash For Portraits
15:36 78Advanced Flash Techniques
08:22 79Editing Assessments & Goals
08:57 80Editing Set-Up
06:59 81Importing Images
03:59 82Organizing Your Images
32:41 83Culling Images
13:57 84Categories of Development
30:59 85Adjusting Exposure
08:03 86Remove Distractions
04:02 87Cropping Your Images
09:53 88Composition Basics
26:36 89Point of View
28:56 90Angle of View
14:35 91Subject Placement
23:22 92Framing Your Shot
07:27 93Foreground & Background & Scale
03:51 94Rule of Odds
05:00 95Bad Composition
07:31 96Multi-Shot Techniques
19:08 97Pixel Shift, Time Lapse, Selective Cloning & Noise Reduction
12:24 98Human Vision vs The Camera
23:32 99Visual Perception
10:43 100Quiz: Visual Balance
14:05 101Visual Drama
16:45 102Elements of Design
09:24 103Texture & Negative Space
03:57 104Black & White & Color
10:33 105The Photographic Process
09:08 106Working the Shot
25:29 107What Makes a Great Photograph?
07:01Lesson Info
Digital Focus Assistance
Alright, with the mirrorless cameras they've introduced a lot of new features which are really good for focusing. Now you can use the LCD on the back of the camera, like live view on the SLRs, or you can use the EVF. If you're out shooting in bright sunlight, that EVF is fantastic. That's what I tend to use and I really like being able to do that so I don't have to bring out my loop to look at the back of the camera. There's a lot of information that you might be getting in here. You can turn a lot of this stuff on and off. One of the beauties of the mirrorless camera is that you can have the same information on the back as in the viewfinder. It's not any different, whereas an SLR there's different types of information you will get in one or the other. The first thing is magnification. I just showed this to you. This is a video of how I would zoom in, find my subject, and just manually focus the lens until it's nice and sharp. Go back and forth to figure out where it is. Zoom in a litt...
le bit closer if I need to. Make sure it's nice and sharp, and then I'm gonna get it back and then I can shoot my photo and I'm gonna be absolutely positive that it's in focus. Fuji has a feature that I love on their camera. I hope we see this on other cameras. It's a focusing scale here on the bottom. On this one, when you turn the lens it's gonna move the focusing, but it's also gonna show you with the blue line how much will be in focus, depth to field wise. Peaking is something that we're seeing on a lot more cameras. Most all of the cameras will have this now, even some of the SLRs will have it in the live view mode. It shimmers areas in highlight that it is in focus. This is a good general system, but if you are focusing with a really shallow depth to field lens, this may not be the best system. It's good but not fantastic because it's showing you a region. Sometimes you need to be more precise than this region is showing you. Dual image is a unique one for Fuji. If you think I'm talking Fuji up, I think they do a good job on a few things. When you do something unique that's helpful, I'm gonna give them some credit points there. They have a second image over here to the right. As you can see, you can move that box around and choose something else outside of the center frame and that's gonna be your magnification point. You get one box where you can see everything, one box where you can magnify. If you don't like that you can customize it and reverse them so the big box is for focusing and the small box is for composition. Fuji also has a digital split image. I'm not a big fan of this but it is kind of interesting. This mimics the way we used to focus on the older cameras. We used to have this split image, usually a micro prism split image finder. Sometimes they would put the split horizontally, sometimes they would do it diagonally, and we would line up vertical lines. When they are vertical we know that we've got things correct. They can do this in black and white, in color, now on the modern cameras. There's a number of neat, new options on those. One of the things that I would imagine, for somebody who is new to photography at this point, is that you might be feeling overwhelmed at the options because there are so many options for focusing. I decided to lay them all out so that we could see them. We have manual focus options and auto focus options. This first slide is just for DSLRs. You can use the view finder. It's simple and it's fast, but if you really wanna be precise you use the LCD on the back of the camera because it's gonna be very, very accurate because you can see exactly what the lens is seeing. With auto focus we have single auto focus and then from there we can generally choose single point, group point, and all point. The single point is gonna be very precise because you get to choose exactly where it needs to be. The middle one is not as precise but it's a little bit easier because you don't have to be as accurate in pointing it. Then we have all points which is really fast and easy, but it's the least precise and least versatile because it's just choosing whatever is closest in all those points. Then we have the option of continuous focusing. We could do continuous with single point but that's just really hard to keep that pin point on your subject so I don't even recommend this option here. Group point is great for action. This is what I think is best for action photography. Second best for action is using all points. Sometimes this will work just fine. It depends on the types of subjects that you are shooting. You can also go into live view on your camera to focus. There are focusing options down here where you can use single. It's generally kind of slow, a little bit faster with the Canon system. The continuous is very slow in live view and I don't recommend using that, really, for most anybody. Then there is also face recognition. There are some people who are all really up on face detection. I love it when there's one face. When there's two faces and they're changing, it's kind of choosing itself. On some cameras, you could press a button and switch faces or have it scroll through the faces. It's gonna work in some cases really well, other cases not so well. With a single face, it can do a really good job. Some of the systems, I'm trying to remember if it's Olympus, that allows you to focus on left eye, right eye. I think there's a couple of different ones out there. If somebody's like this, you typically want their right eye because it's closer to you in focus. If they're like this, you want their left eye because it's closer to you. You could choose left eye or right eye in focus or just focus on the face, depending on how shallow a depth to field that you're working with. Different tools for solving different problems. Let's look at the mirrorless focusing options, which are similar, with a few more in here. Auto focus, we have single auto focus with a single point. Some thing, very precise. The group point, a little bit easier because you have a larger area. Then you have all points which is very, very general in that regard. Getting into, actually we have one more. We do have the face detection down here, which can work very well. As I say, I like it with single faces. Then we get into continuous. Don't recommend the pin point, like the small group, and then if you need to you can use all if it's very, very erratic motion. Then the face detection and I could add in subject tracking here, where you pick an object. I'm trying to think, is it Nikon? Nikon does a pretty good job of doing a subject tracking. You lock it on a subject and move it around and it moves right around with it. It really recognizes the shape and color of that object and can do a very good job at that. You can manually focus with a mirrorless camera and it's gonna be very similar because it can use all of these things. Use the digital assistance, the magnification, the peaking, whatever system you like and works for the type of stuff that you are doing. With the mirrorless camera, you can focus equally well with the viewfinder or the LCD on the back of the camera. In bright light situations, it's gonna be easier to see the viewfinder because you're gonna have your eye up to it. You're not gonna have that sunlight hitting the screen the way you do on the LCD on the back of the camera. That LCD is great just for an alternate point of view. I know some of the cameras have flip out screens that you can get in all sorts of different directions. That can be really handy with those cameras there.
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Ratings and Reviews
a Creativelive Student
Love love all John Greengo classes! Wish to have had him decades ago with this info, but no internet then!! John is the greatest photography teacher I have seen out there, and I watch a lot of Creative Live classes and folks on YouTube too. John is so detailed and there are a ton of ah ha moments for me and I know lots of others. I think I own 4 John Greengo classes so far and want to add this one and Travel Photography!! I just drop everything to watch John on Creative Live. I wish sometime soon he would teach a Lightroom class and his knowledge on photography post editing.!!! That would probably take a LOT OF TIME but I know John would explain it soooooo good, like he does all his Photography classes!! Thank you Creative Live for having such a wonderful instructor with John Greengo!! Make more classes John, for just love them and soak it up! There is soooo much to learn and sometimes just so overwhelming. Is there anyway you might do a Motivation class!!?? Like do this button for this day, and try this technique for a week, or post this subject for this week, etc. Motivation and inspiration, and playing around with what you teach, needed so much and would be so fun.!! Just saying??? Awaiting gadgets class now, while waiting for lunch break to be over. All the filters and gadgets, oh my. Thank you thank you for all you teach John, You are truly a wonderful wonderful instructor and I would highly recommend folks listening and buying your classes.
Eve
I don't think that adjectives like beautiful, fantastic or excellent can describe the course and classes with John Greengo well enough. I've just bought my first camera and I am a total amateur but I fell in love with photography while watching the classes with John. It is fun, clear, understandable, entertaining, informative and and and. He is not only a fabulous photographer but a great teacher as well. Easy to follow, clear explanations and fantastic visuals. The only disadvantage I can list here that he is sooooo good that keeps me from going out to shoot as I am just glued to the screen. :-) Don't miss it and well worth the money invested! Thank you John!
JUAN SOL
Dear John, thanks for this outstanding classes. You are not only a great photographer and instructor, but your classes are pleasant, they are not boring, with a good sense of humor, they go straight to the point and have a good time listening to you. Please, keep teaching what you like most, and I will continue to look for your classes. And thanks for using a plain English, that it's important for people who has another language as native language. Thanks again, Juan