Tokina 11-16, focusing the 7D

ChuckS

ChuckS

Veteran
I'm more of a videographer than a photographer so for the past six months I've been shooting short videos to try to learn how to overcome some of the cameras limitation and my shortcomings.

I just purchased a Tokina 11-16 and I'm getting some mixed results, some video and pictures look very sharp, some don't. So I thought I would ask for some pointers since I'm pretty sure its me doing something wrong.

I'm shooting in bright daylight, ISO 100, f/14-22 range, shutter around 100 for stills and 50 for video (24P). If I'm within about 10 feet of my subject I can get tack sharp focus. With the lens set to infinity, if I move back to twenty feet or more the subject goes a little soft. I can't seem to get it in focus at all.

What am I doing wrong?
 
I never trust infinity focus for anything. Use the expanded focus to check before shooting, then you know if it's definitely focused
 
Infinity focus is a range within which adjustments can be made. Tim's suggestion is good. You may also find using f/5.6-f/11 or 16 helpful.
 
Thanks for the link, that's great.

I've done some more testing, it appears that the lens has a sweet spot around f/11. If I us an f-stop lower than f/11 things stay in focus, even at infinity - which is what I expected. If I use an f-stop higher than f/11 object beyond the total depth of field start do go soft - which I didn't expect.

I don't think this is a problem, its just me learning how to use the lens. Also, I'm no techi when it comes to shooting, I don't shoot charts, I just go out and shoot different objects under different conditions and settings and decide which pictures look the best. Not very scientific and a bit time consuming but its what I do.

Things like the DOF calculator are very valuable to me, thanks.

How do you like your Droid? Have you ever used an iPhone?
 
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