where to foucs during fireworks shoot ?


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erictan8888

Senior Member
Nov 9, 2004
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Singapore
hi,

fireworks are shot into the sky in front of fullerton building....

just like to know: if i focus at fullerton building, and since the fireworks in front of building, woud the shot turn out soft, as in out of focus on the fireworks ?

how would you rectify this problem ? using D70s.... how do i focus to infinity and also, how do i ensure that the fireworks would turn out sharp on the picture?

pls advise
thanks
 

do a search...

anyway... i think i am a good boy... so i help u answer...

you see your lens, whats the maximum focusing distance? i think NO lens in the world can focus on the fireworks except go all the way to infinity... or you stand right next to the fireworks when it explode...
 

so how to focus to infinity? that's my question...

thanks
 

can see the infinity sign, but far objects NOT in focus.....

read somewhere that the when the window of the lens show infinity, need not be infinity.... due to something about calibration....

hai.... seems like have to just make do with something less than infinity focus....
if i focus on a far building and change from auto focus to manual, can i assume than that it is infinity focus?
 

i think you test out in broad daylight first on your manual focus. See through the viewfinder. To the 'far away' appears to be in focus? and yeah, BTW, what aperture are you using? f1.8?
 

"First put the camera on a tripod. Next aim it where all the action is going to be and set the zoom/lens such that will capture the area that you will need it to. This might be a bit difficult to do until the fireworks start. Focus will likely be to infinity so get it there and turn your auto focus off. Next set the camera to manual mode. Now, there is no one exact setting that anyone here will be able to tell you but here is where you can start. Start off with 4 second shutter and f/8.0 aperture. Now just wait until you see the trail of a firework going up and open the shutter sometime before the explosion. It's ok to open it a little earlier because this will just capture the tail of it going up AND the explosion which is OK. Once a the first shot or two are captured you should be able to look at the LCD and determine if it looks good. If not, adjust your setting to compensate and shoot again.
Alternatively you can set the shutter to 30 seconds (max for your camera I believe) or bulb mode if you have a remote, and just leave the shutter open for as long as you want for as many explosions as you want and when you want to stop exposing you can either release the bulb mode if you were using it, or simply put something dark in front of the lens like a dark hat, tshirt, cardboard painted black, whatever and wait for the shutter to close.
You may have to stop the aperture down more with these longer exposures if you are getting overexposed on some of the ambient light other than the fireworks, like lights on buildings, etc. - quoted from somewhere...
 

for me,i just set the AF/MF to MF then turn focus ring to infinity.

confirm before firework that there's no beep (focus) sound coming from the cam when you press the shutter.
 

I have a S1. There is this infinity sign when i do manual focus and jog dial up all the way so is that the focus to infinity thing? So for fireworks is at wide or telephoto focus?
 

revenent said:
I have a S1. There is this infinity sign when i do manual focus and jog dial up all the way so is that the focus to infinity thing? So for fireworks is at wide or telephoto focus?
Fireworks can be at wide or telephoto, depending on how you want to frame it.
 

erictan8888 said:
can see the infinity sign, but far objects NOT in focus.....

read somewhere that the when the window of the lens show infinity, need not be infinity.... due to something about calibration....

hai.... seems like have to just make do with something less than infinity focus....
if i focus on a far building and change from auto focus to manual, can i assume than that it is infinity focus?
Think you're referring to hyperfocusing, sorry ah this is something I don't know.
 

ortega said:
telephone? 1800-lightup?
Type too fast liao... old liao eyes cannot see properly, fingers also cannot type properly.
 

espn said:
Type too fast liao... old liao eyes cannot see properly, fingers also cannot type properly.

no problem, just jesting, :bsmilie:

thank goodness for AF, otherwise i also cannot focus
 

don forget about shutter release and the black card...
 

I normally focus on background. As the fireworks are moving lights and probably it will be blurred anyway. The background, which is stationary, should get the focus. And the firework will turn out just nice. Anyway, use a small aperture like F8 and above to try getting the deepest DOF.
 

Before the sky darks, focus on one of the buildings in your background, and lock your focus. While shooting, I just set the camera to bulb mode, f11, ISO 100 and shoot..
 

awr man, I think I used the wrong settings for the fireworks.

Is f5.6 ok for ISO50(velvia)?
 

fuzzy said:
awr man, I think I used the wrong settings for the fireworks.

Is f5.6 ok for ISO50(velvia)?

Normally F8 - F11 will be safer. Because of the long exposure. But since you are on ISO50. I think you need like 4 to 6 seconds exposure. (Not very sure for film though).
 

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