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G5X Macro & Focusing

HpW
Apprentice

Well,

 

happy owner after my old stolen G12, while the G5X has the same nice monitor flap 😄

 

Now to my problem:

 

1. I am using the camera to made pictures of my plumeria in full flower or simple the thinny not opened flower bin

2. I set the camera to the macro on the setup

 

3. I place the camera very close to the flower

4. On sunny day, to get a focus on on thin parts: may the background gets focuesd

5. Using the zooming .. focus is a nightmare. In other words gone!

 

it is more or less impossible to focus... on small parts..

 

hp

 

11 REPLIES 11

ScottyP
Authority

I am not really familiar with the Powershot cameras but I do have a 100mm macro lens for my DSLR. The thing about macro is you have a tiny tiny depth of field that is going to be in focus and most of the stuff in the image will be out of focus.  When you are that close to the subject it is hard to focus normally on the little part you want to be in focus. 

 

Even with DSLR and a macro lens you usually end up using manual focus instead of autofocus, and even then you often cannot use the lens ring to focus because the adjustments are so incredibly fine.  I usually have to use the focus ring to get the focus approximately right but then I stop focusing and just move the camera forward and back just a little to get exactly what I want the camera to focus on. 

Scott

Canon 5d mk 4, Canon 6D, EF 70-200mm L f/2.8 IS mk2; EF 16-35 f/2.8 L mk. III; Sigma 35mm f/1.4 "Art" EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro; EF 85mm f/1.8; EF 1.4x extender mk. 3; EF 24-105 f/4 L; EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS; 3x Phottix Mitros+ speedlites

Why do so many people say "FER-tographer"? Do they take "fertographs"?

John_
Authority

Look into using the AF Frame setting it's available in Macro or Standard shots in shooting modes other than Auto and a few others. Use P mode. It allows you to move the focus frame to the area of interest you wish to be in the best focus. 

 

My settings on the picture below.

 

It's still a pain, while those settings are for full "P" and not only for the Macro settings.

 

It's still a challage to take a picture on head of a needle with full sun.

 

Hp

 

Settings of

"It's still a challage to take a picture on head of a needle with full sun." 

 

Yes, it can be quite challenging to capture some types of shots, macro shots most especially.

 

The_Quarter_Cropped.png

 

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

Set AF operation servo to off, continuous auto focus on, AF point zoom on.

Use Av or apperture value to highest no. like f8 or more , and the distance of object to camera is about one inch.

Macro will work the same as Av, only in Av you can set the f value to test every available value.

I was in P Mode - I set up a 'vivid' color scheme that is a lot more subtle than Super Vivid.  And I could easily move the focus spot - though it could also jump around on its own.  But that didn't fix the focus problem.

Personal opinion is that we may need a firmware fix to improve focusing on small, fine objects like flowers. BTW, at the NYBG Train Show, it often had trouble focusing on the S scale locomotives.

rondtroy
Contributor

I have the same problem.  Each time I visit the New York Botanical Garden, there are things, usually flowers, that autofocus is a mess on.  I went into Manual Focus, but neither of the 2 knobs / rings had any effect (collar ring - around the lens), and the black knob in front).  What gives?

How does one put it in "Manual Focus" mode?

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