Camera settings

[Charliehoss58]

I’m trying to get a photo of several birds in a tree. It keeps focusing on one area. I have a canon 60d and wonder in manual what do I set my cameras settings at

[RobertTheFat]

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@Charliehoss58 wrote:
I’m trying to get a photo of several birds in a tree. It keeps focusing on one area. I have a canon 60d and wonder in manual what do I set my cameras settings at

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Don't confuse autofocus settings with exposure settings. You can focus manually, or manually select an autofocus point, without affecting your exposure settings, whether they are manual or automatic.

[kvbarkley]

It will focus on whatever focus point has the closest object with sufficient contrast. Set the center focus point, press the shutter halfway and hold while focusing where you want to focus, re-compose and then press the shutter fully.

This is all covered in the manual.

Note, that depending on depth of field, you might not be able to get all the birds in focus without adjusting some other things.

[Charliehoss58]

I thought there was a way to get everything in the screen to focus. The birds are throughout the tree so basically I would almost need the camera to capture what my eyes do

[kvbarkley]

That was the old A-Dep mode that is no longer available, probably because focus points take so much of the frame now.

You will have to do it yourself, figure out how far way the nearest and furthest bird is from you, and then set an Aperture that will give you the depth of field you need.

Or figure out where your hyperfocal point is and set the lens to that.

[wq9nsc]

There are a number of handy internet sites that will quickly provide you with the depth of field information you need.  NOTE: different photographers will vary in their view of whether something is within acceptable focus so the DoF you are comfortable with may vary slightly from these calculated values, especially with different subject matter.

Here is one I used a lot when planning shots in advance, make sure to enter the correct sensor aspect ratio for your camera before choosing lens and other data:  https://www.pointsinfocus.com/tools/depth-of-field-and-equivalent-lens-calculator/#{"c":[{"f":13,"av...}

Rodger

[Waddizzle]

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@Charliehoss58 wrote:
I thought there was a way to get everything in the screen to focus. The birds are throughout the tree so basically I would almost need the camera to capture what my eyes do

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I prefer.a table view of DoF.  

http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html 

I refer to this table frequently,  I like to look up hyperfocal distances for my different lenses.

[ebiggs1]

"The birds are throughout the tree so basically I would almost need the camera to capture what my eyes do"

That is not going to happen.  The only way to get close is to use a "normal" FL lens (30mm on a Rebel or 50mm on a FF) and get far enough back to increase the DOF to include the whole tree.  However, this will make the birds very small in the tree.

If you really think about it, this is probably how you look at the tree anyway. Your eyes and brain really just concentrate on the exact spot you are looking at. Otherwise focusing on, and the peripheral vision isn't all that sharp until you look at exactly that point. A camera can't do that.

[kvbarkley]

Except for the now defunct Lytro.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lytro

[RobertTheFat]

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@kvbarkley wrote:

Except for the now defunct Lytro.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lytro

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I vaguely recall that company. (Who said we senior citizens can't remember things?!) It's too bad the laws of physics are as complicated and inflexible as they are. Who knows how many interesting products we'd be using otherwise?