Thursday 22 October 2009

Adjusting Infinity Focus

I found that one of my wide angled lenses was not reaching infinity so I decided to have a go at fixing it myself. It wasn't an expensive purchase but the lens was in fantastic condition and is quite rare. Many lenses have a similar setup for infinity focus adjustment.

The following details how I set about rectifying the problem. The folloing is for illustration purposes only. I take no responsibility for any damage caused to your equipment. All repairs should be left to an experienced technician.

1. Remove the nameplate by unscrewing it. Often you can unscrew them by using both thumbs pressing in on the nameplate. If they are stiff, there is a rubber tool which can be used.




2. Remove the screws in the coverplate shown here.



3. Set the lens to infinity focus.

4. Slacken, but do not remove the retaining screws shown here. The focus barrel will now move independently of the focus ring (twist the focus ring to check that it is indeed free, as this should now not affect focus).




5. Ensure the focus ring is set to infinity, then twist the barrel a fraction and check focus on a far off subject on the horizon. Tighten one of the retaining screws and recheck focus.

6. Repeat #5 until the sharpest focus is obtained.

7. Reassembly is the reverse of the steps above
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Friday 9 October 2009

PhoDOGraphy

I was supposed to be shooting birds of prey at a local falconry centre, but with my best lens for this task on loan (why did I give my wife my old DSLR?), I didn't have the right equipment for the job. Add to this the overcast lighting and it was obvious that this wasn't going to happen, so I started to look around for other opportunities.

However, in the centre there was a family of labradors. Knowing how they will do anything for food, I decided to bribe them with my sandwiches to get their attention.



The camera used was a Canon 40D and the lens is a Canon 50mm F1.8 which was used at F2.8 or wider to limit the depth of field (and focus is on the nearest eye of course).






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