Panny 20 - infinity focus?

[DesertRose]

Hi, how do I set the Panny 20mm to to infinity focus in the dark?

I tried last night after my first round of night shots, and couldn't figure it out and it was too dark to see anything in liveview. What I did realize is that if I manage to get focus right next time, to switch the camera dial to MF so it won't refocus between shots.

Otherwise, I think it's going to be a nice fast lens for night shots... :smile:

Happy NY,
Michelle

 

[chasm]

Unfortunately I think you don't. I'd be delighted to be proved wrong.

 

[Streetshooter]

That's probably the best way to do it Michelle....
Happy New York to you too...
oops...Happy New Years....

 

[pictor]

I have set the AE-L/AF-L button on my Pens to focus while the shutter release button locks exposure but never starts the AF. This keeps me flexible and hinders an unwanted change of focus.

 

[~tc~]

Doesn't it focus at infinity when you turn the camera on?

 

[akulya]

I cannot speak for the G series cameras, but on the Pens there is a menu function under 'AF/MF' called 'Reset Lens' which sets the lens to infinity when the camera is turned on.

I'm not convinced it is perfect, but it's better than nothing (or turning the focus ring all the way, until the lens stops moving - as this is well past infinity).

From there you can stop down apeture bit and be sure catch infinity within the DoF. But that does defeat the point of using a fast lens.

The only other way is to set focus in good light, decouple the AF cycle from the shutter and make sure you don't touch the focus ring, as Pictor said.(Mr. Hahn reccomends a rubber band around the lens for holding the focus). It is a less than ideal situation whichever way you look at it, and I think quite a few people are looking forward to a camera body/firmware update that makes this a bit easier.

 

[Streetshooter]

Why would you ever focus on infinity anyway.
Your missing alot of your DOF.

 

[deirdre]

Now you know why I used my Leica for active volcano shots. Too difficult to do the manual focus under those particular situations in low light.

 

[Cerebus2]

Why would you ever focus on infinity anyway.
Your missing alot of your DOF.

Stars. You don't do astrophotography at the hyperfocal setting. The goal for astophotography is to minimize the circles of confusion on point sources at infinity. Critical examination of stellar images is one way to tell if your infinity focus is off, even when its unnoticeable with other images.

-- C

 

[Streetshooter]

The LX5 is easier also....

 

[Streetshooter]

C, got that... Your 100% right.

 

[Djarum]

I've had the same trouble with both the 17mm and the kit lens. The best way I've gotten it to work is to use mf and turn the gain on the camera way up and use a bright star to focus on. This has worked ok. Letting the camera reset to infinity doesn't work right when focusing on stars or the moon. I've tested this several times.

 

[DesertRose]

Well, thank you everyone. RATS, though! I don't know that I can manage to get my heatpacks rubber banded onto my camera and get it all setup without bumping the lens out of focus. I am all frozen thumbs getting this stuff setup on winter nights. Might try to find a cheapie MF lens that will reliably stop at infinity (not focus past it).

 

[akulya]

DesertRose,
I found exactly the same thing; the best star photos I've taken were with a cheap M42 Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f2.8. Simply because I could actually nail the focus, my frustration was palpable.

 

[scott]

I may be missing something here (I usually am...), but to focus on infinity, I just put the camera in MF mode and rotate the focus ring counterclockwise until the focus motor stops making noise. Of course, if the lens focuses "past infinity," this approach is useless.

 

[~tc~]

Which at least my 45-200 does ....

 

[DesertRose]

DesertRose,
I found exactly the same thing; the best star photos I've taken were with a cheap M42 Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f2.8. Simply because I could actually nail the focus, my frustration was palpable.

Thanks - that's how I feel about it, too. It needs to be accurate and idiot proof if I am going to be waiting for an hour + to shoot a single exposure at 2 a.m. :smile: Finding the focus wasn't exactly perfect later is extremely frustrating.

 

[Djarum]

I may be missing something here (I usually am...), but to focus on infinity, I just put the camera in MF mode and rotate the focus ring counterclockwise until the focus motor stops making noise. Of course, if the lens focuses "past infinity," this approach is useless.

It goes past infinity for both my mFT and four thirds adapted lenses.

 

[Streetshooter]

Scott, hmmm, how far is past infinity?
I've seen a few people mention this but I'm too old to try to figure out that distance....

 

[~tc~]

I know - how can anything be further than infinity!

Alls I know is when I focus on the moon, sharp/in focus isn't the end of the travel. Perhaps they built it this way to allow for the CDAF back-and-forth?