autofocus won't get you everything.
Apr. 18th, 2006 11:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frobzwiththingzThere are reasons to live out at the Edge of Nowhere in Westford.
Tonight, after i got home from work, still fighting my head cold, i decided to take a dunk in the hot tub. It was just about dusk. I got in, and started to enjoy my soak and tea and a couple of Girl Scout Cookies. Thats when i heard something going "crunch crunch" in the woods behind me. I turned around, and there was a deer coming out of the wooded area in the backyard. It went over to the compost pile, rooted around a bit, then walked around the yard a little, pretty much ignoring the human in the hot tub that was watching. It would look over when i made crackling noises getting more girl scout cookies out of the plastic wrapper, but didn't seem concerned. Eventually it moved into the neighbors yard and then disappeared off into the woods again. I continued to soak. Then i went in. As i went inside, i thought i heard more crunching noises out in the woods, so i decided that i should get my camera and see if the deer came back. By this time, though, it was pitch black outside. I got the 20D, the 75-300 lens and the 430 speedlite.
As i figured, the autofocus wasn't going to be able to do anything under these conditions. I was now on the deck, the woods are about 75 ft away. I cant see anything out there, it's too dark. But i can hear the deer out there. I set the camera for 1/500th, 5.0 aperture, ISO 800, and turned on the Speedlite. move AF switch to manual focus. Guess. Point camera at noise. Fire.
Score! To the left is our compost pile.
looking at the LCD screen, it looks like i need to make a focus ring adjustment. Meanwhile, noise seems to be moving left.
Turn left. Fire off a few more. Miss. Miss. Miss.
Yep. moving toward the swamp.
Adjust focus ring again; target is moving away from me. No, noise is getting louder. he's closer. Fire off a few more shots. binary search on correct focus setting.
Not too bad, for the conditions.
F5.0, ISO 800, 1/500th sec. focal length 220mm, hand-held. I can't see the target with the naked eye.
not a bad way to fritter away a half hour.
Tonight, after i got home from work, still fighting my head cold, i decided to take a dunk in the hot tub. It was just about dusk. I got in, and started to enjoy my soak and tea and a couple of Girl Scout Cookies. Thats when i heard something going "crunch crunch" in the woods behind me. I turned around, and there was a deer coming out of the wooded area in the backyard. It went over to the compost pile, rooted around a bit, then walked around the yard a little, pretty much ignoring the human in the hot tub that was watching. It would look over when i made crackling noises getting more girl scout cookies out of the plastic wrapper, but didn't seem concerned. Eventually it moved into the neighbors yard and then disappeared off into the woods again. I continued to soak. Then i went in. As i went inside, i thought i heard more crunching noises out in the woods, so i decided that i should get my camera and see if the deer came back. By this time, though, it was pitch black outside. I got the 20D, the 75-300 lens and the 430 speedlite.
As i figured, the autofocus wasn't going to be able to do anything under these conditions. I was now on the deck, the woods are about 75 ft away. I cant see anything out there, it's too dark. But i can hear the deer out there. I set the camera for 1/500th, 5.0 aperture, ISO 800, and turned on the Speedlite. move AF switch to manual focus. Guess. Point camera at noise. Fire.
Score! To the left is our compost pile.
looking at the LCD screen, it looks like i need to make a focus ring adjustment. Meanwhile, noise seems to be moving left.
Turn left. Fire off a few more. Miss. Miss. Miss.
Yep. moving toward the swamp.
Adjust focus ring again; target is moving away from me. No, noise is getting louder. he's closer. Fire off a few more shots. binary search on correct focus setting.
Not too bad, for the conditions.
F5.0, ISO 800, 1/500th sec. focal length 220mm, hand-held. I can't see the target with the naked eye.
not a bad way to fritter away a half hour.
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Date: 2006-04-19 05:16 am (UTC)