Focusing in dim light

[mfcphotos]

I shoot a lot at daybreak in the mountains, and setting up before daybreak presents the challenge of focusing the subject in dim light. I have found that by ensuring all filters have been removed and really concentrating, I can get a pretty decent shot. Of course this is because the light is slowly creeping in at sunrise and I can use some reference points to focus on. A while back I was in Canmore for a weekend and had a great opportunity to photograph the 3 Sisters with a full moon behind them. This was in pretty much total darkness. Despite the fact I thought I had focused in nice and tight in the minimal light, I was quite disappointed in how poor the quality of focus was when I uploaded them. We do have property in the mountains where I have been able to set up my camera on tripod in daylight and focus in beautifully, then returned to shoot at night. An awesome concept, but I can't really leave my camera out on public land for hours waiting for darkness, I don't think it will last long. I would love to hear any tricks or methods you could share on this subject.
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[Bonish Photo]

mfcphotos, wlcome to the forum and I might have a quick answer to this question, although I'd love to hear what they have to say also.

Set your lens to manual focus, focus out to infinity and back off a hair. You might want to practice it a few times during daylight hours, but I know when ever I'm shooting night time shots in total darkness, this is what I do and so far I've had pretty good luck with it.

For some reason, when the lens it focused all the way out to infinity, I dont have as sharp of a shot as when I back it off just a hair. Again, this is just something I've found through trial and error, so make sure you dont ruin a series of long exposure shots before you test it on your camera setup

Good luck, and I'd love to know how it works for you

[gldiana]

Hi and welcome,

I was going to ask you if you focused manually or automatically but Pat preceded me (as he often does ).
I, too, do focus manually when light is poor, practice during the day until you get the focus exactly where you want it. Remember that if you close your shutter a bit (say, using f/5.6 rather than f/3.5) you do get more margin for errors as you increase the depth of field.

[bob_r]

You didn't say which camera or lens you were using, but I agree with the others about using manual focus. I'd also recommend closing the aperture down to f/11 or f/16. This gives you a tremendous margin for error.

Examples:

Using my Canon 30D and a Canon 10-22 lens set at 22mm and f/16, if I set my focus at 10 feet, everything from 3.45 feet to infinity will be in focus.
Same setup, but shoot using f/11 and focusing at 10 feet, everything from 4.27 feet to infinity will be in focus.

You should be able to focus on something at 10 feet in the dark by just using a flashlight to light your subject.

[mfcphotos]

Thank you all for some great suggestions. Bob, I never considered using a flashlight, god knows I carry everything else with me.