Achieving sharp focus on manual lenses can be tricky but by using the basic features on modern digital cameras, sharp focus needn’t be a hassle. This article is primarily aimed at artists who are accustomed to digital AF lenses and are relatively new to manual lenses. For filmmaking pros, this article may seem a bit too basic so feel free to skip this one.
While most would just eyeball the focus on their subjects using the preview on their camera’s LCD display, there is a finer way to achieve a razor sharp focus. You don’t need expensive external monitors or viewfinders to be able to achieve a sharp focus on manual lenses. Just some patience.
We get a lot request from new Cinema 29 operators on how best to achieve a sharp focus, so this one’s for you guys…
Sharp Focus With Zoom
Almost all modern cameras come with a zoom preview feature, DSLRs and digital film cameras alike. This feature will allow you to zoom in on your LCD viewfinder in order to inspect minor details such as chromatic aberration, exposure and focusing.
While composing your shots, use the zoom feature to zoom in on your subject. If the subject isn’t zoomed in, use the scroll button and position the magnifier over your subject.
You may need to zoom in quite a lot or not much at all, depending on how tight you want to focus on your subject. It’s a good practice to zoom in at the maximum setting to focus on your subject as this will be more precise and reduces the chance of soft focus later on.