Digital SLR Focusing

[PhotoGnat]

I have a Canon Rebel T2i and I am still very new at photography in general, let alone digital photography. One thing I have had difficulty tackling is getting a good focus. I don't like to use AF because it never turns out the way I like it so more often than not I use MF. I don't have the best eyes to begin with so usually I will use my LCD display. I discovered that my camera can zoom in on the shot without actually zooming in it basically magnifies an area of the shot I'm taking on the LCD screen so I can get a better look at the details and that is what I'll do when I want to get a better focus, I magnify my shot, focus then return to normal magnification. I still can't seem to get a decent focus though and my shots often lose a lot of detail because of it. I know that apature can also play a part in the clarity and focus as well. Any tips for a better focus? I am also using a stock lens so that might be part of the reason too. Still any suggestiosn would be great!

Thanks in advance!

[inkista]

Originally Posted by PhotoGnat

I have a Canon Rebel T2i and I am still very new at photography in general, let alone digital photography. One thing I have had difficulty tackling is getting a good focus. I don't like to use AF because it never turns out the way I like it so more often than not I use MF.

.... and there's your problem right there. Trust the AF. It's going to be more accurate than you manually focusing most of the time. If you know how to control the AF.

Using liveview and 10x magnification to manually focus only works if the camera doesn't move and shift the DoF. On a tripod is probably the best way to do this technique. While handholding, not so much.

Tips for focusing:

1). If you can, stop the lens down (use a smaller aperture/bigger f-number) to increase your DoF and make focusing a little less critical. Shooting with a lens wide open is going to soften the lens, as well as possibly introduce vignetting and more CA than you want to deal with. Stopping down a stop or two will increase the lens's performance, give you a bigger focus target to hit and will still blur the background if you're shooting with a fast prime.

2). Learn to use the single center AF point and to half-press and recompose. Aim for areas of high-contrast (ideally, where black meets white).

3). Learn which focus modes to use and when.

4). Learn back-button autofocus.

[sk66]

Yeah, use f/8...and trust the camera if you have bad eyes...
Oh, and read the manual about adjusting the diopter setting...
And everything Inksta said.