# Finding the focus point!..



## iskoos (Mar 13, 2010)

Is there a program/application that show where the camera actually focused on for a specific shot?

I was viewing the pictures I took the other day and sometimes I am having a hard time to determine where actually my camera focused on. I don't always use the center point.

I hope this info is recorded somewhere in the exif file. It could be very helpful...


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## bentcountershaft (Mar 13, 2010)

Yes, if you open up DPP, select an image and then under the _View_ tab select _AF Point_.  Your focus points will be overlayed on your image in black and whichever were active will be red.


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## iskoos (Mar 13, 2010)

Man!.. May your day be bright and happy today!..

Thanks a bunch:thumbup:


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## abdulrhman (May 9, 2010)

pls i want the name of this program


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## Garbz (May 9, 2010)

abdulrhman you can download that here.


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## Big Mike (May 10, 2010)

> pls i want the name of this program





> Yes, if you open up *DPP*,



Digital Photo Professional.


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## mwcfarms (May 10, 2010)

Most camera software comes with it I thought. I know Canon and Nikon's ViexNx  both do.


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## jands (May 10, 2011)

Thank God for the search function!  Exactly the info I was looking for.


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## jands (May 10, 2011)

Is this information told by the lens stored in EXIF or by the camera?  I have an old manual focus lens with no electronics and the software isn't telling me where the focal point is.   Lens is Nikkor 105mm 2.5 AI, software is ViewNX.


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## o hey tyler (May 10, 2011)

jands said:


> Is this information told by the lens stored in EXIF or by the camera?  I have an old manual focus lens with no electronics and the software isn't telling me where the focal point is.   Lens is Nikkor 105mm 2.5 AI, software is ViewNX.


 
Maybe if the focus-confirm light was lit prior to shooting? That would be the only way I would figure the camera would "know" what it focused on with a MF lens.


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## jands (May 10, 2011)

hmmm... it sounds like my suspicions are true.  Since the lens has no electronics... there is no focus-confirm light.  The lens and camera do not talk to each other at all, that I know of.  I was just thinking, if I am selecting my focus point from the camera... it would know where the focus point is!  But I suspect not.


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## iskoos (May 10, 2011)

I was posting another threah today and I saw this with my name on it. I didn't remember first. It was over a year ago when I posted this question.
It is good to know people still benefit from it 
I gotta provide some feedback though. I have been checking the autofocus points on my pictures since then and I find it very useful but also I find the info not very accurate!! a lot of times...  Say for example I have a picture, I bring up the autofocus points; Software shows (I use Canon's zoombrowser program that came with my camera) 2 of the little squares red indicating that those points were used as focusing points. But those 2 points are greatly apart in depth: one is a person's head for example and the other point is another random landmark maybe 20-30 feet behind that same person.
There is no way the camera can focus on two different planes that are greatly apart from each other.
Any idea what's causing this?


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## o hey tyler (May 10, 2011)

My experience with Nikon's is minimal. But your suspicions may be true. I was under the impression that any Nikon lens (either AF or MF) would show a focus confirm light. My 5D does if I hold down the back button I use to focus, and then manually focus a lens. But all my lenses have AF anyway, so it's a whole different ball game.


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## analog.universe (May 10, 2011)

iskoos said:


> I was posting another threah today and I saw this with my name on it. I didn't remember first. It was over a year ago when I posted this question.
> It is good to know people still benefit from it
> I gotta provide some feedback though. I have been checking the autofocus points on my pictures since then and I find it very useful but also I find the info not very accurate!! a lot of times...  Say for example I have a picture, I bring up the autofocus points; Software shows (I use Canon's zoombrowser program that came with my camera) 2 of the little squares red indicating that those points were used as focusing points. But those 2 points are greatly apart in depth: one is a person's head for example and the other point is another random landmark maybe 20-30 feet behind that same person.
> There is no way the camera can focus on two different planes that are greatly apart from each other.
> Any idea what's causing this?


 
Do you ever focus and recompose?  If the camera locked on to 2 points, and then you recomposed the shot before you clicked the shutter, it'll record which focus points locked but it has no way to know if you then moved the camera...


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## jands (May 10, 2011)

o hey tyler said:


> My experience with Nikon's is minimal. But your suspicions may be true. I was under the impression that any Nikon lens (either AF or MF) would show a focus confirm light. My 5D does if I hold down the back button I use to focus, and then manually focus a lens. But all my lenses have AF anyway, so it's a whole different ball game.



I guess it's another question about lens vs camera.  Does the *lens* know it's in focus or does the *camera *know the lens is in focus?  Again, I suspect the lens, and since this lens has no way to talk to the camera (or to even know it's in focus since there is no electronics), it can't tell the camera.

Most manual focus lenses (I think), you can use the focus-light, but this lens is so old, that that feature is not available with it.


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## analog.universe (May 10, 2011)

I know in the canon system, the autofocus sensors and software are in the camera body.  Different lenses focus better or worse depending on which body they're attached to.  It seems however, that all you have to do is trick the body into thinking a lens has the appropriate electronics and the auto-focus confirm will work for manual lenses.  I have an M42 lens with no onboard electronics, and the adapter that I use to attach it to my Canon has a little circuit that simply tells the body that a lens is attached, it doesn't actually communicate with the lens, but that enables af confirm.


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## iskoos (May 10, 2011)

analog.universe said:


> Do you ever focus and recompose? If the camera locked on to 2 points, and then you recomposed the shot before you clicked the shutter, it'll record which focus points locked but it has no way to know if you then moved the camera...


 
Good point on recomposing!.. But no I don't generally do that. If I do, I let go and press the shutter again. Even if I don't recompose and wait for more than a few seconds, I let go and half-press the shutter again to update the metering. It is just my habbit.
And say that I did recompose w/o letting go off the shutter and captured the image, this still would not explain why there are two unrelated point of focus.

I will try and post a picture about this later. I am not sure if I should do it here or start another post about this.
I should have actually started another thread about this because this is a whole different subject to discuss on...


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## analog.universe (May 10, 2011)

iskoos said:


> And say that I did recompose w/o letting go off the shutter and captured the image, this still would not explain why there are two unrelated point of focus.



Well, if both of those points were on the same plane when it locked, and then you moved the camera such that one of them is now on the background, and the other is still on the subject, it would explain it.


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## iskoos (May 10, 2011)

analog.universe said:


> iskoos said:
> 
> 
> > And say that I did recompose w/o letting go off the shutter and captured the image, this still would not explain why there are two unrelated point of focus.
> ...


 
Himmm... You are right!.. I didn't think that way. If the both points were on the same plane first and then one might get off the same plane when the camera moves.

I will pay attention to this next time but I know myself. I don't recompose...
All my lenses are AF lenses (they are in my signauture). I guess this is due to equipments are not being perfect. Or maybe my gear is not up to it...


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## analog.universe (May 10, 2011)

How far off (in the 2d plane of the image), is the background point from the other point?  From what I've read the actual autofocus point is larger than the box that illustrates it.  Perhaps _part_ of it was over the subject?


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## jands (May 10, 2011)

analog.universe said:


> I know in the canon system, the autofocus sensors and software are in the camera body.  Different lenses focus better or worse depending on which body they're attached to.  It seems however, that all you have to do is trick the body into thinking a lens has the appropriate electronics and the auto-focus confirm will work for manual lenses.  I have an M42 lens with no onboard electronics, and the adapter that I use to attach it to my Canon has a little circuit that simply tells the body that a lens is attached, it doesn't actually communicate with the lens, but that enables af confirm.



Thanks for that info, I'll have to look into it.


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## jands (May 10, 2011)

Tyler, you were right, actually.  I was doing some tests with the 105mm AI and low-and-behold, I noticed the focus light come on.  I was like "what the heck!?".  I tried before and no light came on, so I was confused.  What I neglected to realize, though, was that that light comes on only when the shutter button is pressed halfway.  My guess is that I didn't have the button pressed when I check last time.  Thanks for the help.


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## o hey tyler (May 10, 2011)

jands said:


> Tyler, you were right, actually.  I was doing some tests with the 105mm AI and low-and-behold, I noticed the focus light come on.  I was like "what the heck!?".  I tried before and no light came on, so I was confused.  What I neglected to realize, though, was that that light comes on only when the shutter button is pressed halfway.  My guess is that I didn't have the button pressed when I check last time.  Thanks for the help.


 
No problem, I'm glad you got it all sorted out. Pretty nice to have some focus-faith in your MF lenses, huh? 

Another thing you may want to consider (if Nikon has a setting for it) is back button focusing. I use the AEL button on my 5D to engage the AF drive. However, when I hold the button down while the lens is in MF, the focus confirm light will still turn on when the image is in focus. I find it's easier than depressing the shutter half way. The shutter on the 5D is also a soft touch shutter, so it trips very easily. That also may be a deciding factor.


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