Focus area

[telscossie]

Can anyone tell me where they would focus on a formation of planes in flight like the red arrows , in the middle ? Nearest first ? Or any thing else so I got best chance of getting most planes in focus . Thanks

[Paul_Reflex]

Ideally you should focus on a point about 1/3rd of the way into the group. In practice though, even at f5.6, and at that distance, if one is in focus then they all should be. My camera seems to love the contrast of the smoke and is much more keen to lock on to that than the aircraft.

[telscossie]

Thanks , so you wouldn’t say a higher f number would be better say like f14-f16 ?

[Paul_Reflex]

Lenses don't tend to perform very well at those sort of aperture settings because of diffraction. At the sort of focal distance we're talking about f8 should be more than enough depth of field, even for a large formation.

I hope that helps, I'm sure others may have a different take on this.

[wallace]

I've tried anticipating and moving the AF point to say the left hand side tracking one particular aircraft in the formation with mixed results but considering it's in the sky with not so many distractions, I would be tempted to select f/8 and activate all the AF points letting the camera figure out while one to focus upon.

The longer the focal length the less depth of field you have and the wider the aperture the less of that there is, so use as much as you dare!

[Brevet Cable]

What camera & lens make & model, as it could help when it comes to suggestions?
( Your previous posts mention Nikon D300 & D800 with Nikon 70-200 & 200-500 & a Sigma 150-600...also a Canon 7D-II, Canon 100-400 & Tamron 150-600 )

As for depth of field, you may find the following on-line calculator useful : http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

[telscossie]

I am using canon 7d mk ii now , 70-200 f/2.8 with 2x extender