The infinity focus on my favorite lens is off by about 2.3 light years.

As a newb to photography let alone Astro photography, this video was immense. Excellently explained and not overly complicated by using every photography terminology in the book. It was explained so that just about everyone on the planet could understand without sounding condescending. Thank you..... I have just taken my first creative in focus Astro shot. And it’s fantastic..... Living in the countryside we have excellent stars and no light pollution. I just need to explain the mucky welly footprints through the house as I came in and out of house to finally find this video to solve my focus issues. Sincerely thank you

Took my first astro images last night and took hundreds of slightly out of focus frames of Pleiades and Andromeda after focusing at "infinity"!! :( This video is a total game changer!! Fingers crossed for clear skies tonight! Thanks for the great explanation!

Thanks for this tip! I gave astrophotography a try when I was in Switzerland, but I couldn't get the focus 100% good so the images were a bit out of focus. Will give it a try again with these tips!

glad I found you...infinity with and without the L slash ..a lot of photographers like me till today didn't realise this..

Thanks for the video, James. Very clear explanation of the process, and several great hints.

I'm going to try this today. Great tip!

This was precise and very helpful, thank you!! :)

This video is straight to the point and mega helpful. Subbed! Just took my very first out of focus Astro shot last night 😂 but I’m super proud I got the Milky Way in the shot.

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Glad you found this useful! Taking an out of focus astro shot is a right of passage. You'll ace it soon enough!

@galaxydreaming

5 жыл бұрын

James Brew I think I got it! I marked the infinity and tried again last night. Looks better on the viewfinder 😂 thanks again!

Thank you James for solving my my focus problem, just started astrophotography and thought infinity setting on lens was infinity, how wrong I was.Many thanks for enlightening video

I'm still having trouble getting focus at night, but i will try the day time that you suggested! hope it works!

I love your perspective! I will keep experimenting. Thank you James!

Absolutely great tips here. Essential for astro photography. Great work here James.

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much Tim - yeah I feel focus is one of the main things people get wrong with astro and therefore the biggest barrier to good shots

Great video James, really well put together and well explained. I have a lost a shot or two from soft focus. Thanks for sharing your tips mate.

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much Adrian - incredibly easy to get wrong so hopefully this might save some people that pain

very helpful! Thank you!!

Thanks for the great info.

Thanks mate for explaining it so simple. Love it. Tomorrow is going out to do astrophotography for the first time. Definitely will use your technique before I go.

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Good luck! Thanks for watching 🙏

Awesome, James. Thanks.

nc tips, I am impressed because the tips that he said is so sharp, now my pics are now great

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear it has helped you

Good stuff, thanks!

Excellent James! I’m going to do this... thanks!!

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much Rachel - hope this will be useful for you 👍

Great video. Very helpful. Rokinon 14mm just arrived (Samyang equivalent) and focusing challenges immediately presented. This helps a lot! New subscriber.

Thanks for the tips. I tried to do it last night with no real plan in mind with my fastest lens. A 50mm 1.4. They all were out of focus but it was fun seeing the details of the night sky I couldn’t see with my eyes.

Thank you for excellent video.

Useful video James, thank you. I gave up astrophotography years ago because 1) I could never get it in focus and 2) could never stay awake. I am now half way to getting back into it.

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Cheers John - yeah it's definity not the easiest or most socialable photography form. Focus is so easy to get wrong, I thought putting this video together would be useful as I can then refer back to it on all future astro vlogs...well that's the plan anyways 🙂 Hope you get out there trying out these techniques soon

Thanks for this video

I have been looking into getting a Samyang 14mm f2.8 but they are a bit out of my budget as I am just starting out in photography so I will have to make do with my kit lens. Thank you for this great video can't wait to see more.

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Daniele 🙏

Ty so much for this

Great tips James and useful for any kind of infinity focus (which is where I normally focus anyway)

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Cheers Ralph! Yeah I hope its useful for those struggling with focus, it's an 'unsexy' area that is easy to look past with usually terrible consequences

Great tips

thanks, was very helpful.

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

Cheers David 👍

Wow i remember following you a while back when you was starting our you look like your topping the bill mate, grade videos great tips and all laid out well..

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much Paul! I hope these tips will be useful 👍

Great video thanks a lot helped me a lot😀📸

Excellent tutorial.

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much Gary 🙂

You rock, ty!

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you

Great tutorial

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you 👍

Great tips James! Going to do some night photography tomorrow evening if the clouds stay away!

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Good luck! 😁

@joefranks4235

3 жыл бұрын

@@JamesBrewphoto Two things I look out for when I do my night photography is the moon rise and moon set for that evening, plus if it is going to be cloudy or clear. No point in trying to take photos at night of the stars with the moon up as it washes out the stars.

thank you very useful

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks David

Thank you very much for the enlightening and informative video James. I'd like to ask how far away you need to be from the item you focus on, in order to set the infinity mark on the lens accurate? Thanks in advance!

Microfourthirds lenses just keeps on turning 😂 great tips none the less buddy! Thanks! Looking forward to more astro related stuff!

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

I've never actually used a Microfourthirds lens so I didn't really factor that in...doh! I'll just have to do another focus video especially for them 😉 Thanks for your support

I like to check focus during the shoot, but even with max view zoom it can be hard to tell if it's dead on. So, I use a Carson 10x LumiLoupe magnifier placed right on the LCD. You can see individual pixels in live view and really nail the focus.

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much Jeffery! Not sure about topping the bill, I feel I'm still very much a z lister 🤣

Thank you.

Well, I have a Canon EOS R camera with an RF 24-240mm zoom lens F4-6.3 IS USM. Wanted to get a lens with a lower f-stop, but those are rather expensive so I settled for this one for now. I shoot time lapse for northern lights. My previous Canon had the lens with infinity on it so it wasn't an issue, now the newer lenses do not have an infinity setting. I will have to do as you suggest and mark with pencil or tape what the infinity setting is in the daylight so when I am setting up my camera in total darkness there won't be an issue with getting a clear photo(s). There is no object in the distance that can be focused on because I set up my shot to the horizon over Lake Superior in northern Michigan. The camera doesn't have an object to focus on so I have to manually set the focus. I was able to with no problem having an infinity marking, but the newer lenses don't have the marking.

Thanks for the video James. I was once told not to bother marking my lenses because the infinity point could change with temperature conditions. Do you think that’s true or are any variations likely to be unnoticeable?

I just use the liveview and zoom in on a star, adjust the focus, and voilà!

@joshmcdzz6925

2 жыл бұрын

my live view get awfully grainy at night and it's so unusable ( poor d850 )... you're lucky LV works for you...

Good tips. I assume that cranking up the ISO can make stars pop into view via live view or EVF. My Rokinon (same lens) has the infinity mark off by about the same amount. Hyperfocal is no help when you get a 2.8 lens to use wide open.

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Yes good point on Iso 👍

I used Jupiter with live mode to focus since it's pretty much the brightest thing after the moon in my area, my stars are quite round.

Brilliant tips. I’m lucky my 16-35 focuses at infinity. But sadly not the best lens for Astro, it’s the f4 version. Really enjoyed James.

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed it. Yeah f4 is not ideal but it's still useful for things like star trails or moonlight scenes 🙂

@ekredel

5 жыл бұрын

had the same problem, solved it with the truly wonderful (IMHO) Nikkor 20mm f1.8.

Great video, i just encountered a problem: the temperature. I found and marked the focus in the afternoon, but at the time I was shooting the night sky, it was nighttime, and temperatures did drop quite a lot. Cause of this, the real infinity focus wasnt where I marked it, since the tube of the lenses itself must have shrunken a bit due to the low temperatures. So a little bit of tweaking and trying will often be neccessary.

@JamesBrewphoto

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks - yes good point. Extreme changes in tempreture will cause some shifts. Best to do your infinity tests in conditions similar to those you expect to be shooting in

All good tips. Sadly this will not work on my canon lens as its focus ring is digital. Focus motor is dead silent however.

I saw the the comet Neowise last night for the first time through binoculars, and I'm blown away. I soooo wanted to take a picture, but my problem is that I have cataracts (can't get surgery till this pandemic is over ???) and manual focusing is impossible for me, because everything is blurry. I'm going to try it out your tips l tonight. I have a Nikon D7100 with a Nikkor 18-140mm. Wish me luck. Can I put your website on my Facebook page @DigiPhoThreeXStudio?

@TripleTapHK

4 жыл бұрын

Try zooming all the way in on a bright star or planet in live view with the software zoom, highest ISO and largest aperture. Then you can use the focus ring to see the image get bigger and smaller. When the image is at it's smallest, that's when your focus should be the sharpest. Maybe that will work with your cataracts?

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

Sure - good luck

Great video! What if we want to have also sharp foreground? Should we take 2 different photos and stack them and the one with the foreground should have the focus on it?

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

Yep exactly right, use focus stacking to get your depth of field. You could shoot your foreground at a narrower apperture / longer shutter speed too

Nice video James, do you use an app to determine the best conditions in advance for your astro photography?

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much Mark. Yeah I use a variety of weather apps as that is the most important consideration. Clear Outside is one of the best I find. Then its also important to understand the moon phases and positioning too (TPE and sun surveyor can help with that) 👍

nice vide 🤗

Hi there, great video. I’m just wondering how far the subject that we are focusing on need to be to achieve infinity focus please? Thank you :-)

@theatreiridescence9897

4 жыл бұрын

Had the same question, following this!

Excellent!!Thanks for the great tips. I have a question. I was trying to get a picture of an owl in the dark and of course it would not focus...too dark. tried the bulb mode and manual focus but as was dark could not get sharp focus. Any tips on this kind of spur-of-the-moment photos that need to be taken in the dark? I have a Canon 7D mark II. My lens does not have the 'infinity' markings

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

Hi Aman, you would need to shoot with a fast shutter speed to capture things like wildlife, but that will be impossible due to the low light. Your best hope would be illuminate the scene with light...but then you'll probably scare away the animal. In short, it's probably not possible without night vision equipment.

I figured out marking infinity by taking a photo yesterday before watching this video haha

I knew this trick but forgot since i hadnt taken any pictures in over 1 year. So i had to by trial and error focus shots until they started looking more and more focused, because i was in the middle of nowhere with not a single bright light far aaway to focus on, so it can still be done, but you will need trial and error waiting for the long exposures.

Great tips. Sadly they can't work for my focus by wire MFT lenses... I can use focus peaking even through the viewfinder though and seldom had any problems manually focusing. I haven't done much astrophotography either though. Cheers from Germany

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much! I've never actually used an MFT lens so have no experience on focusing with them. As a consequence I didn't really factor them into this unfortunately. Astrophotography isn't for everyone, it's a lonely and creepy pursuit. So I totally get people avoiding it. I'm heading out tonight, wish me luck! Hopefully I return with another video soon👻

To the point without the BS..tks

Use a fine point metallic ink sharpie (like gold or silver) to mark the ring on your lens for infinity focus.

I've watched a few videos about trying to achieve infinity focus and everyone seems to be fairly close to the infinity marker but I'm finding with my canon rokinon 14mm/2.8 that I'm all the way over at the 0.7 mark when focusing on a bright star, is something wrong with my lens?

Can this lens be used on a crop sensor Canon 80D, I see on Amazon it's meant for full frame. Also what are the letters in your lens name, as I see there are a few versions at a big price range. I have a Sigma 18-50 I've just bought but not tried yet.

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

I'm not sure if it can be used on crop sensor. I'm sure there must be alternative versions specifically designed for crop that might be better options for you

Great video as usual, 1 question though, I recently purchased a Samyang 14mm to pair with a D750 and I would just like to ask what aperture setting do I use on the lens? I assume I set the camera to f2.8

@JamesBrewphoto

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Yeah when shooting astro keep the lens set to its max aperture of 2.8

@pnewbury1966

3 жыл бұрын

@@JamesBrewphoto Thanks for the reply James, look forward to giving it a go. Merry Christmas.

Any idea how to find infinity on Lemux focus by wire lenses like the 12-35 f2.8?

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Do it visually in liveview by focusing in on a bright star or object at night :-)

Why is it that the focus on a relatively nearby object like that lighthouse works for stars that are a bazillion miles away?

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

That is because Infinity focus actually kicks in around 100ft away from the camera.

cheers buddy .good info ; if you turn the volume down it looks like your really angry and bollocking someone .

That was a great explanation!! I was off focus shooting the Milky Way with a manual Rokinon 24mm ƒ 1.4 . I felt that it would drift off focus..? I will use tape or pencil like you suggested and hope the next shoot will be sharp.Is there a 10x LumiLoupe magnifier that would fit my Nikon D750? Live View is the only way!!!

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching. Glad you have found it useful. I'm really not sure on that im affraid. I'm sure there must be out there somewhere

I have that same Samyang lens but for the Sony Nex E mount. I have recently purchased a Nikon camera and would like to get a converter for the lens. Do you know what this would be called?

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

Hi Emily, I do believe there are Sony e to nikon f or z mount adapters out there but don't know of any specific brands or models. I would suggest some searches via Google will provide some suggestions 👍

Rokinon 14mm f2.8 AF lens makes it very difficult to determine where the infinity focus line is. Any suggestions?

Pinstriping tape is great for marking the point.

Does humidity or other environmental variables affect the infinity focus?

Thanks for the video. Still a little confused on something. How far away does an object have to be in order to achieve true infinity focus? in this case, the lighthouse is maybe 100m away and it will achieve crisp (as possible) stars in astro-photography?

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching - depending on the lens and focal range infinity focus starts around 100ft or so away from the camera

@Jayj93pgt

4 жыл бұрын

@@JamesBrewphoto good to know. Thank you

Lets say that I want to take a pic of the moon behind the lighthouse, using this method both objects (lighthouse and moon) will be focused?

did you zoom in on the digital viewfinder or was that you zooming in with your lens? when you were pointing it at the lighthouse

@B0F

3 жыл бұрын

thanks for the video by the way, just took some photos tonight that were pretty out of focus so this should hopefully help me

@JamesBrewphoto

3 жыл бұрын

Digital zoom into your scene - this will allow you to easily judge sharpness. Thanks for watching

If infinity on your lens is a full cm from the infinity mark on the lens what use is the distance scale on the lens?

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Absolutely no use whatsoever, the whole scale is out. But I never use it anyways as I only shoot at infinity with the lens

How estimate the "infinite" focus on the stars if they are "beyond" the object we pre-focus on ??

mine dont have an infinity symbol am i out of luck? do i have to focus on a tower far away and just dont touch my camera every time? I also cant focus on stars because my live view is too dark where i live theres strong light pollution. so even sirius is too dark for me even with 10x digital zoom in the live view and my LCD brightness is at maximum already and obviously i want to take photos when the moon is NOT out so i cant use the moon either. in my testing the live view never goes longer shutter than 1/30 and runs at iso 3200 roughly so i cant just crank up the iso and shutter to make the live view brighter. and stars are too small in the viewfinder to reliably focus it either. the focuser ring is super touchy on my camera.

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

You could try finding a man made night light source that is far away from you and focus on that in live view using the same technique. The light source will need to be far away from you (aim for something 100m or further) 👍

@realflow100

4 жыл бұрын

i managed to get magic lantern installed now i can use autofocus directly on bright stars by using exposure override! woohoo! and ive tried it works much faster than manually focusing and perfectly sharp

What are best setting for zooming in on stars with Nikon p600??

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

I've never used that camera so I can't really help I'm afraid - sorry

I know focusing in photography. F stop 2 would give a narrow focus shallow like back ground blur known as bokeh. A f of 11 would give you more focusing for landscape. If you use your auto focus point on a subject the right auto focus the right way should give good focusing. I use my kit lens cheap nikon lens it really nice. It work well I love it. The lens sold it work good in low light I know what I'm doing. I know if you have 40mm lens your shutter should be 1 40 because of the length of the lens. If you use a long exposure you could use a tripod and that take care of that. I don't know much about infinity. I could get infinity with other things.

What to do if a DSLR doesn’t support “live preview mode” ( e. g. Nikon D200)? Punt? Or is there a workaround?

@JamesBrewphoto

3 жыл бұрын

Just use the viewfinder to visually check for sharpness 👍

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

If I had a focus ring, I wouldn't be looking for a movie... 🤣

How did you take that shot of the lighthouse with the milky way in the background with such a bright light coming from the lighthouse?

@JamesBrewphoto

2 жыл бұрын

It was captured in one exposure - so I didn't do anything special to achieve it

@jasonprete3165

2 жыл бұрын

@@JamesBrewphoto was the light just really not that bright to the eye?

@JamesBrewphoto

2 жыл бұрын

@@jasonprete3165 yeah basically

Do you have full magnification on the object you are focusing on? Please help.

@JamesBrewphoto

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah zoom in 100% or more to check sharpness

How to do this on lenses that don't have focus indicators (like STM lenses?) Or in the dark?

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Very difficult on lenses that don't have focus indicators. Your best just using live view zoomed in at 100% to judge focus. When doing this in the dark point towards a bright object or star and you should be able to manually focus via live view to infinity

@isbestlizard

5 жыл бұрын

@@JamesBrewphoto It would be awesome if there was a visual focus indicator, since these are allegedly focus-by-wire lenses and so should know at all times the position of the focus element :/ Why don't cameras do that? It's would be literally the easiest thing.

This doesn't work with temperature swings between day and nighttime and basically any electro-coupled lens

How to back to original focus from infinity?

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

Hi, not sure what the mean by original focus

The only thing i'm confused about - if your lens has infinity slightly to the right of the infinity symbol...what happens beyond it on your lens?

@markboweringphotography4408

5 жыл бұрын

Infinity plus one.

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Great question Jeff - my lens actually goes very slightly soft if I turn it past the sweet spot. I think the majority of lenses are calibrated correctly so that infinity should be at or very close to the marker but it's not always the case. I've owned about 4 different astro lenses now and only 1 was actually accurate out of the box

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Haha something like that 😂

How can I focus on a tree and also on the sky? Should I set up the lowest aperture?

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

It really depends on the relative distance of the tree away from the camera. If it's really far from you, then there is no real difference in which to focus on. If the tree is very close, then there is a big difference in focus results. Use narrow apertures for big depth of field, wide aperture for shallow depth of field 👍

what is infinity and why to use it?

If you are shooting wide open at f/2.8 and focused on a distant object, does that not mean that all your foreground will be out of focus in the bokeh, or am I missing something?

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

Yes it does. You would need to focus stack if you want sharp foregrounds close to camera

@oneandonlyjaybee

4 жыл бұрын

@@JamesBrewphoto ah OK, thanks. Was hoping to start photographing the northern lights, but I only have minimal app processing capabilities

Some lenses have focus by wire and no real mechanical coupling to focus. How to apply this for those lenses?

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

With those your best option to focus at night is to find a really bright distant light source and use it to set your focus to infinity. It definitely becomes a lot more difficult though

I'm confused. Why are we focusing far away, then again zoomed up?

I love you

@JamesBrewphoto

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks 🙏

@shiva7oct

5 жыл бұрын

Lol

@rappermerch7785

4 жыл бұрын

@@claudiaortizpresidentasv3245 lmao

Now tell us where the infinity line is on lenses that doest not even have distance markers. :D At least mirror-less cameras usually do display focusing scale on display.

But if I am focusing on a lighthouse that is a quarter mile away want to focus be off for the stars that are trillions of miles away?

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

Focus does not work in a linear fashion, once you get to the infinity end of the scale that covers you from objects such as the lighthouse right to the stars lightyears away. I usually find infinity kicks in at around 100 ft distance approx

@TomisaLami

4 жыл бұрын

James Brew so hi do i get to infinity focus. Like how do i know im set ro infinity

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

@@TomisaLami You'll know because distant objects will appear in sharp focus :-)

@TomisaLami

4 жыл бұрын

James Brew not if its dark out and i have Blow the picture up after it’s taken

@TomisaLami

4 жыл бұрын

James Brew Like last time we were in Yellowstone I tried to take some pictures of the mountains with the stars behind them now just focus on the farthest thing away I couldn’t tell if the stars are like focused because it was too dark

Why not just use the Hyperfocal. With this Lens is Aproximatly 3,2 meter at 2.8, then you just focus a little bit ahead ie 3,5 m and then you switch to manual and then you forget about it...

Bahtinov mask...

So this mean infinity belong to sharp and far ? Sep up ur Lense far Objekt with clear view and Mark it and turn off in night for Manually 🙂

@JamesBrewphoto

4 жыл бұрын

Yep spot on