Stupid question. For telephoto lenses, what's the easiest was to focus?

Autofocus isn't an option.

I took some snaps at 1000mm today. There's no light falloff that I could see. :thumbsup:

Except what I had thought was a pretty sharp focus turned out to be a bit soft. :cry:

I've 7 days to return this lens. Should I give up or is there a clever way to focus an object? My glasses are of a recent prescription so I know they're okay...

Thx!

A little prism or something that lines up when it's in focus? Most of the SLRs I've ever used had one, and that's how I usually focused them.

There is no link between lens and camera to tell the lines where to go. (Even with the for-Minolta lenses, there is no such benefit that I'm aware of. :-( But I do much better at manually focusing the for-Minolta lenses, so what's up with this generic lens? Hmm...)

I can easily see when it's out of focus, but pinpoint accuracy is needed once one starts to get near the proper focus.

One just can't take snaps with a lens that large - pictures will blur considerably because the slightest move will be magnified. Shooting without tripod needs an aperture time of at least 1/1000th with that lens if you want to get a crisp picture. Also, if you keep the diaphragm at the largest aperture, this will almost inevitably lead to a "softer" image - unless you have a very good tele lens.

Get a decent, stable tripod and a remote or cable release, try different diaphragm apertures as well.

Good luck with that monster!

That was my first thought - you most likely had it in focus, but the camera shook when you snapped the picture.

How long is that lens? You might want to mount the lens itself on the tripod.

I did take the pictures on my mid-duty $50 tripod but that tripod has had its day... I bought the new one today.

I had that fear when taking the snaps as the camera's mirror being raised created jitter. But the out-of-focus effect is not in a up-down action that you'd see (the exposure interval was 1/90th second at f16, ISO 100). The lens itself is fixed aperture, f16 at 1000mm, f9.9 at ISO 600.

But what you're also saying about aperture time does make sense as to softer photos...

Something tells me I should use this device for 600-800 and ditch the 900-1000mm factors, or just return it and save something like $480 after filters and such are returned... :-( I can get effective 600mm with my 300mm lens + teleconverter and get very decent results, though far away close-ups wouldn't be possible. (but as I'm seeing that I'm having trouble focusing the thing due to a nervous system condition that keeps me jittery all the time...)

The telephoto lens itself is decent quality for the price, but it is not professional gear by any means. To get pro gear similar to my 100-300mm lens, I'd have to spend thousands.

Which means I can only use this thing reliably on bright sunny days. I'm not sure it's worth the price I paid...

and if it's still blurry, then the lens might not be any good for ya.

Sorry to hear your're having troubles with this.

I'd love to have a 1000mm! Biggest I have is 300, and while it's okay, I found a lot of times it just wasn't enough. Especially when i was in Alaska. Damn well wish I'd bought a new lens for that trip.

Oh well.

Turns 300 into 600. Focusing is still an issue as my 300mm lens has partially stripped gears, but it works... the shots I took today are nice and crisp...

I'll definitely give the new tripod a shot... hope it works, but if not at least I've $480 to save...

Mmmm.....medium format. I bought one just to try it two years ago (two years ago this weekend, in fact!), and wow! It's just a cheapie little $200 totally manual job with a fixed lens, but takes some might fine pictures. I'd love to get a serious one. Maybe I should sell my 35mm stuff and go medium format exclusively...

a teleconverter is the way to go...

but a cheap lens may not be as sharp as a pricey lens... that's why the sell pricey lenses.

It could be the edge of a building. Just shoot something that stands out against the background and is 100% vertical. It's impossible to screw that up, so line it up in your viewfinder, focus, and snap away.

If it still comes out blurred, there's something wrong with your lens.