Focusing with the Centre Filter in place ?

[Martin Aislabie]

Hi guys

I have a a Schneider 47mm XL lens and need a recessed lens board to focus at infinity.

At the moment I am focusing with the Centre Filter in place but it makes seeing the aperture scale difficult and adjusting it extremely tricky.

I am told there is a possibility of focus shift is you were to focus without the CF in place - is this true ?

So, I was wondering what everyone else does ?

Do you focus with the CF in place or focus first, set the aperture plus speed and then fit the CF.

Thanks

Martin

[xkaes]

I've never focused with a filter attached to my lens (except for UV filters, of course) -- CND filters included. Find something else to worry about, although I'm sure some will tell you to lose sleep and get an ulcer about it.

If you are a worrywart, make a test -- one shot focused with, and one without. Then compare and decide for yourself.

[Corran]

There is no reason to focus with the CF in place. Focus does not shift with filter in front of the lens. There is focus shift if you were to use a filter behind the lens.

[Drew Wiley]

The only problem is that you will be focusing a dimmer image. But I never had a problem doing so. One will in fact choose to focus with the filter(s) in place if your camera is set up on a little protruding slab of rock with its front end overhanging 500 feet of thin air below. Been there, done that, more than once. Was too busy peeing my pants to bother wondering whether it was the correct technique or not. Just wanted to get it done as quickly as possible.

[diversey]

I have a 47mm XL lens and perform focusing without CF before taking pictures. I do not see any focus shift.

[Martin Aislabie]

The only problem is that you will be focusing a dimmer image. But I never had a problem doing so. One will in fact choose to focus with the filter(s) in place if your camera is set up on a little protruding slab of rock with its front end overhanging 500 feet of thin air below. Been there, done that, more than once. Was too busy peeing my pants to bother wondering whether it was the correct technique or not. Just wanted to get it done as quickly as possible.

Drew I admire (I think !), your steely determination to get the shot.

You wouldn't catch me within 100 yards of a 500ft drop.

Although I did face a similar problem with wanting to take a photograph near a sudden drop.

Rather than messing around on the edge, I set the camera up and focused it at a safe distance - after all with something like a 47mm lens - everything is at Infiniti

So all I had to do was point the thing in the right direction, install a darkslide and fire the shutter.

I was still not comfortable being that close to the edge but at least my at the edge was reduced.

Martin

[xkaes]

Drew I admire (I think !), your steely determination to get the shot.

You wouldn't catch me within 100 yards of a 500ft drop.

Martin

Sounds like it's time to put TUWEEP on your "bucket list".

https://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/tuweep.htm

[Alan Klein]

Sounds like it's time to put TUWEEP on your "bucket list".

https://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/tuweep.htm

Ten feet was enough at the 2000' cliff at Dead Horse Point State Park near Canyonlands in Utah.

Map satellite: https://www.google.com/maps/@38.4700613,-109.7376677,257a,35y,238.33h,51.89t/data=!3m1!1e3


235169

[xkaes]

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tuweep,+AZ+86432/@36.2144894,-113.0565516,81m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80cb613be071296f:0xfcbbb0545c191cfc!8m2!3d36.4158149!4d-113.0665971

[Martin Aislabie]

"Thanks" you guys for your kind and thoughtful suggestions for a suitable photographic location !

But, I think I'll pass on this one :rolleyes:

Just for now I'll stick to nice flat and even locations.

Martin :)

[xkaes]

Proving "You can lead a photographer to a cliff, but you can't make him jump!"

[Tin Can]

I have sat, not stood on many a ledge

but if I have one puff of weed

I back WAY up

My fave were the 13th floors of 2 high rise rentals

but I once got locked out, that took awhile

the other, high wind bent the glass 6" without breaking

Coyote/Poodle no worries

[Alan Klein]

I have sat, not stood on many a ledge

but if I have one puff of weed

I back WAY up

My fave were the 13th floors of 2 high rise rentals

but I once got locked out, that took awhile

the other, high wind bent the glass 6" without breaking

Coyote/Poodle no worries

I'd stay off the weed if I was you. ;)

[xkaes]

Or away from ledges & cliffs.

[Drew Wiley]

When Warren Harding made the 27-day first ascent of the Wall of Early Morning Light on El Capitan one hot summer way back when, he bragged about needing only a pint of water a day doing it. Then Royal Robbins went up there and re-climbed it, chopping off all the bolts Harding and his partner had installed, considering it an unfair method of climbing. Nobody re-climbed it again until my nephew and his pal did so when he was living with me during his University years. He took along the little Pentax MX camera I gave him. There is only one conspicuous ledge up there suitable for a sorta storehouse of supplies, plus sleeping area, with a wide crack right above it. There were dozen and dozens of wine bottles stacked in that crack, some still full. Harding was an infamous wine-bibber; and of course, one has to be roped on, anywhere up there, all the time. But it does explain the, "Just one pint of water" a day, statement.

Another difficult route nearby is called Mescalito. They certainly needed to be well roped on each night too!

The scariest time I had was helping out my nephew scope out the Dawn Wall route by climbing to the tip of a huge ice cone directly below Horsetail Falls one winter, chiseling off the top with my ice axe, and setting up my 4X5 Sinar right atop that slippery thing for a unique edge-on LF shot of the face of El Cap. Then huge slabs of ice started falling and hydroplaning away from the face, and it was time to get out of Dodge fast. The descent was the most dangerous part, especially with a heavy pack filled with view camera gear. But I obviously have lived long enough to print that shot a few times. ... but never again..... The presence of a tall ice cone like that at that modest elevation is a very rare occurrence anyway.

[Havoc]

Worst height I had to worry about was installing microphones for an organ recital on the triforium opposite the organ. An uneven medieval floor 70cm wide and nothing between you and the floor below except a column here and there. You won't see me there with a 4x5.