[Mattox]

FOCUS METHOD IN LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

As mentioned interestingly enough in a previous post not related, what are you finding to be the most accurate and effective focus technique for shooting landscape/still photography with the K1?

[RockvilleBob]

Focus peaking is helpful for me

[Adam]

MF in live view with 16x magnification.

This is the only true way IMO.

But most of the time, with DoF, the viewfinder AF does the trick for me just fine.

[Na Horuk]

Wasn't there a rule to focus 2/3 into the landscape, then stop down aperture to get wide DoF?
On my MF lenses I just learned where the hyperfocal at f8 truly lies on my cameras. Plus tripod and 2 sec timer for MLU.
If I am on the run and just have to shoot real fast, then I handhold and use AF. You have to learn how to use AF, though. the AF point might be bigger than the little overlay in the viewfinder. You have to know it preferences and its bias, its weaknesses, so that you can use it correctly.
Live view with focus peaking and digital magnification is the other way to do it, though it is more effective with some lenses than others.

[tuco]

Wasn't there a rule to focus 2/3 into the landscape, then stop down aperture to get wide DoF?

I believe that would be 1/3 the way into the scene. If you look at a DOF scale on an old-school lens, you'll see you get more distance in focus beyond what you focused at than in front for a given aperture.

[Na Horuk]

I believe that would be 1/3 the way into the scene. If you look at a DOF scale on an old-school lens, you'll see you get more distance in focus beyond what you focused at than in front for a given aperture.

Yes, possibly! I always mix that one up for some reason Thanks for correcting.
One can also use websites and apps that help you figure out the hyperfocal distances on your camera model and lens.

[tuco]

Yes, possibly! I always mix that one up for some reason Thanks for correcting.
One can also use websites and apps that help you figure out the hyperfocal distances on your camera model and lens.

On my old-school gear, I focus landscape scenes by the DOF scale on the lens most the time. It works. Some cameras you need to learn to compensate some from what the scale says like rangefinders which are notoriously optimistic on their DOF scale.

[mee]

I believe that would be 1/3 the way into the scene. If you look at a DOF scale on an old-school lens, you'll see you get more distance in focus beyond what you focused at than in front for a given aperture.

Yes indeed. However, this only will get the background 'sufficiently' in focus.. which is what hyperfocal seems to be meant to do. Reasonably in focus.. but not fully. For fully in focus I'd aim at the target I want in focus and go from there.

In some situations it may be necessary to take multiple shots similar to macro shooting and layer the parts in focus.. but I've never had to do this (with landscape).

[MadMathMind]

Use higher f stops than you're used to. I used to shoot at f/8 or f/10 with the K-5II. Now I shoot at f/11 or f/13 or sometimes f/16 (but rarely) with the K-1, even at 24mm or 31mm.

Learn the hyperfocal distance. There's an app you can download for your phone that will give you the information. Try to focus at an object that's at that distance.

[tuco]

Yes indeed. However, this only will get the background 'sufficiently' in focus..

It's a rule of thumb!!

[pakinjapan]

I do a few night landscaper / cityscape photos.
for night landscape scene with no single point of interest, I usually just do infinity focus. You have to know where your lenses infinity focus really is. my per-digital lenses are trust worthy. their infinity focus always at the center of the infinity mark. but infinity focus on all of my digital era lens is not. in this case, what @dcshooter post above is what I am doing too.

if I have a point of interest in my landscape scene, I pretty much know where I want to focus.
Day time / enough light, I will go with auto focus.
Night time on tripod, I will go with manual focus with live-view as mention earlier by many people here.

[photoptimist]

If you focus your lens to the hyperfocal distance, everything from 1/2 the hyperfocal distance to infinity should be in focus.

If you focus your lens at exactly one half the hyperfocal distance, everything from 1/3 the hyperfocal distance to the hyperfocal distance should be in focus.

As you focus closer and closer, the range of subject in focus behind and in front will equalize. For macro, the front and back DoF is almost identical.


Note:
* Don't trust the distance scale on the lens, especially on a zoom lens until you've confirmed that it's accurate.
* Some lenses have field curvature (the focus distance shifts across the frame): infinity might be sharp in the center but off in the corners a bit.
* the hyperfocal distance calculations assume your lens is perfectly sharp (no diffraction, aberrations, etc.)
* Pixel shift operates at a higher resolution (smaller circle of confusions) so the hyperfocal distances are longer.

If you are shooting a once-in-a-lifetime landscape and want it to be as sharp as possible from corner to corner, front-to-back, then do as dcshooter said: MF in live view at 16X and take a tour of the image.

.....and then there's focus stacking....

[Digitalis]

MF in live view with 16x magnification

This is the only true way IMO

...really? I do just fine with the VF, the screen in the K-1 has a reasonable amount of "snap" when critical focus is achieved. If you need to magnify the image to this extent with every single shot you take your. VF may need calibration. Pentax didn't make the K-1 with that big pentaprism for laughs you know*.


*but I think the designers had a bit too much sake when they designed the 3D tiltable screen on the K-1..."you know what would be a crazy idea? lets put the rear LCD on stalks with balls on the end, and these stalks have to be able to carry the entire cameras weight and then some"...

[Fat Albert]

*but I think the designers had a bit too much sake when they designed the 3D tiltable screen on the K-1..."you know what would be a crazy idea? lets put the rear LCD on stalks with balls on the end, and these stalks have to be able to carry the entire cameras weight and then some"...

One of my favorite videos, skip to 0:25

Youtu.be

Youtu.be

[Digitalis]

16x focus with live view gives the most accurate view of the actual sensor readout at a given focal distance, so it is the method that fits his request best

The problem I have with this statement is that that live view output from the sensor is subsampled, such a high degree of magnification cannot be completely trusted due to the use of pixel averaging and line skipping tricks manufacturers use to produce the video signal in the first place. I won't go past 8X, in LV to asses focus. 16X is pointless as no real detail is further resolved beyond 6X as it is garbled by subsampling. A 7" HDMI external monitor with focus peaking capability (and when FP is tweaked) can be both fast, accurate and a lot clearer when assessing critical focus across the image than zooming in with the rear LCD.