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Focus Issue

Raffay

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Oct 22, 2013
Messages
157
Location
Islamabad, P
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4x5 Format
Hello All,

Its been sometime since I posted on this forum. I have bought this Pentax ME Super and have been trying to shoot with it but with little success. Every picture that I take turns out soft. Attached is one such picture I would appreciate if someone could tell me if it is out of focus, or is it motion blur etc.



Cheers
Raffay
 
You're going to have to put the camera on a tripod in low light like that, or use faster film, or push the film you have so you can use faster shutter speeds. Or use a flash. Or use a faster lens. So, you have options.
 
A real pro shooting TV evening news item on 16mm might have braced against a wall or pillar or elbows on a table or counter...
 
country boy

Being a country boy myself I have to wonder how one gets from stills with a Pentax to 16mm film for the evening news? Would it be different for Super 8 to show Grandma at the Old Folks Home?
 
I do not see any motion related blurr. But I see instead a perfectly round specular reflection on one eye.
 
Raffay, I take it that the focusing equipment( split prism in viewfinder?) indicated that focusing was spot on?If it was but the aperture was large as it looks to be and you were close to the subject as you seem to be then it only requires a very small movement towards or away from the subject to upset the focus slightly before pressing the trigger.

I suspect this may be the problem rather than camera shake. The model looks as if she remained perfectly still so I think we can rule out her as the cause.

pentaxuser
 

How did you get the picture that you post? Did you scan the negative or you scan the print? I am not sure but I think the out of focus was in the printing process.
 
Chan Tran said:
How did you get the picture that you post? Did you scan the negative or you scan the print? I am not sure but I think the out of focus was in the printing process.
Click to expand...

I scanned the negative.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I think if you missed the focus, something would be in focus. If you intended to focus on the eyes and the nose or ears were in focus but not the eyes, I'd say you missed it. But nothing is in focus, not the arms thru the back of the head, so I would then think a minute amount of camera shake, it doesn't take much. What camera speed were you using?

Or, as pentaxuser said.
 

For the record, he is my boy

What I find unbelievable is that I have been shooting for sometime now and the fact that I am not being able to get a few decent shots, from focus point of view.

Raffay.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
To exclude camera movement do test exposures with the camera on a sturdy tripod or mounted on a table. But as said your photograph does not make me think of a movement issue. Neither does appearance of this fault at various shutter speeds.

Best check focus with a groundglass in the image plane. Or alternatively with a series of exposures with slightly altered focus settings after focussing.

Or check with a test plane totally perpendicular to the film plane whether the complete test plane is sharp in the finder. Chances are that the mirror is misaligned. Most probably at its lower rest. That would result in a finder image plane of focus not perpendicular to the film plane. But that probably would not be very obvious in real world photography, as you might compensate for this by camera tilt.
With the mirror swung up the image in the film plane would be completely out of focus, though with varying degree. Again that variation might not be visible in real world photography, as in your photograph.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sorry Raffay. My excuse is that at that age and with long hair it is difficult to distinguish boys from girls in head shots. If as it seems from re-reading your first post that it is only this camera that is giving problems then it may be the camera but as others have said a test with a tripod is what is required. If you have made other similar shots with a similar camera using the typical split prism and these were sharp then it is almost certainly the focusing system on the Pentax ME that is at fault.

pentaxuser
 
It could be a problem with a damaged or improperly re-assembled lens.
 
Looks completely OOF to me, but nice image and a handsome boy. Check both film plane sharpness and focus screen installation to determine why they aren't in agreement..
 
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