Finding the focus point!..

iskoos · Mar 13, 2010

Is there a program/application that show where the camera actually focused on for a specific shot?

I was viewing the pictures I took the other day and sometimes I am having a hard time to determine where actually my camera focused on. I don't always use the center point.

I hope this info is recorded somewhere in the exif file. It could be very helpful...

bentcountershaft · Mar 13, 2010

Yes, if you open up DPP, select an image and then under the View tab select AF Point. Your focus points will be overlayed on your image in black and whichever were active will be red.

iskoos · Mar 13, 2010

Man!.. May your day be bright and happy today!..

Thanks a bunch

:thumbup:

abdulrhman · May 9, 2010

pls i want the name of this program

Garbz · May 9, 2010

abdulrhman you can download that here.

Big Mike · May 10, 2010

pls i want the name of this program

Yes, if you open up DPP,

Digital Photo Professional.

mwcfarms · May 10, 2010

Most camera software comes with it I thought. I know Canon and Nikon's ViexNx both do.

jands · May 10, 2011

Thank God for the search function! Exactly the info I was looking for.

jands · May 10, 2011

Is this information told by the lens stored in EXIF or by the camera? I have an old manual focus lens with no electronics and the software isn't telling me where the focal point is. Lens is Nikkor 105mm 2.5 AI, software is ViewNX.

o hey tyler · May 10, 2011

jands said:
Is this information told by the lens stored in EXIF or by the camera? I have an old manual focus lens with no electronics and the software isn't telling me where the focal point is. Lens is Nikkor 105mm 2.5 AI, software is ViewNX.

Maybe if the focus-confirm light was lit prior to shooting? That would be the only way I would figure the camera would "know" what it focused on with a MF lens.

jands · May 10, 2011

hmmm... it sounds like my suspicions are true. Since the lens has no electronics... there is no focus-confirm light. The lens and camera do not talk to each other at all, that I know of. I was just thinking, if I am selecting my focus point from the camera... it would know where the focus point is! But I suspect not.

iskoos · May 10, 2011

I was posting another threah today and I saw this with my name on it. I didn't remember first. It was over a year ago when I posted this question.
It is good to know people still benefit from it

I gotta provide some feedback though. I have been checking the autofocus points on my pictures since then and I find it very useful but also I find the info not very accurate!! a lot of times... Say for example I have a picture, I bring up the autofocus points; Software shows (I use Canon's zoombrowser program that came with my camera) 2 of the little squares red indicating that those points were used as focusing points. But those 2 points are greatly apart in depth: one is a person's head for example and the other point is another random landmark maybe 20-30 feet behind that same person.
There is no way the camera can focus on two different planes that are greatly apart from each other.
Any idea what's causing this?

o hey tyler · May 10, 2011

My experience with Nikon's is minimal. But your suspicions may be true. I was under the impression that any Nikon lens (either AF or MF) would show a focus confirm light. My 5D does if I hold down the back button I use to focus, and then manually focus a lens. But all my lenses have AF anyway, so it's a whole different ball game.

analog.universe · May 10, 2011

iskoos said:
I was posting another threah today and I saw this with my name on it. I didn't remember first. It was over a year ago when I posted this question.
It is good to know people still benefit from it
I gotta provide some feedback though. I have been checking the autofocus points on my pictures since then and I find it very useful but also I find the info not very accurate!! a lot of times... Say for example I have a picture, I bring up the autofocus points; Software shows (I use Canon's zoombrowser program that came with my camera) 2 of the little squares red indicating that those points were used as focusing points. But those 2 points are greatly apart in depth: one is a person's head for example and the other point is another random landmark maybe 20-30 feet behind that same person.
There is no way the camera can focus on two different planes that are greatly apart from each other.
Any idea what's causing this?

Do you ever focus and recompose? If the camera locked on to 2 points, and then you recomposed the shot before you clicked the shutter, it'll record which focus points locked but it has no way to know if you then moved the camera...

jands · May 10, 2011

o hey tyler said:
My experience with Nikon's is minimal. But your suspicions may be true. I was under the impression that any Nikon lens (either AF or MF) would show a focus confirm light. My 5D does if I hold down the back button I use to focus, and then manually focus a lens. But all my lenses have AF anyway, so it's a whole different ball game.

I guess it's another question about lens vs camera. Does the lens know it's in focus or does the camera know the lens is in focus? Again, I suspect the lens, and since this lens has no way to talk to the camera (or to even know it's in focus since there is no electronics), it can't tell the camera.

Most manual focus lenses (I think), you can use the focus-light, but this lens is so old, that that feature is not available with it.