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VIDEO: UNBOXING 32mm f/1.4 - "RAZOR SHARP"

Started Sep 8, 2018 | Discussions thread
Marco Nero
OP Marco Nero Veteran Member • Posts: 7,582
To: Roland King re: Focus Limiter Switch.
2

Roland King wrote:

Why would a lens have a focus limiter? Never seen one before. My only guess would be to help the AF out so it doesn't hunt but as I say I've not seen one before.

Well, it turns out that this lens can focus with a MFD of just 9 inches (9.06") ... so that means that if you were to try to photograph a person, animal or subject through a bush or beyond something sitting on the table in front of you, that the camera can be told to ignore locking focus on anything in the foreground. I usually see Focus Limiters switches on Macro or Telephoto Lenses because those can often waste time hunting across the focus range. What surprises me is that the switch on this lens has only two positions (instead of three) because most FL switches tend to allow you to shoot closeup and ignore the background (which might be useful with this lens for generating bokeh).
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Some of the sample pictures shot just this. Shooting a flower in the grass becomes much easier, even though the camera can focus on perhaps some of the grass that is in front of the flower.
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I think Canon's examples below show this switch being used although in theory it shouldn't be necessary to use it with the touch-screen focus system on the EOSM cameras. I imagine most people with have it set for the Zero-to-Infinity setting so they can access the full focus range on the lens.  Who knows... it might be handy when you're shooting a whole bunch of things close to the lens (like the girl behind the flowers below)...
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Regards,
Marco Nero.

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