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canon 5d mark3 focus problem

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delidesidero

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hello guys;

I need a little help about product photography here because I'm going crazy, trying to sort this out for days with no success.

I'm trying to take photos of my products and I tried all combinations of autofocus but couldn't work it out. most videos on the internet about auto focus function are about filming moving objects etc.



in this photo, the far side / the back of the box is blurry.
in this photo, the far side / the back of the box is blurry.



in this photo, with different settings I guess, the back of the box is OK, but the text is blurry, especially when you zoom in.
in this photo, with different settings I guess, the back of the box is OK, but the text is blurry, especially when you zoom in.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot.
 
What aperture...lens focal length...and subject distance are you using? It may be a simple case of the Depth of Field being to narrow to get the front and back in focus
 
Have you tried focus stacking?
 
delidesidero said:
for the first photo where the far side is blurry

5f84259aaeb2459982209604a9ebcc2e.jpg.png

for the second photo where the text is blurry

9725c932dd0e42138d42a52ab313c0b4.jpg.png
Click to expand...
Yes...at f4 the depth of field is pretty small. Try again at f8 and/or f11 and focus on the center of the box/subject. Let us know

Online Depth of Field Calculator

Depth of field and hyperfocal distance calculator
www.dofmaster.com

--
My opinions are my own and not those of DPR or its administration. They carry no 'special' value (except to me and Lacie of course)
 
what do you think of the results?

when I raise the F value, it gets dark. Do you suggest raising the ISO or lowering the apperture? (I mean the settings with the seconds)

f/9 - 1/13sec - ISO640
f/9 - 1/13sec - ISO640

f/10 - 1/5sec - ISO640
f/10 - 1/5sec - ISO640

f/11 - 1/6sc - ISO640
f/11 - 1/6sc - ISO640
 
delidesidero said:
what do you think of the results?

when I raise the F value, it gets dark.
Click to expand...
Then just increase the exposure time to compensate and use the ISO that gives you an acceptable amount of noise. I assume you are using a tripod
 
You should add more light.
 
delidesidero said:
you mean increase the ISO value?
Click to expand...
No, I would guess he means adding more physical light.

The setting must be fairly dim based on the shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings in the photo's exif. You need to brighten it up - either a studio light, or perhaps a speedlight mounted softbox.

Colin
 
Yes, this.

Your ISO should be 100.

Add more light to the scene to enable this to happen whilst keeping an f stop of 5.6 or more depending on the sweet spot of the lens.

If you still can't get a good front to back focus either focus stack or use a tilt shift lens.
With a tilt shift lens you could get the entire top in sharp focus at f2.8 as it allows you to tilt the depth of field by rotating the lens relative to the sensor.
They are expensive though.

Here are three shots I took of a place mat, all at f2.8, ISO 200 D+; the mat is at about 30 degree angle from the flat table surface.

The first one I focused at the front, so as you'd expect the back of the mat is blurred. The second one is focused at the back so the front is blurred.

To get the whole place mat in focus you could focus stack the first and second one to use just the in focus elements from each picture, but that would be fiddly.

In the third shot I've tilted my 50mm tilt shift lens so the focus plane runs along the top of the mat, stuff above or below will be blurred, but the whole surface of the mat is in focus.

Front in focus
Front in focus

Back in focus
Back in focus

Tilt applied so the whole mat back to front is in focus.
Tilt applied so the whole mat back to front is in focus.
 
Last edited:
thank you all for your help. and thanks for putting up with my noobness.



I'm not a photographer my self. So I think it's not reasonable for me to invest in a tilt shift lense. However, I googled it and watched some videos, it's the thing I'm looking for.

I'll try adding more lights. A couple of more questions;

1) What kind of light do you suggest? Do you think a ring light like this is OK?

ring-light-com-ana-900x900-product_popup.png


2) Your first and second photo. Do you focus using manual focus, or with auto focus feature on and moving the rectangle to front/back?

3) I'll try focus stacking. İt can be done with photoshop right?

Thanks & regards...
pauljames34 said:
Yes, this.

Your ISO should be 100.

Add more light to the scene to enable this to happen whilst keeping an f stop of 5.6 or more depending on the sweet spot of the lens.

If you still can't get a good front to back focus either focus stack or use a tilt shift lens.
With a tilt shift lens you could get the entire top in sharp focus at f2.8 as it allows you to tilt the depth of field by rotating the lens relative to the sensor.
They are expensive though.

Here are three shots I took of a place mat, all at f2.8, ISO 200 D+; the mat is at about 30 degree angle from the flat table surface.

The first one I focused at the front, so as you'd expect the back of the mat is blurred. The second one is focused at the back so the front is blurred.

To get the whole place mat in focus you could focus stack the first and second one to use just the in focus elements from each picture, but that would be fiddly.

In the third shot I've tilted my 50mm tilt shift lens so the focus plane runs along the top of the mat, stuff above or below will be blurred, but the whole surface of the mat is in focus.

Front in focus
Front in focus

Back in focus
Back in focus

Tilt applied so the whole mat back to front is in focus.
Tilt applied so the whole mat back to front is in focus.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
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