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Live View Settings With Canon DSLRs
Canon Live View has no auto-stop-down feature, so Live View is at maximum aperture, which is what you want for accurate focusing (under extremely bright conditions the lens might be stopped down without any indication except a faint sound).
For example, setting a Canon 5D Mark II at aperture f/8, then entering Live View mode, the lens remains wide open, for easy and accurate focusing (with Nikon, you’re looking at f/8, and focusing is hopeless until you switch to a wider aperture). While awkward, you can use the stop-down button to focus at a smaller aperture. In my usage, 99% of the time the Canon approach is perfect.
There is one exception to the wide-open behavior: under very bright conditions, the Canon Live View implementation stops the lens down, and there is no indication whatsoever that it is doing so. This can lead to more difficult focusing because of increased depth of field, and if focus shift is present, assumptions might be upended. On the flip side, stopping down 1-2 stops can make focusing easier under some conditions; it all depends. They key is being aware of it.
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Diglloyd Making Sharp Images articulates years of best practices and how-to, painstakingly learned over a decade of camera and lens evaluation.
Save yourself those years of trial and error by jump-starting your photographic technical execution when making the image. The best lens or camera is handicapped if the photographer fails to master perfect shot discipline. High-resolution digital cameras are unforgiving of errors, at least if one wants the best possible results.
- Eases into photographic challenges with an introductory section.
- Covers aspects of digital sensor technology that relate to getting the best image quality.
- Technique section discusses every aspect of making a sharp image handheld or on a tripod.
- Depth of field and how to bypass depth of field limitations via focus stacking.
- Optical aberrations: what they are, what they look like, and what to do about them.
- MTF, field curvature, focus shift: insight into the limitations of lab tests and why imaging performance is far more complex than it appears.
- Optical aberrations: what they are, what they look like, and what to do about them.
- How to test a lens for a “bad sample”.
Intrigued? See Focusing Zeiss DSLR Lenses For Peak Performance, PART ONE: The Challenges, or (one topic of many) field curvature.
