EF 85mm f1.2 II in studio

[miklosphoto]

Question to other EF 85mm f1.2 II owners who use it in studio.

I am having a hard time to make this lens auto-focus in studio where there is

obviously very dim light. Trying to AF the lens on an eye can take few seconds

and there goes the moment, missed the best facial expression or pose.

How do you guys handle this?

thanks

Miklos

[Charles_Webster]

I use only manual focus in the studio.

 

<Chas>

[miklosphoto]

Chas, I tried that too but then because of the really dim light I am always in doubt if I can rely on my eyes only. To wait for the focuc confirmation in MF is also not that fast. Then my style of shooting makes that difficult too, I hardly ever use a tripod in studio and I like to move around and photograph from different angles.

I guess I should just train my eyes more to MF.

[fourfa]

it isn't obvious to me that the light must be dim in a studio

[derek_stanton2]

Miklos,

Are you using strobes in the studio?

If possible, exchange your modeling lamp for a higher wattage. You may be very limited

as to how far you can go, depending on your strobe manufacturer/model. Profoto, at least

the old heads i have, allow a 500w bulb. This helps tremendously with focusing, especially

if you are using any type of light modifier (umbrella, lightbox, grid, etc.).

 

Otherwise, you may be 'stuck' with manual focus, and stopping-down enough to allow for

sufficient DOF in case you miss 'critical focus.' If you're using flash/strobes, it's doubtful

you're even able to shoot wide-open anyway, right? Are you getting unfocused images, or

are you just annoyed by the lens struggling to acquire the subject?

[thomas_hardy1]

You might need brighter modeling lamps, or a little more ambient light.

[miklosphoto]

Derek, great suggestion. Yes, everything what you assumed is correct. 2, 3 strobes, with softboxes or umbrellas and normally I would use f8, but since I started switching more often to MF, also used f11 to compensate for missing critical focus. Yes, it is about that just annoyed by the lens struggling to acquire the subject. Clients don't like that.

I should indeed try the stronger modeling lights.

thanks

Miklos

[keith_lubow]

"I hardly ever use a tripod in studio and I like to move around and photograph from different angles"

 

Then I don't see the point of taking the pictures in studio in the first place, really, unless you are doing journalistic-style "guerilla portraits".

 

But, whatever floats your boat.

 

If you are using flash (they are not "strobes"), you can probably turn on the room lights, at least part way.

 

Keith

[asterios m.]

Another option i've seen is simply using a tungsten spotlight or any hotlight with a fresnel that is placed on the spot you want to focus on like a face. then put your shutter speed on the max flash sync speed to drown it out with the strobes, assuming of course you aren't using any ambient light.

[derek_stanton2]

Keith,

You should probably re-evaluate your entire response.

[jeff mein smith]

I use the STE2 transmitter - it has a focus-assist beam. No good for candids, but fine in a studio when someone is expecting to be photographed! It dramatically speeds up the response time.

[steve_brown13]

Aww, that's a shame. I've been having similar problems with my 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 and was hoping that switching to the 85 f/1.8 would (in addition to giving better bokeh) help with the AF...

 

What power modelling lights are you currently using?

[miklosphoto]

Steve,

I have all three Alien Bees. (400, 800, 1600) with the factory 100W bulbs. Unfortunatelly, tha max could be only 150W for the Bees but I still going to replace the 100W to 150W, hope that helps somewhat. The other thing I will change is that I am not going to use them in trace mode (where they are at the max output only when the strobes are set to full power - hardly ever). That's a trade-off, I 'll see if I can live with that.

thanks

Miklos

[eric_lawson1]

I have both the 24-105mm L and the 85mm 1.8. The 85mm 1.8 works better in this situation for me without a doubt. I can only assume the 1.2 version of the 85 would be better yet.