Focusing
 

I am new to eng cameras and need some help on learning a few things.

How do you focus on a subject using manual focus on a black and white view finder. I am used to focusing on people with and SLR but I always seen in color. How do you do it in black and white.

The black and white does not matter. Just zoom in tight on your subject, turn the focus ring right or left to focus and pull back to reframe the shot to your liking. If the shot is not in focus when you are pulling back, you need to chek the lens back focus adjustment with a focusing chart.

Thierry.

I think it was the back focusing now that you said that. I did exactly as you said but when I zoomed back out the person was out of focus and the wall behind her was in focus. It sucked as I had to in post blur the background and sharpen the person...

Thank you as I now know what happened.

In fact, focusing in black and white should be easier than focusing in colour, given that you are using an electronic viewfinder. An optical viewfinder like on an SLR would make no difference obviously...

One of the reasons for using black and white is that our eyes are more sensitive to luminance than chrominance. Removing the color information from your eye should help you focus easier.

The other thing that didn't get mentioned is the peaking function of the viewfinder. Objects in focus will get a white edge around them. A great way to see the effect is to point the camera at a patch of grass and rack the focus. You'll see a white band going back and forth across the grass.

-gb-

Also, when shooting people set focus on their eyes.