Manual focus lock for most flights?

[offtheback]

Considering the 28mm equivalent wide angle would setting manual focus for about 30 feet(or the hyperfocal distance)work ok for the Mavic 2 pro even on F/2.8?I've been tapping the screen to focus but would rather not if not needed.I realize a short focus distance might not work but all else?

 

[zocalo]

Depends what you want to achieve and how much of a perfectionist/pixel peeper you are. Focussing at hyperfocal will maximise the depth of field for what is considered "acceptably sharp", but only the objects at the hyperfocal distance will be critically sharp. It would be good enough for most things, but for most landscapes shot from a drone this will actually mean that *nothing* in your image is tack sharp as you are seldom going to have anything 30ft away from the camera. Whether you'll actually be able to tell that will depend on the post-processing, output resolution/size, and viewing distance though.

A better general purpose rule of thumb for getting the best combination of maximal DoF and overall sharpness is to focus about 1/3 of the way into the scene, or even directly on the object(s) that matter most to ensure they are as sharp as possible. Everything else will still fall into the "acceptably sharp" zone, but everything will also be much closer to the plane of critical sharpness and thus look slightly more crisp (again, subject to post, output, & viewing). Tapping on the screen is the simplest and quickest way to do this.

Alternatively, if you want to get some bokeh on the background (foreground bokeh isn't possible), for instance to make it a little less cluttered and add emphasis to foreground objects, then manual focus is the way to go. The only way to get anything close to reasonable bokeh with the M2P is to focus near to minimum focus (between 1m and 2m works) regardless of where your primary subject is and accept that nothing will be critically sharp. I'd recommend taking a few shots at different focus points as this can be tricky to get right on a small screen and which is the more pleasing can be quite subjective. Don't expect miracles with a 1" sensor, but it can be effective for the right shot and also makes a good starting point for applying a gaussian blur filter in post.

 

[offtheback]

Depends what you want to achieve and how much of a perfectionist/pixel peeper you are. Focussing at hyperfocal will maximise the depth of field for what is considered "acceptably sharp", but only the objects at the hyperfocal distance will be critically sharp. It would be good enough for most things, but for most landscapes shot from a drone this will actually mean that *nothing* in your image is tack sharp as you are seldom going to have anything 30ft away from the camera. Whether you'll actually be able to tell that will depend on the post-processing, output resolution/size, and viewing distance though.

A better general purpose rule of thumb for getting the best combination of maximal DoF and overall sharpness is to focus about 1/3 of the way into the scene, or even directly on the object(s) that matter most to ensure they are as sharp as possible. Everything else will still fall into the "acceptably sharp" zone, but everything will also be much closer to the plane of critical sharpness and thus look slightly more crisp (again, subject to post, output, & viewing). Tapping on the screen is the simplest and quickest way to do this.

Alternatively, if you want to get some bokeh on the background (foreground bokeh isn't possible), for instance to make it a little less cluttered and add emphasis to foreground objects, then manual focus is the way to go. The only way to get anything close to reasonable bokeh with the M2P is to focus near to minimum focus (between 1m and 2m works) regardless of where your primary subject is and accept that nothing will be critically sharp. I'd recommend taking a few shots at different focus points as this can be tricky to get right on a small screen and which is the more pleasing can be quite subjective. Don't expect miracles with a 1" sensor, but it can be effective for the right shot and also makes a good starting point for applying a gaussian blur filter in post.

Thanks for the detailed response!I too grew up with the 1/3 2/3 rule but have seen articles that challenge that.As you say though what's acceptably sharp depends on several factors.The 30 feet was just a ballpark-the hyperfocal distance is optimum(as it can be)Depth of Field: The 1/3 - 2/3 Myth

 

[zocalo]

Thanks for the detailed response!I too grew up with the 1/3 2/3 rule but have seen articles that challenge that.As you say though what's acceptably sharp depends on several factors.The 30 feet was just a ballpark-the hyperfocal distance is optimum(as it can be)Depth of Field: The 1/3 - 2/3 Myth

That's why I said "rule of thumb". It's generally much more useful for landscape use, which is what we're shooting with drones, than stuff like portraiture or macro where, as your linked article correctly points out, it's not very accurate at all.

Ultimately it a choice, and there's no right or wrong answer.
Hyperfocal will give you the largest range of acceptable sharpness, but it will seldom give you critical sharpness where you really want it. Focussing 1/3 of the way into the scene will tend to make your primary subject matter sharper and near maximum DoF, which is probably the best compromise. Focussing on the primary subject will make it critically sharp, but might not give the best results for either foreground and/or background.

Also, keep in mind that we're only dealing with a 1" sensor on the M2P, which is a lot more forgiving than a FF DSLR when it comes to DoF. For most shots a little extra sharpening in post will generally make the entire image look sharp enough that most won't notice anyway.

 

[offtheback]

That's why I said "rule of thumb". It's generally much more useful for landscape use, which is what we're shooting with drones, than stuff like portraiture or macro where, as your linked article correctly points out, it's not very accurate at all.

Ultimately it a choice, and there's no right or wrong answer.
Hyperfocal will give you the largest range of acceptable sharpness, but it will seldom give you critical sharpness where you really want it. Focussing 1/3 of the way into the scene will tend to make your primary subject matter sharper and near maximum DoF, which is probably the best compromise. Focussing on the primary subject will make it critically sharp, but might not give the best results for either foreground and/or background.

Also, keep in mind that we're only dealing with a 1" sensor on the M2P, which is a lot more forgiving than a FF DSLR when it comes to DoF. For most shots a little extra sharpening in post will generally make the entire image look sharp enough that most won't notice anyway.

Thanks for your thoughts on this.