What is infinity focus? How important is the infinity focus feature on a lens? KEE friends are absolutely obliged to read this article!
Infinity focus is a special focus on a lens that is used to bring distant objects (on a large scale) into focus, such as photographing a scene. Usually when you photograph a field that has lots of objects in it you have difficulty getting everything in focus. This is different from when you photograph an animal or a single object, you only need to adjust the focus on that object.
Especially at night, infinity focus can help to ensure the object you are shooting can be in good focus. As the name suggests, infinity focus, all objects that are far from the camera will be in focus when you use this feature, without needing to guess anymore. However, this feature is not found on all lenses, it is usually found on wide lenses which are useful for photographing landscapes.
Infinity focus works differently on parfocal and varifocal zoom lenses and can only be used in manual focus (MF) mode.
1. Infinity focus on parfocal zoom lenses
You simply rotate the focus ring on the lens manually so that the center line of the pointer points to the infinity symbol. All distant objects will be in good focus, even if you change the focal length of the lens.
2. Infinity focus on varifocal zoom lenses
You can use the method above by pointing the focus at the infinity symbol. But the difference with parfocal lenses is that you can only use infinity focus at the shortest focal length (or a certain focal length determined by the lens). If you change the focal length of the lens, then you need to adjust the focus again. For example, on the Canon EF 28-105mm lens, you can use a focal length of 28mm so that infinity focus can work optimally.
Some of the functions of infinity focus are for photographing landscapes, for photographing the Milky Way, firework displays, and photographing at night. Apart from that, it can also be used to photograph more than one person, for example family photos.
You need to pay attention to the distance factor between the camera and the object because each lens has a different infinity distance. For example, on the Canon 18-270mm lens, the new infinity focus will work at a minimum distance of 1.5m. If it is below 1.5m then you have to adjust the focus manually. You can try on your own lens, because each camera is different.