Tuesday, May 21, 2024

After discovering an automatic focus for distance shooting among my camera’s settings, I turned it on and pointed toward the most distant available object. High in the sky and nearly invisible to my naked eye except for its smoke trail, a commercial jet moving very fast seemed headed to Portland. The jet’s high speed and near-invisibility made me aim my camera at the smoke trail’s front end. I wondered if the distance lens would find the subject. I learned it could discover and neatly stop the action. A grand surprise.

The camera also has a dedicated mid-range automatic focus and yet another for very close-up captures. I never bothered to look for anything except an overall automatic focus, which on this camera has proved capable and satisfying.

I decided to try out the mid-range automatic focus. It produced images that encouraged me to adopt new perspectives on some trees on my property. I call this one, “My Dancing Trees.”

That mid-range automatic focus also neatly captured the late sunlight on the twisted trunk of a maturing Juniper.

Finally, I tested the camera’s automatic close-up (macro) lens. A tiny feather was lodged against the grill of my heat pump and fluttering rapidly in the wind. A challenge was the feather’s rapid shifting; only briefly did it flutter to an open position and reveal its spines. I brought it near the macro lens and waited, snapping in a perfect instant.

The camera captures excellent images. By using it as a manual focus tool, I’ll be pushed to create images that are as good as or better than these.

Dear Friends: Moving into manual shooting could create all-new visuals. Diana