Macro shooting - leaning in or hand focusing?

[BrisbaneShooter]

Hey everyone,

I’m hoping to get some advice on best ways to focus while doing macro photography. Should I be leaning in and out or should I be focusing with the lens barrel directly? I’ve heard people discuss doing it both ways, and I’m finding it difficult using the lens barrel technique on my 100mm macro. The DOF is just so thin! But I’m also worried that leaning out and in might be frowned upon, and I don’t want to get myself into bad habits.

Any advice is appreciated!

Mark

[MattWarrell]

Hi Mark

Go crazy with the lean in and lean out method. I do it all the time with my macro photography and don't worry about it because it is still super difficult to get a great shot.

[Tom Charles]

Hi Mark,

I use both techniques and try to use a tripod as often as possible.

Have you thought about trying a macro focusing rail?

Regards,

[petrochemist]

Lens barrel adjustment gives the approximate focus, which can then be fine tuned with camera movement. So I use both but it's the camera movement that does the final job.

For me it's usually hand held with flash, but for static subjects I'll sometimes use a tripod & focusing rail. The rail is pretty much essential for focus stacking (adjusting the lens changes the magnification).

[gordon g]

For static macro subjects, I use a tripod and focus rail almost all the time - only handheld if I cant get the tripod into a suitable position. Then I will focus approximately by hand and lean in for fine-tuning of focal plane.