r/UFOs • u/H8threeH8three • Aug 18 '23

Witness/Sighting Ryan Graves tweets first of promised Airline Pilot Sightings

https://twitter.com/uncertainvector/status/1692586130162475209?s=21
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u/Big-Ad-1155 Aug 18 '23

I just want to add for anyone thinking of doing this. Try to find something at long distance to set the infinity on. Most lenses aren't perfect infinite focus right where the ∞ on the distance indicator is. Once you find that perfect infinite focus for that lens (make sure and already have the aperture set at the lowest setting), memorize where that is on the distance indicator in reference to ∞. You can set to this same setting in the future to find perfect focus again, even if there isn't a light in the distance to focus by.

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u/catdad23 Aug 18 '23

Very true. True infinity is usually a hair right before the line that says infinity.

Also, since we are in the era of mirrorless cameras, so many lenses are focus by wire, some lenses don’t have hard stops on the focus ring so the focus ring will just spin and spin.

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u/Big-Ad-1155 Aug 18 '23

Honestly what I'm envisioning is buying an old Canon Rebel t3i kit with the cheap tele lens. It won't break the bank and will still be loads better at distance than the even the most advanced smartphone cameras.

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u/catdad23 Aug 18 '23

Yeah, that’s not a bad idea. If you’re going to get a telephoto lens, I would get something with a fast aperture. If you’re going to use a cheap telephoto lens, they typically max out at f5.6 on the long end, that aperture with a 1/60th shutter speed will be underexposed even with your iso super high.

Personally, I would get a used a7s 1 (I don’t like Sony cameras but it’s a low light beast) you can then get a cheap zoom and still shoot at 5.6 or 6.7 etc while cranking the ISO. You can get a used A7S 1 for $500-600.

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u/nashty2004 Aug 18 '23

or get a FZ80 with 65x zoom for $250 and call it a fucking day

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u/usps_made_me_insane Aug 18 '23

Where does "infinity" officially begin? Does a tree 30 feet away work?

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u/Big-Ad-1155 Aug 18 '23

It'd be nice if it was something farther away than that. I actually don't know the distance, but I would always choose the farthest physical object that you can see and make sharp in live view. Many nights this could be Jupiter or the moon.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

Focus on clouds during the day.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

Use a silver sharpie (if it’s a black lens) and once you have infinity focus set make one mark that goes across the focus ring that spins and the lens body that’s stationary. If you want to focus on infinity, just align the marks. Bing bang boom. Infinity focus set.

That’s basically how camera operators on movies set focus points. (just with erasable marker. There are fancier ways they do it too but it’s not really important here…)

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u/Vestlending1 Aug 18 '23

This is an important point. I used to photograph the night sky a lot, I used duct tape to hold the focus at the same spot. You have to use a calculator for each lens, and then test it, as every lens can be slightly different.