I suppose you are using the focus ring, at the very front of the lens,
it turns the whole front element of the lens, and not the zoom ring?

But generally, autofocus cameras do not have a very good viewfinder for
manual focus, as they are oriented towards maximal brightness and less
towards critical focus viewing.  Also, while the 18-55 kit lens does
creditably well image-wise, the manual focus action leaves quite a lot
to be desired, being 'touchy' and the image tends to jump around due to
the looseness of the focusing barrel.

As for focusing near and far objects at the same time, you can't do this
in the viewfinder, as the lens is always wide open while viewing,
therefore with minimum depth of field (dof).  There is a small button
low down on the left side of the lens mount (looking from the rear)
which is a dof preview button.  It dims the image, but lets you get an
idea of the dof at your chosen aperture.

Focus and dof go hand-in-hand, and your instructor should cover this
aspect thoroughly.

Colin D.

Have you practiced focusing manually before?

Most camera manuals (or atleast most I've read) have instructions for
composing your picture manually.  It can be tricky, but if the viewfinder
has a central crosshair, or reticle, you should have no problem focusing.
Whatever is DEAD CENTER of the viewfinder will be in focus.  There are
cameras that have other focusing options, but the good old tried and true
center-metering focus is your basic setup.

Basically focus the lens until MOST of what you want to shoot is in focus,
if you're trying to shoot multiple ranges, an average of distances can be
used.  It's very easy to focus one object at one fixed range, but yes it can
be tricky to shoot pics of different objects at various ranges in one scene.

There are really two options here.  You can either try to focus most of the
scene, as I say above, trying to compose an average of the different ranges.
Or, you can opt to focus on one particular object within the scene, drawing
creative attention to it.  For instance, zooming in on a flower growth on a
hilltop.  The other elements may be abit hazy in relief, but that can draw
more attention to the flower's detail.

Experiment on your own with different variations.  See what you like.

Gil,

Either the course has not covered some details yet, or the instructor is
sending you out to struggle so you can understand the issues first.
(Both are good techniques - the latter is frustrating, but very effective.)

First, you will be challenged because AF cameras are not designed for
manual focus - that is, the viewfinders are manufactured without the
classic focus screen features needed for good manual focus (e.g., split
prism).  That said, this is more of a finer point, and it sounds like
you're having more fundamental problems.

A cheating point that may help... I think some cameras (the Rebel comes
to mind) have a feature where the AF zone selector in the viewfinder
will light up when that spot comes into focus in manual mode.  One worth
reading the manual for.

What you describe sounds a lot like depth-of-field (DOF), which
determines how much of the foreground & background are in focus.  It
sounds like you are shooting with a very shallow DOF (background out of
focus).

* DOF is determined by the aperture (f-stop).
* Bigger f values = deeper DOF = tiny hole (aperture) = more light
needed (or slower shutter speed, or more sensitive film [bigger ISO number])
* Conversely, smaller f values = shallower DOF = large aperture = less
light needed (or faster shutter speed, or lower-ISO film).

If you're shooting without a flash, indoor photos are usually tough.
You're often pushed to the largest aperture (shallowest DOF) to keep the
shutter speed fast enough so things don't blur.  The trick is adding
more light so you can increase the f-stop - this is much easier outdoors
in good daylight.

Try to keep the shutter speed at 1/60+ to prevent blur, and use high
f-stop values to increase your DOF.
Here are some close-up test shots that show how the aperture affects the
DOF...  http://www.pbase.com/hornbaker/macro_tests

Good luck!

Richard

Why are you using a DIGITAL, AUTOFOCUS camera for such a course?

What planet are you from?

OF COURSE you are having problems! The cameras are pieces of sh.t! You
cannot focus them very well manually, because the viewfinders are not
designed for that!

Moron......!

No lens - autofocus or not - can focus at more than one distance at a
time.

In your case, you need to...

1. focus at the hyperfocal distance for the two points you want in
relatively sharp focus.  That distance is about 1/3 of the way from the
closest point to the farthest point.

2. use the smallest f stop possible (aperture size, not number) so that
you will have the maximum depth of field ("area of apparent sharpness")

3. #2 may necessitate using the camera on a tripod so that you can use a
slow enough shuter speed to provide correct exposure with the small
aperture.

When you do the above, the resultant photo will have the two selected
points in as sharp a focus as possible.  Whether or not they actually
*appear* sharp depends on how far apart they are and the degree of
enlargement of the photo.

There are ways to achieve great "depth of field" with large apertures
but that requires changing the plane of focus with a swinging
front...something not available to you and beyond your ken at this
point.

--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
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First, I assume you're in manual focus mode and that you're twisting the end
of the lens, not the zoom part.

Second, it is very difficult to focus manually because auto focus cameras
don't have split prism focusing screens.  If it was me I'd just shoot auto
focus - that's what it's there for.

Gil:
A lot of people have been giving you solid advice but there is one
thing that has been skipped.  The rebel XT has a diopter adjustment
for the eyepiece and if it isn't dialed in for you then it is
extremely difficult to judge when something is in focus (doing a
manual focus).

So far the best method I've found for adjusting the diopter is to look
at a brightly lit scene, press the shutter button down until your
information display (shutter speed, light meter, et al) lights up, and
then adjust the diopter until you can clearly see the information
display.  You should then be good to go.

Drifter
"I've been here, I've been there..."