Focusing with Autofocus cameras

[firstclass808]

It seems in my experience that taking photos with autofocus is not accurate, not sharp without manual focusing. Does anyone have this problem? Or I should ask how do you get sharpness with autofocus? The manual gives the basic answer. Aim and shoot with contrasting subjects. Thanks.

[GrahamB]

Unless there is a problem with the camera/lens the focus should be sharp on the area the camera is focusing on. Your problem may be with what the camera is focusing on compared to what you want in focus.

For example, you are taking a picture of a person in front of a nice lanscape view and you have placed the person to one side of the frame. On some cameras the focus is just measured for the centre of the frame - in this case the distant landscape so the person in the foreground may be out of focus.

To get around this most camers have a 'focus lock' feature where you can lock the focus by pressing the shutter button half way. So, returning to the person waiting patiently in front of the lansdscape, you would point the camera so the person is in the centre of the frame, half press the shutter to lock the focus, then keeping the shutter half pressed recompose the shot with the person to one side, then fully press the shutter and take the picture.

More advanced cameras have multiple focus points and are generally set to focus on the closest object seen by any of the sensors. Sometimes this can also cause problems if you want to focus on a distant object and keep the foreground object out of focus. You may be able to switch between single point or multiple point focus modes on some cameras.

Hope this helps.

Graham

[firstclass808]

Thanks for the reply and I try your suggestions. I have been using a Canon digital ELPH and just got a the Nikon 8800. I am still learning how to use it and am getting out of focus shots.

[Mike]

Hopefully I don't sound patronising here, it's certainly not my intention, but sometimes it's the simplest things that are being overlooked, I've come across this a couple of times with people new to digital cameras, It could be that you aren't giving the camera the opportunity to focus properly on your subject, by that I mean pushing the button to the halfway point, waiting a second or so for it to focus before finally taking the shot by pushing the button all the way down.