AF - Out of focus? Me, Camera or lens?

skidude88

skidude88

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Hi All,

Been doing a few Studio shoots and seem to suffer from poor autofocus hit rate.

What sort of success rate do proper togs get? more than 50% or Less?

Assuming its not me at fault (I'm AF on Furthest eye), would the issue be more likely to be the camera or lens letting me down.

I'm only on entry level camera & stock lens (Sony A37) - But would of thought AF would get it right more than not? or am I being naive?

Any feed back appreciated

James
 
What are your settings, i.e. aperture, iso, shutter speed? Would also be useful, to upload, a few example images.

Shouldn't be any real issues, getting focus, in a studio environment. Unless you're using, real shallow depth of field, which will be apparent when you load images / detail settings.

Also, could be issue with camera / lens back or front focusing.

Anyway, enough rambling, could be a few things :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for the prompt replies, Perhaps I should narrow the question...

.....what % rate, crisp\focus shots would togs hope to get on a basic studio shoot?

basic as in white floor & background, shooting generally, i100, s125, f8 - Nowt fancy.

Model would be in similar pose\and dist.

Some are nailed, but the majority aren't. I'm not expecting 100%, but more towards 80%?, rather than sub 50% of the pics.
 
A few images really would be helpful.

Also need to elaborate about equipment. Are you using speedlights, etc.
 
You almost always need to focus on the closer eye. The other way round always looks wrong.

Tell us exactly how you focus and shoot IN DETAIL and post samples, otherwise I may as well tell you to buy 1D X with 70-200mm f/2.8 II and read the camera manual very carefully. That should have 99% or higher hit rate bar user error.
 
daugirdas said:
You almost always need to focus on the closer eye. The other way round always looks wrong.

Tell us exactly how you focus and shoot IN DETAIL and post samples, otherwise I may as well tell you to buy 1D X with 70-200mm f/2.8 II and read the camera manual very carefully. That should have 99% or higher hit rate bar user error.
Click to expand...

Until the guy realises that there's something wrong and has to MA everything... The real answer is technique and mirrorless! :D
 
woof woof said:
Until the guy realises that there's something wrong and has to MA everything... The real answer is technique and mirrorless! :D
Click to expand...

I bet it is something as simple as focus, move around a bit till its out and recompose, or the lens is duff, etc. Or maybe he is trying to focus in pitch black and hoping for a miracle.

Mirrorless is not an answer by the way :) It is a question and the answer is 'no' :p Although mirrorless can't be any worse than SLT.
 
Maybe i missed it, but what is the subject? A well behaved model is going to help with a high hit rate. An out of control toddler is going to be a different story :LOL:
 
Well the stock lens is an 18-55 and assuming your using an aperture of F8 like you allude to above depth of field should not be an issue.

I would look to see if you can manually focus and get better results, it may be that the focus adjustment is off somewhat. It may be that you need micro focus adjust. In which case the a37 doesn't 'technically' have it. I say 'technically' because there is a way to do it by manually adjusting the hidden screws under the pop up flash, have done it myself to great success. Google will be your friend here if that's a route you fancy going down. To answer your question in a studio environment with accurate autofocus no reason why you shouldn't nail every shot.

Just a last thought, Have you looked at shake due to too low a shutter speed?
 
Do we know if OP is using a Tripod?? If so has he turned OFF Image Stabilization??
 
Pretty clear, that we need the OP to come back and update the thread, with some vital information.
 
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