Focus problems? in AV mode with 500D

ThyJones

ThyJones

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I have a feeling the answer to this question is something to do with not enough light, or perhaps too close to the subject, or both.

Got my camera today and rather than use auto mode, im trying to get the hang of AV mode.

Ive tried taking close up-ish pictures of my gf, and it was working fine but then i messed a bit with some of the settings, and then when i pushed the shutter half down, it zooms out the lens a little as if trying to focus, i push the shutter completely and it just keeps zooming in/out. Any suggestions?

I had this problem earlier as well, took a picture outside at night, left it on a certain setting and took a pic, which worked fine, i move around to face the other direction and it did the same as above.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks
 
Mike Jackson said:
What lens are you using?
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Hi Mike, its just the kit lens, 18-55mm, should have included that sorry
 
Its trying to focus but probably not enough light or it cant fix on a focus point?
 
cam1986 said:
Its trying to focus but probably not enough light or it cant fix on a focus point?
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Thats what i was thinking, say for the close up portrait i was going for, the distance was what i wanted, so is it a case of changing the iso or?
 
I have the same camera and I find it is due to light but as Iris has said i just switch to manual focus and it is fine.

Also sometimes i find if you focus on something else then move back to your subject it finds it better.
 
TheRightMoments said:
I have the same camera and I find it is due to light but as Iris has said i just switch to manual focus and it is fine.

Also sometimes i find if you focus on something else then move back to your subject it finds it better.
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Ahh ok, thanks for all the help! I will get used to all this at some point im sure
 
It's just struggling to find a focus point, as already said try and find another point to focus on or switch to manual (but be careful, in lowlight and in manual it can be hard to see if you have the correct focus)
 
AF can focus in quite low light, if you give it a decent target - that is, something with a bit of light/dark contrast. For example, it will struggle to focus on a plain shirt, but will pick up on a button.

Look for something like that in the image which is at the same distance from the camera as the main subject, and use the AF centre-point (or one of the other points). Eyes are usually quite good targets, which should always be sharp in a portrait. Lock the focus with half-pressure on the shutter release, then recompose the picture as you want it and shoot.

Most people use focus-recompose technique like this all the time.
 
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