Focusing in the dark : GF-1

[Steelfish]

Do any TPers have any tips on how to use AF in the dark on a GF-1 body, please?

For some reason, despite me having set spot focus, in the dark the GF-1 will find something to focus on, flash up a huge green lined box around about 80% of the scene and say it's focused!

Needless to say, when this happens, the parts of the scene I want in focus aren't.

Any ideas?

Here's an example ( I was trying to get AF on the gate):


Untitled by steelfish, on Flickr

 

[lensflair]

Do any TPers have any tips on how to use AF in the dark on a GF-1 body, please?

For some reason, despite me having set spot focus, in the dark the GF-1 will find something to focus on, flash up a huge green lined box around about 80% of the scene and say it's focused!

Needless to say, when this happens, the parts of the scene I want in focus aren't.

Any ideas?

Here's an example ( I was trying to get AF on the gate):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jp_harrison/5635467347/
Untitled by steelfish, on Flickr

Sorry not familiar with that camera but a trick I use with pro dslr bodies that don't have a focus assist light is to chuck a speedlight in the hotshoe and disable the flash. Camera uses the focus assist beam on the disabled flash.

Could you try something similar?

 

[Rmacleod90]

Or even a small torch! Focus the beam where you want to focus, lock focus then turn of the torch and take the picture!

 

[daveb99]

You could try setting it up to use the centre area only for AF, and then ensure the focus assist light comes on (if it has one). I think this should work.

 

[Steelfish]

Sorry not familiar with that camera but a trick I use with pro dslr bodies that don't have a focus assist light is to chuck a speedlight in the hotshoe and disable the flash. Camera uses the focus assist beam on the disabled flash.

Could you try something similar?

Ah yes I did think about that, and tried it out.

Annoyingly, either the Panasonic firmware or the flash firmware (Nissin Di466) leaves the AF assist lamp off on the flash unit. It's either the in body AF assist lamp or nothing, it appears.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[Steelfish]

Or even a small torch! Focus the beam where you want to focus, lock focus then turn of the torch and take the picture!

Good idea - it'll be a slight faff as I'll have to set it to manual focus, do the torch trick, turn off the torch, meter and fire.

I'll have a crack at it tonight and see how well that works. Cheers.

 

[Steelfish]

You could try setting it up to use the centre area only for AF, and then ensure the focus assist light comes on (if it has one). I think this should work.

That's how it's set at the minute. If I understand you correctly, I'm setting up spot focus (with the spot set at centre as I lock and recompose). And the AF assist lamp is set to come on.

Set like this I often get good focus, sometimes not. I guess it depends on the scene and whether the AF assist lamp is beefy enough.

Is that what you meant ^^?

Here's an example of where that worked for me:


Untitled by steelfish, on Flickr

And another:


Untitled by steelfish, on Flickr

OT: Can't seem to suss out multi quote - apologies for the multiple replies!

 

[AJQS]

Sit a lit torch on top of the gate, it'll focus on that no problem, set AE/AF lock button to just AF, hit that so that you can then come back and play with the exposure without moving focus after youve turned off the torch.

AF Assist is a pathetic little beam, it won't reach anywhere near far enough. It's really only there for night 'snapshot' portraits with flash.

 

[Steelfish]

Sit a lit torch on top of the gate, it'll focus on that no problem, set AE/AF lock button to just AF, hit that so that you can then come back and play with the exposure without moving focus after youve turned off the torch.

AF Assist is a pathetic little beam, it won't reach anywhere near far enough. It's really only there for night 'snapshot' portraits with flash.

Now that is an outstanding idea! Thanks Alan. I'll give it a go this evening. Would this be an issue even for proper DSLR? (I can't remember trying it with any of my old Nikons).

 

[Trig's]

OT: Can't seem to suss out multi quote - apologies for the multiple replies!

use the "+ next to the quote button on the posts that you want to quote - it will highlight in red then just use the reply button as norm.....

 

[AJQS]

Yo ucould also illuminate the suject from the camera but it'd need to be a very bright beam to give enough contrast for the camera to AF with. It will however pick up a light source as a subject no porblem, so sitting the light source on the focal plane works nicely. It's a bit long winded with static objects, but is very useful for shooting moving cars at night.

 

[Steelfish]

use the "+ next to the quote button on the posts that you want to quote - it will highlight in red then just use the reply button as norm.....

Aha - Post Reply rather than quick reply. Doh! Thanks.

Yo ucould also illuminate the suject from the camera but it'd need to be a very bright beam to give enough contrast for the camera to AF with. It will however pick up a light source as a subject no porblem, so sitting the light source on the focal plane works nicely. It's a bit long winded with static objects, but is very useful for shooting moving cars at night.

Looking forward to trying these techniques out this evening (plus my new 20mm lens is here as well...yay).

Thanks again for all help - I'll try and post some results up.