Its bugging me! I keep losing the AF point!

D

Duncan.F

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Duncan
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I am using a 5D in portrait mode and use a single AF point to focus on the face. Unfortunately this AF point only half works and is really difficult to see sometimes. I was at a gig tonight and was ocassionally struggling to find it all all against some backgrounds.
So is there anything I can use in the view finder, a white dot or some sort of matrix? Anything that gives me a clearer focus point!

Cheers,

Dunc
 
If im reading it right that the camera isnt focusing because it cant find a point, might be worth sticking a flash gun on the cam, deactivating the flash firing in the menus, then use its IR focusing beam,
 
I've no experience with the camera, but found this, which may be of some help:

I've found the best focus for me on the 5D is to use Al Servo and then go into custom functions and set it to expanded center circle. I've got mine set up so it only focuses when I hold down the star button as well and when not shooting fast, I'll focus on where I actually want the focus, as in scenics and then let my thumb off the star button and reframe. But I came from a lifetime of shooting film cameras that way so it's pretty natural for me.

I did not have good luck shooting with all the red lights on and using just one around the diamond since it wasn't expanded usually gave me a lot of misses.

Since I've set my camera up this way I've had much better and more consistant results. If others have found better ways please tell, as it's my one big complaint when using the 5D. Most of the time, this method works great but grabbing faster shots it does not and I tend to frame to get the center circle where I want the focus, shoot a little wider and then crop later, not the best way to do things even though the camera has excellent quality images.

Focus-assist lamps and flash spot beams are often of limited use for non-central focus points.
 
Is there a menu option to switch the AF point illumination on or off?
 
Re-reading, is it a problem of seeing the illuminated AF point when you've got a dark scene with strong lights/reflections?

Katz Eye don't seem to offer a replacement focus screen for your camera, but maybe there's already an architectural grid type available that would help?
 
Does the centre AF point have a fault? (You said it only half works). What about switching focas point to another in the grid and use that to get focus then move back to centre the shot.
 
photon said:
Re-reading, is it a problem of seeing the illuminated AF point when you've got a dark scene with strong lights/reflections?

Yes, exactly that! Unfortunately with all the lights and high contarsts of light and dark, coupled with movements it makes it really dificult to get sharp focus.
I also use a 1.4 lens which has very limited DOF, particularly when the subjct is only 6-10 feet away.

The AF point, when you look at it carefully only half lights. Nothing I can do about it I guess. Because of the closeness of the subject on DOF I am not keen on the focus and recompose as you lose the focus.

All suggestions to improve my keeper rate welcomed!

Dunc
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