Struggling to focus effectively

R

RobbieW

Guest
Hi,

I have a 350D, and was out in the woods over the weekend taking some pictures. I was using the P mode, so everything should be automatic with a few extra feaures such as RAW.

The lens I was using was a Canon 18 to 55 kit lens. The problem i was having was that I could only focus on one or two focusing points.

After seeing pictures on here that people have taken they appear totally in focus.

At first I thought it was due to the depth of field, but after looking closely it is the fact that I am focusing on 2 of the 7 focus points.

Can anyone offer any advice on where I am going wrong?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Rob
 
Switch off AF and turn the focussing-ring by hand - sometimes the AF struggles with scenes that are dark/uniform in appearance, though with more sophisticated (i.e. expensive) systems it's less of an issue.

That's a slightly tongue-in-cheek answer, obviously...;)
 
Change the settings (parameters) to use the center point only. I found the 20D nearly always got the focus wrong when left to its own choosing. Not sure how on the 350 but there will be a way of manually cycling through the other points should you want to use them.

Oh and time to stop using P mode unless you have to ;) Learn to use Av and to a lesser degree Tv. With Av (aperture priority) you will soon learn what depth of field to expect.
 
If you really want to learn, switch to manual metering - it'll give you so much more control over your images once you figure out what's going on.
 
thanks for all your advice, I think its time for some more photography this weekend.

Many Thanks

Rob
 
get a tripod or monopod too...
 
My recommendation is pretend there is nothing but manual on your camera for 1 week, you'll never go back!

When I started with my whole photography thing I stuck with the "modes" for a long time. Finally I just said forget it and went completely manual. There are some really horrid pics out there but you learn really fast this way.
 
I too use only the centre focus point, I found that my 300d had an annoying habit of focusing on the wrong thing otherwise.
 
Steep said:
I too use only the centre focus point, I found that my 300d had an annoying habit of focusing on the wrong thing otherwise.
Click to expand...

Same here , centre focus or manual (especially in low light)
 
Hi Rob,

When I got my 350, one of the first things I did was select the centre AF point only. If I needed one of the other ones, then I would select it manually for that shot, by pressing the relevant button on the back. (Top right of the camera at the back, on the left hand side of the two I think, the one with the blue squares).

This (if you havent changed your custom function 4), will highlight ALL your focus points in the viewfinder. Simply use the front scroll wheel to select the centre point and press the button on the back again.

If you need to use a different AF point for a particular shot, repeat the above, selecting the shot, but remembering to set it back again.

What I normally did though was point the centre AF point at what I wanted to focus on, press the focus button, then recompose the shot. Sometimes it's a quicker way than changing the AF point.
 
Thanks for all your help, more excuses to go playing this weekend :)

Is there any useful site to find details of all these custom functions that you seem to use?

Thanks
 
Well I personally only really use Custom Function 4, which, when set to option 1, transfers the focus button to the * button.

Basically it separates the focusing and the exposure into two independant buttons, so you can lock the exposure and refocus, and vice versa. Very very handy.

It does take a little while to get used to, but once you've used it, I promise you're not likely to change it back!

Also the only other customer function I change regularly, is mirror lockup.

Those really are the only two :)
 
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