S30 Focus Tips?

[Ed R.]

I have an S30 and have been fairly please with all but the auto focus. Generally, for every 10 pictures I take, about 3 will be out of focus and need to be deleted. This happens so frequently it is getting frustrating. Any tips on how to ensure a better focus would be appreciated!

[stopbath]

I have the A70 and found that some shots are not focused well.

It could be camera shake, a lot of fuzzy shots are slow shutter speeds, so brace yourself or the camera against a tree, chair, fence or something during the photo. Use the 2 second timer to help eliminate any jarring from the release.

It could be that the camera could not lock focus but took the picture anyway. This happens on low contrast or darkly lit subjects, where the camera can't confirm focus, but will take the picture anyway after beeping or otherwise doing some sort of signal that focus is not great. (The A70 uses orange focus frame for not good, green for good, and different beeps.)

The LCD is not great for checking focus, but you can generally zoom in and get a good feel for the sharpness of the picture after you take it.

[deniM]

Digital cameras have trouble focussing, in the absence of a 'vertical' line. When taking a photo, make sure you focus on a vertical line (post, tree, fence, door frame, chair, curtain edge, side of face etc) at the appropriate distance you want to focus at. Depress shutter button halfway to lock focus, then while holding shutter button, recompose image and take the photo. Of course, in low light and/or low contrast conditions, adding extra lighting will help e.g. turn on another light. Also indoors, move to the brightest part of the room. Make sure the subjects are facing the brighter lighting.
Another tip - if there isn't a obvious VERTICAL line, just a horizontal line, then rotate your camera 90 degrees. lock focus on the now 'vertical' line and then rotate camera back again and take photo. Hope this helps