G5 - finding focus delays

[heksa]

Hi, it's my first time here. :oops: ... What brought me here is the anxiety I get when my camera looks for the focus. I have a very energetic 14 months old daughter that is my main photographic subject ... and by the time the green ractangle shows up she is usually gone. :? Is it normal for a camera to take a few looooong seconds to find focus? Is there any way to shorten this time? I would really, really appreciate any advice. :)

[shniks]

Yes, its very normal for G series cameras to take ages to auto focus, especially in low light. Don't worry, the camera isn't broken, and its not your fault either! The only way around it is to try and pre focus on something that is near where she is heading eg the floor she is about to step on. Then just press the shutter when she gets there. Another thing that helps is to choose a contrasty part of the area you are focusing on eg black hair against light skin, the camera will focus quicker.
If you are still fed up with all this, a digital slr is the answer, I hear the auto focus is very very fast and accurate.

[Rich_F]

What you need to do is set up a manual focus custom setting on your camera. You can search this forum for more details - also look for "hyperfocal", although for indoor shots you may not need a focus range that stretches out to infinity.

Essentially, you can set up your camera with a known, wide focus range, so that you don't need to focus at all. As well as ensuring that your pictures are in focus, it also makes them much quicker to take!

Rich

[heksa]

:D Thanks a lot for a quick reply. I'm glad to hear that my camera isn't broken, but I really hoped there was some way or trick to fix the problem with focusing. :( I've been doing all the things you have mentioned - shooting in bright light, looking for focus on contrasting parts, and pre-focusing on something she would hopefully get close to for a second :wink: . All those prerequisites make taking photographs impossible at times, though. :? My G5 is still quite new and I hate to think about upgrading it already (it's not like I wouldn't like to have EOS 300D, it's just not within my reach, at the moment :cry: ) Anyway, I appreciate your help and will probably stick around to learn more about my G5. :wink:

[heksa]

Thanks Rich_F .... I love the "telephoto effect" and so all my photos need to be focused on a subject and have blurred background that's why focus is very crucial in my photography. :? I do appreciate your help and am sure going to look around for more information on the forum. :D

[Rich_F]

The "Blurred background" effect (ie narrow depth of field) can also be achieved after the effect using software. Photoshop CS, in particular, has an excellent lens-blur effect.

It's more work than getting the photograph right in the first place, but possibly cheaper than upgrading to a Digital SLR to speed up your focussing.

Rich

[Andy_T]

Hi Heksa,

welcome to the forum!

there's some old but good information here:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=39076

Also, do a search for 'hyperfocal'.

That should work nicely with the kind of indoor shots over a short distance and the wide DOF of the G5.

Best regards,
Andy

[heksa]

:D Rich, that's what I used to do with pictures before I got G5, I would use PS to blur the background but, you're right, it's a lot of work and I'd rather have it done by the camera. :? Thanks anyway. I usually get the desired effect it's just that it gets frustrating missing so many bueautifil poses due to slow focus, but I'm taking so many shots that it maybe a nature way of telling me it's too much. :wink:

[heksa]

Andy, thanks. I have already found that old message and I'm affraid, hyperfocal isn't a solution for me. :cry: :D

[joeyjoeyjoey]

What I found works good for me is after prefocus I anticipate what my daughter will do next. With that I am able to time when to depress the shutter all the way.

Then I do the quick review and see what I need to adj. Usally a bump in ISO is all that it takes then I'm right back into prefocus and waiting again.

Its all a waiting game :)

[Andy_T]

What I found works good for me is after prefocus I anticipate what my daughter will do next.

That's something that I found actually pretty easy with my 18 month old son ... as soon as he sees me aiming my G2 at him, he's coming for me to get it :lol:

With that I am able to time when to depress the shutter all the way.

That, of course, is a little more difficult for me ... Sometimes I manage to toss him the lens cap and he's happy with that. Otherwise, I'll have to use macro mode.

Best regards,
Andy