Focus and the S30

[Chazs]

I have an S30 and discovered that it has an inconsistent problem with focusing. Recently we were on a camping trip and shots of mountains (focus at infinity) would be focused at about 10 feet. I experimented and noticed that subjects at 10 feet would focus in at about 5 ft; 5 ft at around 3 feet, and 3 ft around 20 inches. It doesn't happen all the time, and it happens less when zoomed in at 3x power.

Anyon eelse notice this problem?

To check, press part way down on the shutter to set the focus; then press the MF button (manual focus) to see what is focused at.

Let me know what you find.

[scotten]

Inconsistent focusing seems to be the achilles heel of all the Canon cameras. I don't know if this is more prevalent in some cameras than others, but everyone seems to complain about it, including me. It seems very hit-or-miss, with no real way of predicting or preventing it's occurance.

Sam Cotten

[bigdave]

this may be a stupid question, but are you using auto mode to shoot? in auto mode, there are 3 squares that appear on screen and signify possible points the camera will use to focus. this can make the auto focus very inaccurate. try using the P mode on your camera. in that mode, there's only one square on the lcd. put the box over the object you want to focus on and that should solve the problem.

you probably already tried this, but if you didn't, this should help.

[octathlon]

bigdave,

Even in Auto mode (as well as portrait, landscape, etc.) you have the ability to switch between the 3 squares and the single center square by pressing the Set button. :)

You do have to go to P mode to select the left or right square.