D60 poor autofocus

[aneilson]

I dont take many indoor shots at events, hence I have never purchased a real flash for the D60. I went to a halloween party at the weekend and failed almost completely to get the D60 to focus on anything in the poor light. Ive seen this mentioned in the past, but never experinced anything so bad!

I resorted to manual focus in the end, and grabbed some rabbit in the headlights picutres with the built in flash.

Would this be alleviated with a speed light 550 or the like? does it giveout a bigger auto focus light that can be used to better effect.

This is my only complaint with the camera so far.

any opinions are welcomed

thanks

Andy

[Pat Lepore]

Hi Andy,

The 550EX greatly improves the low light focusing ability of the D60, as does the 420EX. It is still not great but it does give you half a chance though.

I shot my cousins engagement at the weekend and missed a couple of "kodak moments" due to the slow focus, even with the 550EX. It did eventually focus after a second or so but at that point the "moment" was over. I shoot for fun not profit so it's not too bad.

Pat.

[gmitchel]

The infrared flash assist on the Canon 5xx EX flashes does help some. Not a lot. Unless the subject is within 10 or 12 feet, forget it.

The autofocus on the D60 is notoriously poor under low light and low contrast. It's supposed to be slightly improved over the D30. VERY SLIGHTLY, not that you would probably notice.

Just realize it and use manual focus in those situations.

Cheers,

Mitch