Auto focusing problem

[Inactive Member 06]

Hi. This is my first post on this Forum.

I'm an amateur photographer who started digital phography in January 2001 using a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S70.

I was very pleased with the Sony for a while, but gradually I came to want something more professional. Recently I bought a Canon EOS?@D60, and have been pretty happy with it in most regards.

I have noticed one very serious problem, however. If I take a picture of someone standing against a distant background, the autofocus mechanism tends to focus on the background rather than the subject. I always choose the focus point manually, and make sure the focus point is directly over the subject. I've had the same problem with two different lenses - the 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 USM, and the 20mm F2.8 USM.

My Sony had a similar problem (it was one reason why I decided to upgrade), but usually only if the background was brighter than the subject. With the Canon it seems to occur even if the subject and background are of similar brightnesses, but only if the subject fills less than a critical fraction if the frame.

This is of course extremely frustrating, especially since the clear focusing screen makes manual focusing difficult. In the case of the much cheaper Sony I was willing to accept the problem as an inherent limitation of the autofocus system, but with a camera as expensive as the D60 I expect better.

I've posted a few samples at the following address to show the problem:

http://www.imira.ne.jp/Album/GuestView.asp?AID=49924&BackURL=%2FAlbum%2FMemberListAlbum%2Easp%3FCPIndex %3D0%26MID%3D32366%26BackURL%3D%252Fsearch2%252Eas p%253FselectSearchMethod%253DMemberName%2526Search Text%253Dchpol%2526CPIndex%253D0%2526strBackURL%25 3D%25252Fgallery%25252Fdefault%25252Easp

Have other users noticed this problem? Is it a problem with all D60s, or is there something wrong with my camera?

[inside]

Yes, I have this same problem... I can't wait to hear if someone has figured out a good work around. The screen is very difficult to manual focus with so in my opinion that is not an option. I also have the problem with all of my lens so it is a camera thing, not just related to any specific lens. Hope someone pops in here with a good thought on this one. I've found it also messes with groups shots because of the same back focus issue.

[Inactive Member 06]

I took my Camera and 20mm lens to the nearest Canon service center (I live just outside Tokyo, so it wasn't far). They apparently recalibrated the lens and camera, and I got it back in 10 days. I took a lot of test pictures last weekend, and the problem seems to be gone, or at least greatly diminished.

The moral of this story is that calibration problems do sometimes occur, so I suggest you take your camera for servicing and hopefully they can fix it for you.

Regards,

Chris.

[Hawkeye12]

Chris,
considering that you used an f/8 stop to take these shots, it really doesn't look like you have/had a problem at all.
to get shots of people where the background is out of focus, you need to select a smaller aperture number and focus on the person in the shot.
here's a shot of my son at f/2.5.........



http://www.pbase.com/image/11262022/original

[Inactive Member 06]

My complaint wasn't that the background was in Focus (that's great for this kind of shot), but that the subject was out of focus. My intention was to use a wide angle lens with a narrow aperture, so that I could get the subject in perfect focus, but still have the background almost in focus.

The problem was that the camera always set the focus to infinity if the subject was beyond a certain distance - I later discovered that this would happen even if there was no distant background, e.g. a person standing against a wall a few meters away.

The servicing seems to have fixed it though, so now I'm happy.

Regards,

Chris.

[DVWarrior]

Is'nt it interesting that D60 owners from Japan to Scotland have clusters of D60s with the exact same fault. I sadly would not accept my NEW £2K camera to be serviced 1 week after purchace...who would !
Canon should own up to this inherant problem and give out the serial nos. of the faulty D60s so that present owners can get theirs fixed...it's a disgrace to say nothing about their quality control.

PS. Pekka should have a tech problem section to the forum which could be sent to Canon if enough of the same problem occurs.

ie. D60 TECHNICAL PROBLEM SECTION

[Inactive Member 06]

Yes, it reflects poorly on Canon's quality control, and it would have been nice for them to issue a warning, rather than letting people find out for themselves.

On the other hand, they did at least promptly fix the problem after I took the camera in for servicing. I think the moral of the story is that you should be on the lookout for any problems with your camera, and take it in for servicing straight away if you notice anything strange.