what AF problem?

[timbo]

My D60 is my first auto focus camera. People have reported focus problems. My D60 has focused in rooms of almost total darkness. With or without the 550ex flash attached. No problem, focus is right on the money and focuses in about 1/2 a second or less. AF has more to do with your lens than the camera body. What has others here found with AF on D60?

[robertwgross]

Timbo, you might help us believe this better if you explain what you mean by the dark room. You mentioned the 550EX flash, but are you shooting with or without it? Are you shooting with or without the internal flash? Which lens?

---Bob Gross---

[Hawkeye12]

i think what timbo means is that there are a lot of gripes about the AF system on our D60/30's, but in reality they work pretty good in the low light environment where the 1D or an EOS3 blows it away.
there are a lot of "prosumer" (ex: Minolta D7i or Sony 717) cams that are also better in low light situations (but not much), but in regular lighting the D60 is way faster.
for anyone such as myself that has used a prosumer cam for a while, the D60 is lightyears ahead of them and for the type of pictures i use my D60 for, the AF system is more than adequate.

[boBquincy]

I have had 'issues' with autofocus at low light levels with my D30. I have locked auto focus to the center sensor and try to align that with an area of good contrast to help the camera lock in but in low light levels it is still slow or will not lock at all.
By low light levels my examples are some indoor rides at Walt Disney World such as Peter Pan or Pirates of the Caribbean.


boB

[timbo]

hi robertwgross,

The two lenses I shoot with most is sigma 24-70 f2.8 and Canon 35L. The sigma will focus a fraction of a second slower than the 35L, they are close in speed.

With external 550 flash is fastest at focus. Without the 550 flash about a 1/2 second slower with on camera flash.

What I meant by a room of almost total darkness is imagine if you had a picture frame hanging on a wall. If the room was dark enough that you could make out a frame is on the wall but not be able to make out the picture in the frame. This is how I rated my findings with D60 focus.

I'm tired and its late so I hope I made some sense of this.

thanks,
timbo

[robertwgross]

Timbo, when you did these autofocus tests in a fairly dark room, could you describe the subject? For example, was it high contrast, low contrast, or whatever?

It sounds like you are having better-than-average success with this.

---Bob Gross---

[timbo]

hello robertwgross,

My test includes shooting my little girls's lite brown teddy bear that sits on her bed leaning against the teal colored wall. This is a fairly high contrst sceen. I have noticed if I point the D60 at a solid color (no contrast) it either won't find focus or takes a while. I have never picked up a EOS 1 dslr or slr so I have nothing to compare. For ten years I always had full manual cameras. Mamiya RB, 645 and Pentax K1000 so maybe my impressions with D60 AF is better than it really is.
thanks

[Thomas]

timbo wrote:
I have noticed if I point the D60 at a solid color (no contrast) it either won't find focus or takes a while.

Try this:
1. Set the focus point to center.
2. Position the focus point on a detail that displays a vertical line (clothing detail, glasses etc.)
3. Press the shutter release half way (focus lock).
4. Recompose and press the shuter release all the way.

I used an old Canon EOS 650 for 13 years and this technique has always worked for me. It still does with the Canon D60.

Regards,

Thomas