XT Out of focus 95% of the time?

[scraggles]

I just got my new XT today, and the few pictures that have been in focus, have made me lovet he camera, however, about 95% of the pictures are out of focus even on inanimate objects with autofocus. I'm sure it's just me doing something wrong, but what could it be?


The lens is Canon EF 50mm 1.8 II

[randalcandari]

maybe you are using a very shallow depth of field. f1.8 is wide enough to give a shallow DOP. read on the forum and you'll learm more about it and how to control it.

[scraggles]

I was using a shallow DoF, but literally everything was out of focus, and I wasn't too close to the object.

[johneo]

I'm sure it's just me doing something wrong, but what could it be?

What shutter speed?
What other settings are you using?
Is it out of focus or blurred?
You need to give more info for us to guess why 95% are out of focus.

[Hellashot]

The camera was probably using autofocus points on parts of the frame you weren't interested in. It's a common thing that happens in "green square"/full auto mode. Happened with my Drebel until I learned enough to choose my autofocus points. You won't get consistently good images until you enter creative modes!

[scraggles]

Well, for this one pic for example, the specs were as follows:

1/320
F/4
ISO-200

If you need more info, let me know. I'm relatively new to DSLR's. Just got it today, up until now, all I had was an A80

[Poco]

Any samples?

[scraggles]

The camera was probably using autofocus points on parts of the frame you weren't interested in. It's a common thing that happens in "green square"/full auto mode. Happened with my Drebel until I learned enough to choose my autofocus points. You won't get consistently good images until you enter creative modes!

Actually, that's when I get the blurry photos. I get decent shots in the auto modes.

I did choose an autofocus point, the middle point. For example, I was focusing on my cats nose(lazy thing wasn't going anywhere), but it didn't actually focus perfectly until I put it into portrait mode. Maybe the F number was too low? I'm not to good at this yet.

[TheObiJuan]

In zoombrowser, click the button to show the AF points, then post that picture so that we can see if it is soft, out of focus, or something else.

I had the same problem with my XT when I first got it. I found out it was from focusing (single shot), and recomposing.
Are you using single shot or AI Servo?

[scraggles]

I'm actually not sure of what AI Servo is.

I believe I may have had the DoF too shallow. How do I figure out the depth? Like, if it's 1.8, how many inches are going to be in focus, if it's 4.0, how much will be in focus? Or is that just a trial and error doodad?

Zoombrowser stuff coming, give me a min.

[scraggles]

I believe the DoF was my prob. Here is a pic, I was wondering why it was blurry... F-number was 1.8... duh...

I'll try playing around with higher numbers. It looked in focus to me, but then again, I'm used to using the LCD screen.

http://24.195.234.44/untitled-1.jpg

[bolantej]

that image looks pretty sharp to me in the area that is focused. remember, the higher the f number, the greater the depth of field. keep experimenting. it can be frustrating, with all of this control, but as you get used to it, it can be great fun. keep shootin'!

[scraggles]

I am going to assume that was the problem guys. I kept the camera in AV mode most of the time and forgot to adjust the F-number here and there. Thanks a million for your help. I'll be sure to ask again if I don't get better with practice.