Canon Autofocus in back light

There are simply times when manual focus is far superior to autofocus. The same goes for a lot of the automation in today's cameras. The camera cannot think the way an experienced photographer can, although the marketing folks in the camera industry would have you believe otherwise.

jonas18z wrote in post #12122855
I use AF-one shot and I selected the point manually. With my eyes I can see details in the face of the person, if I shoot with flash i can see details of course.

I shoot at short DOF and want to focus on there eyes.


Anyone know if nikon has better AF-system for this kind of situations?

I do not think a Nikon in the same price range as your current Canon is going to fair much better.

You are talking about some critical focusing. Is the camera on a tripod? If not, then try shooting at high speed continuous. Avoid recomposing. If yes, then manual focus and/or use a flashlight to illuminate the eyes to assist with focusing.

That's all I can really offer. Hope it helps.

AbPho wrote in post #12123684
I do not think a Nikon in the same price range as your current Canon is going to fair much better.

You are talking about some critical focusing. Is the camera on a tripod? If not, then try shooting at high speed continuous. Avoid recomposing. If yes, then manual focus and/or use a flashlight to illuminate the eyes to assist with focusing.

That's all I can really offer. Hope it helps.

It's the same problem on 1ds mark III,

In strong back light situation, the problem is more due to lens flare than the camera itself. What lens are you using?

85mm 1.2 II

70-200 / 4 IS

and

50mm 1.2

not sure if you're in exactly the same situations but i find in natural light & backlit with the sun i have no troubles whatsoever with focus/portraits.

I still has problem with this, yesterday I wanted to take a picture of a girl in a tunnel and the sun low and strong backlight in the tunnel that was dark. I used a flash two light up the model but the focus fail many time and the model was not still so useing live view/ MF was impossible.

I found this one

http://www.hkyongnuo.c​om/e-detail.php?ID=277

Anyone know if this can force the AF-assist light?

I posted a thread asking about the YN unit and was told that the AF assist beam was pretty weak sauce. Get an EG-S screen and manually focus. While it's not too uncommon for me to shoot into the sun, I can't say I've ever had an issue where the camera simply wouldn't focus; it just took a bit longer.

jonas18z wrote in post #12863696
I still has problem with this, yesterday I wanted to take a picture of a girl in a tunnel and the sun low and strong backlight in the tunnel that was dark. I used a flash two light up the model but the focus fail many time and the model was not still so useing live view/ MF was impossible.

I found this one

http://www.hkyongnuo.c​om/e-detail.php?ID=277

Anyone know if this can force the AF-assist light?

You could try having an assistant hold a flashlight ("torch" in the UK) beam on the subject so that your autofocus has something to trigger on. If you are using flash lighting within the tunnel, that should over-ride the little beam of light you use for focusing.

SkipD wrote in post #12863835
You could try having an assistant hold a flashlight ("torch" in the UK) beam on the subject so that your autofocus has something to trigger on. If you are using flash lighting within the tunnel, that should over-ride the little beam of light you use for focusing.

Yes I could try that or maybe I use a litepanel with batteries insteed.... .

I'm glad I found this thread. Same problem with my T4i even with landscape. Say I'm shooting a sunset with a (dark) mountain at the bottom of the frame. I choose the bottom-center AF point and the camera won't focus. I can push the shutter release as many times as I want, it won't do it.

In this case, I can't light the subject because it's too far away. So, manual focus would be the solution?

jonas18z wrote in post #12093712
I need a very powerful flashlight and has to be around 5000k, that would mean some hmi-light. It's very expensive and heavy compared to a 580exii
...

The color temperature of the flashlight is irrelevant. Light subject. Focus. TURN OFF FLASHLIGHT. Press shutter. Let an assistant handle the flashlight and this won't even slow you down.

I must say I have not noticed this issue on any of my cameras.

How many stops between the backlight an the subject?

virginie24jb wrote in post #16566424
I'm glad I found this thread. Same problem with my T4i even with landscape. Say I'm shooting a sunset with a (dark) mountain at the bottom of the frame. I choose the bottom-center AF point and the camera won't focus. I can push the shutter release as many times as I want, it won't do it.

In this case, I can't light the subject because it's too far away. So, manual focus would be the solution?

You don't need autofocus in this situation, just focus at hyper-focal distance.

rrblint wrote in post #16567275
You don't need autofocus in this situation, just focus at hyper-focal distance.

I'm sorry, what do you mean by "at hyper-focal distance"?