Low light: Is AF on 60D slow or is it me?

I got a new 60D and am very excited about the high ISO capabilities. I am mostly using it to take pictures of people -- think dinner party type of light. A good part candid, the others impatient people posing .

AF is on center spot, one shot modus, and I use the focus and reframing technique to make sure I have the eyes in focus. However, I found that under these somewhat dynamic situations the 60D sometimes has great difficulties to focus - especially, if the faces are backlit.

Anything I can do about it or is this just the way how AF works?

Oh, by the way: I am using the canon 50mm, f/1.4.

What aperture are you shooting at? If you are shooting relatively wide open I would suggest to select the focus point closes to your subjects eyes and recompose from there. With shallow depth of field you can loose focus from decomposing from center focus point.

Are you using live view? Live view focuses slower.

Daniel

AF allways uses full open aperture.

hennie wrote in post #13744136
AF allways uses full open aperture.

Yes, that is true. I was simply referring to reducing out of focus shots, not focus speed with that suggestion.

No live view. Apertures typically around 1.4 to 2.0.

In low light, any camera will struggle more or less to focus. 60D's low light AF capability is about the same as 7D, 50D, 40D... down to about -1 EV. A 1D series or a 5D series can do a little better, handle a little lower light, down to about -2 EV (approx. equal to moonlight). The 5D series will be fairly slow focusing in such low light, but at least it tries!

Best solution is to use a flash, one of the Canon that can provide a focus assist (or third party with that same feature). You don't have to fire the flash, just use the IR beam it can be set to project, to help focus.

An alternative is an ST-E2 flash control module (or third party equivalent). This also can project the focus assist beam, mounts into the hot shoe but is a lot smaller than a flash.

I think you can use the 50D's built in flash for focus assist, but it will strobe visible light and is kind of obnoxious.

I use Ai Servo 90% of the time with my 50D and 20D. I also move the AF points around to suit composition.

I have found the EF 50mm f/1.4 foucuses quite quickly but is no speed deomon compared to say my 135L or even my EF 85mm f/1.8.

When shooting at wide apertures in lowlight, never focus and recompose.

It's not a Nikon camera...therefore it will be slow, hunting, and hit-or-miss.

form wrote in post #13745635
It's not a Nikon camera...therefore it will be slow, hunting, and hit-or-miss.

One of my Canons begs to differ...

At $3k base original price, it had better differ...

As far as consumer and semiprofessional-grade dSLRs go, Nikon's focus accuracy is...better. I played with Nikons and Canons at the last CES show and tried out a D700, the old competition to the 5D II. Focus was consistent, accurate, no hunting, any subject that wasn't completely devoid of detail was locked accurately and without any second-guessing. I can't say the same about my 5D II. A Nikon D7000 there was similarly confident and accurate...so to me it's the system.

form wrote in post #13745973
At $3k base original price, it had better differ...

As far as consumer and semiprofessional-grade dSLRs go, Nikon's focus accuracy is...better. I played with Nikons and Canons at the last CES show and tried out a D700, the old competition to the 5D II. Focus was consistent, accurate, no hunting, any subject that wasn't completely devoid of detail was locked accurately and without any second-guessing. I can't say the same about my 5D II. A Nikon D7000 there was similarly confident and accurate...so to me it's the system.

I agree, the 5D2's AF leaves a lot to be desired (in fact, Canon sticking to the antiquated 9 point system is getting a little ridiculous...that system hasn't advanced much since it was first put into the what...20D?), but saying if it's not a Nikon it'll have a bad AF system is a little over-generalized with the 1D and the 7D being in the Canon camp.

yogestee wrote in post #13745585
When shooting at wide apertures in lowlight, never focus and recompose.

I understand that this is needed when you use AI Servo, but with One Shot?
Care to give some insights why recomposing is inferior or slower then shifting around AF points?

amfoto1 wrote in post #13744654
Best solution is to use a flash, one of the Canon that can provide a focus assist (or third party with that same feature). You don't have to fire the flash, just use the IR beam it can be set to project, to help focus.

An alternative is an ST-E2 flash control module (or third party equivalent). This also can project the focus assist beam, mounts into the hot shoe but is a lot smaller than a flash.

It seems that in low light conditions a flash is a must. Even if it doesn't flash.
Thanks.

form wrote in post #13745973
At $3k base original price, it had better differ...

As far as consumer and semiprofessional-grade dSLRs go, Nikon's focus accuracy is...better. I played with Nikons and Canons at the last CES show and tried out a D700, the old competition to the 5D II. Focus was consistent, accurate, no hunting, any subject that wasn't completely devoid of detail was locked accurately and without any second-guessing. I can't say the same about my 5D II. A Nikon D7000 there was similarly confident and accurate...so to me it's the system.

A pretty broad claim based on an observation.

drmaxx wrote in post #13746669
I understand that this is needed when you use AI Servo, but with One Shot?
Care to give some insights why recomposing is inferior or slower then shifting around AF points?

To put it simply, the plane of focus shifts a bit when you focus and recompose. When shooting at wide apertures like f/1.4 or even /2 the shift could be enough to render the main part of the subject (where you focused) to be out of focus, where the depth of field won't cover this.

I use Ai Servo 90% of the time. I switch my focus point to be on the part of the subject which has the most importance, eg the eyes on a portrait. I sometimes also shoot a bit loose so the focus point is dead on the subject, then crop into the image during post processing.

Shifting focus points is not inferior but for me, less problematic than focus/recompose. It is also faster.I also control my fous point selection via the Quick Control Dial and not the Multi Controller, and I don't use back botton focusing.