Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8

geoff5093 wrote in post #9780802
That happens quite often to me too, and it gets annoying, I can never focus if there isn't plenty of light.

I hear that often about this lens and the tamron 28-75. It has never been my experience. I thought maybe I was crazy and got my lenses out one night in the living room with only a 60watt light burining off in a corner. I was able to focus on anything in the room without any hunting. And it was pretty dim in there. There has got to be something going on with all this "hunting" people complain about. I am not a technical person so I can't say whether it is a camera or lens issue or both. I only know that I don't have the problem.

HoosierJoe wrote in post #9781179
I hear that often about this lens and the tamron 28-75. It has never been my experience. I thought maybe I was crazy and got my lenses out one night in the living room with only a 60watt light burining off in a corner. I was able to focus on anything in the room without any hunting. And it was pretty dim in there. There has got to be something going on with all this "hunting" people complain about. I am not a technical person so I can't say whether it is a camera or lens issue or both. I only know that I don't have the problem.

The only way I have been able to focus in low light is if I choose an individual focus point, and make sure there is a huge difference in contrast at that point. If I try to focus on say, the body of a car in low light it will just keep hunting. I would need the focus point to be partially on/off the car, and even then it's spotty at best.

just got mine yesterday...

i almost always use a singe focus point so it doesnt seem to hunt to bad for me so far. i did take some shots wide open and peeping the LCD they look to be front-focused. will have to test again today with better light i guess...

hoser wrote in post #9781367
just got mine yesterday...

i almost always use a singe focus point so it doesnt seem to hunt to bad for me so far. i did take some shots wide open and peeping the LCD they look to be front-focused. will have to test again today with better light i guess...

I always used single point focus as well, but with that you need the point to be on a really high contrast area for it to focus correctly.

geoff5093 wrote in post #9782418
I always used single point focus as well, but with that you need the point to be on a really high contrast area for it to focus correctly.

i just hit up the test chart with tripod/mirror-lockup etc, seems to be spot-on. must have been the bad lighting... im glad, ive been anxiously awaiting this lens and think i just had myself paranoid with all the threads about focus issues.


wouldnt ya know though, supposed to rain all weekend...lol

Im waiting for mine to come in the mail....tap, tap, tap...

I've had mine for about 3 weeks now and the only time I get 'hunting' with it is in lighting conditions that I would also get the same issue with any other lens I might have on there.

I haven't verified this, so it's all conjecture at this point, but I feel like AF hunting would be an issue with the BODY rather than the lens when this issue comes up due to lower light/contrast situations. Since the Canon bodies, anyway, use a contrast detect AF system you're pretty much not going to GET a solid AF lock when you don't have enough light and contrast on the surface you're aiming at.

I know that when I was learning to play with metering that I found even in a fully lit environment, if I point the camera at a flat, white or black surface, I couldn't get AF to lock on. Again, it didn't matter which lens I was using.

Other than not being quite the 'proper' range for me that I was expecting (buyer error), I really like this lens and find it performs great so far.

The red focus indicator will also blink red to confirm focus for you if you switch to manual and set it that way; which I didn't know until last night.

Didn't have my tripod or filters but took a few photos on the way home tonight. Just messing around with 3 burst shots and onto HDR:

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/jj_glos/4427290​233/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/jj_glos/4427290​805/

hey jj, that first one is awesome.

lowincash wrote in post #9778896
haha I don't think the first picture is sharp. It was dark and camera had a hard time focusing on my black car so I had to focus manually. Hard to see if it was sharp or not =/

Maybe use the center focus point, aim it the wheel, then re-compose.

didnt get to play much, been raining nonstop...

100% crop
50mm
f/2.8

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geoff5093 wrote in post #9781312
The only way I have been able to focus in low light is if I choose an individual focus point, and make sure there is a huge difference in contrast at that point. If I try to focus on say, the body of a car in low light it will just keep hunting. I would need the focus point to be partially on/off the car, and even then it's spotty at best.

I see what you mean. Sounds like you have to focus on an edge or line, something distinct.

I just walked down the hallway with my 50D and lens. It's night time, light is in the room I just left. No light source here, it's all coming from behind me. It focuses perfectly using the center point.

I feel for you. It's frustrating when you get a wide aperture lens just to take pictures in low light and it won't focus correctly. And I have no idea why my lens does it and yours doesn't. I had the much praised 50 1.8 lens for a very short time and got rid of it because I couldn't get it to focus indoors without a lot of light. That was what I bought it for.

I am wondering about QC at Tamron and Sigma. It seems that these issues occur too often.

Some screwing around photos. I was walking around China Town with some friends and though this wall would make a cool backdrop. I had a friend hold my flash and just point it at the other friend(subject). Flash was bare and shots were taken real fast explaining the harshness of everything. Anywho, they are fun so im sharing them...haha

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jj_glos wrote in post #9784139
Didn't have my tripod or filters but took a few photos on the way home tonight. Just messing around with 3 burst shots and onto HDR:

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/jj_glos/4427290​233/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/jj_glos/4427290​805/

Love the colors and framing!!! Can't wait to test mine!