S5 IS Focusing Issues

I seem to be having a problem with my new S5 IS when it comes to focusing? I posted a thread a while back about the extended focal range of the camera and pretty much have that under control but now, the camera doesn't seem to want to focus properly. Many of my images are out of focus?

I normally shoot in the AUTO mode when just taking quick shots (which is a lot of the time) and the camera is constantly focusing with most of the time being out of focus when the camera beeps ready. Is anyone else having this problem? Is there a problem with the camera or... am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas everyone!

WOW! Am I the only one having this issue? Well, it is Christmas and lots of folks are out of town so, I won't panic yet, lol.

I find it has problems auto-focusing in low-light (dim-medium indoor). It is pretty frustrating sometimes. Best bet is just to try again, or give up and use the manual focus I guess?

Yes, I have found it to be a problem in low light situations. When it is in the macro mode, it seems to do just fine. I never noticed the problem before but, I had been doing mostly outdoor photography and only recently started with the indoor stuff. I notice it doesn't do well in shaded areas either. I was really hoping it wasn't a problem with the camera but, looks like it could be?

I haven't tried the manual focusing on the camera yet. I may have to give that a try. Thanks for the input.

Poor AF under bad lighting isn't an issue just necessarily restricted to cameras like the S5-IS. Even some dSLRs with 'slow' lenses suffer the same issues.

Are you trying to AF on a close subject? If so, the S5-IS's AF-assist lamp should help greatly with that. If you're trying to AF something far away (out of the range of the AF-assist lamp) under poor lighting, you'll often run into problems.

Collin85 wrote in post #4573933
Poor AF under bad lighting isn't an issue just necessarily restricted to cameras like the S5-IS. Even some dSLRs with 'slow' lenses suffer the same issues.

Are you trying to AF on a close subject? If so, the S5-IS's AF-assist lamp should help greatly with that. If you're trying to AF something far away (out of the range of the AF-assist lamp) under poor lighting, you'll often run into problems.

Yeah, you're right, AF depends on light so AF ability will go down with lower light for any camera. But certainly not all cameras are equal in their AF capabilities.

I remember a couple of my cameras from a few years ago. My Canon S200 was great at focusing in low light. It had a bright white AF light that I suspect helped it out a lot. In comparison, the Canon A60 that I bought afterwards was terrible, and used an orange AF assist light.

When I used the camera yesterday outdoors, it wouldn't focus properly on a subject I was shooting in sunlight. I was attempting to photograph an automobile at about 25 feet away and the camera kept focusing & focusing then when the camera beeped ready, the subject was not in clear focus?

I'm really starting to wonder if there is a problem with this camera?

Bear in mind the S5 doesn't have as precise (and I use the term loosely) placement of the active AF area as an EOS does. It's actually a fairly large part of the viewscreen, which can take some getting used to. Have you tried with an isolated subject, so you can minimize the possibility of background clutter throwing things off, and setting a specific AF point/zone?

No it is not just you. I have noticed that the autofocus is sometimes off with my copy as well. It will give you the audible beep and if you press the shutter, it will take an out of focus image.

Now this is what I have found out, albeit in the short time that I have owned this camera.

It will sometimes beep when out of focus. However, when this does happen, the center focus box will be yellow in colour, not green. I have found that if I cannot determine if the photo is in focus, I will look at the colour of the autofocus box. If it is yellow, then I will keep pressing the shutter button till it gets the right focus. When it does this, the auto focus box is green.

I do know sometimes it is tied with the close focusing abilities of the camera when zoomed out. Most times, I get the yellow box when I am zoomed in and trying to focus on something that is probably closer then the focusing range will allow.

So far, it has been mildly annoying. Most of the times, I can tell it is not in focus and its a simple matter of re-pressing the shutter button until I get what I want. Sometimes, its more difficult. I do know that the colour yellow and the colour green, viewed outdoors, can be very easily mistaken as one and the same colour.

I had a S2IS for a few years and it constantly blew shots of my kids. I would get the background sharp, but the kids faces were blurry. I finally got tired of it and dumped the camera. I am just going to save the money for a DSLR and a good lens.

I have to agree with Chako. The AF performance on my s5 seems to suffer when zoomed in close, and especially in low light. I've been zooming out until until the AF works properly and there is definitely a range the AF likes and a range it dislikes. I haven't had any problems outside yet, just indoors. I have gotten a lot of pratice with the MF and can use it fairly well now. It's a good camera, but it does have limitations at it's price range.

You may want to read this service bulliten and contact the repair department. Your problem seems to encompass the recognized descrepency noted by Canon.
http://www.usa.canon.c​om …tegoryid=221&mo​delid=9449

This is also one of the first posts in the forum.

Please let me know how it works out inasmuch my Christmas brought me an S5 IS also. I've noted similar amera traits I've been attributing to lack of experience with a new piese of equipment.

One of the limitations of any digital AF, not just the S5, is that it needs something to focus *on*. In other words if you are shooting, say, a blank wall or the focus happens to centre on the smooth side panel of the car you want to photograph, the camera will have an almost impossible job.

At least with the EVF on the S5 you can usually see whether the camera has got a good focus or not before you press the button. I usually have it set to spot focus, and, if the centre point won't focus right, then point it to a better defined point at the same distance where it focuses sharply, press the shutter release half way, swing back to compose the way you want, then shoot.

I have had my S5 IS for about 3 months now and I have been really frustrated with the autofocus. The other posters are right that it is especially apparent when you are zoomed in and when the light is less than very bright. But it also happens in medium to moderately bright light, both indoors and outdoors. I have had lots of shots ruined because of this. I have spent a ton of time testing this every which way and it also fails in medium bright light when the main subject does not have high contrast edges (like a face) but there is something with high contrast in the background - it even happens if there is only a TINY bit of the background showing when I have mostly just the face in the picture. I take a lot of pictures of my kids and they don't cooperate enough for me to retake pictures or spend a ton of time tinkering the the camera to get it to focus. I need to get the shot and with this camera it is always a question mark. I also have a Canon Powershot A520 and we NEVER had such a problem with it. The focusing is 10 times better even in very dim light. I thought long and hard about returning this camera and I didn't. I really wanted the hotshoe flash. But this is really frustrating and I hope Canon has a fix for this. I toy with the idea of sending it for service but I worry about them making it worse rather than better. I reported the issue to Canon but got nothing but an automatic response. I strongly recommend that prospective buyers don't get this camera unless Canon addresses this. I will try to post some sample pictures to this forum if it is allowed.....