out of focust

HELP PLEASE

I have been having a problem with alot of my photos being out of focust. I use:

Cannon XTi with Cannon 300 4 L IS. I use the camera set in P (Program AE) mode with an ISO of 200 or 400 depending on the light.
Metering mode - evaluative mode & AF mode - Al Servo.

I usually take 2 - 5 pictures at a time. Sometimes they are in focus & sometimes they are not. Obviously I am doing something wrong, but that something is what I need help with. THANK YOU.

Rich Hahn

hey rich,

congrats on your nice lens

are you hand-holding or using a tripod? what shutter speeds are these photos at? are you sure the IS is turned on?

try changing the focus mode to 1-shot focus mode and try shooting still objects

scott

Scott,

I am hand holding, camera is picking the shutter speed & yes the IS is turned on. I will try the camera on 1 shot focus and see if that helps. THANK YOU.

Rich

Richard make sure your shutter speed is faster than 1/200 sec, better yet 1/300 sec. If not crank up your iso

Wim

I recommend trying a tripod or monopod. Hand-holding a big piece of glass, especially telephoto glass, is a risky proposition, made even more risky if you're doing it for prolonged periods; it's not a natural position for your hands and arms, and it's easy to start shaking a little. A high ISO can mitigate or overcome that, but you'll also start degrading the image quality as the noise increases.

Richard - One thing to check if trying to get your shutter speeds higher is to also try Av mode. The aperture will then be fixed (so you have a given DOF), and you can see what kind of shutter speeds the camera is able to come up with. Then bump up the ISO as appropriate. In P mode, it's trying to choose both shutter speed and aperture, which probably isn't the best option if the light isn't good.

Consistently sharp photos are hard to get handheld. Even though I have the Nikon VR lenses I still use a tripod whenever possible.


Kent in SD

Lots of good advice given already. I'll just add: do all of above AND practice, practice, practice. Lots of practice. Tons of practice! Seriously- LOTS!

Well, the most simple question is - does that camera acquire focus before you press the shutter? I use Nikons, and if you're in continuous shooting mode, the default setting is that the camera will take images even if nothing is in focus.

Also, make sure you distinguish focus issues from camera shake. In case of shake, everything is soft, while in case of misfocus, there might actually be something else in the fore- or background that's sharp.

Basil

While I hate to suggest it, there are good reasons why you might want to shoot a newspaper or magazine taped FLAT to a wall. Try it with the camera and lens locked down on a tripod, mirror lockup, IS both on and off, mid range aperature (f8 or so), medium ISO (100 or 200), fast or slow shutter speed (try to stay away from 1/15 second, preferably 2+ stops away), cable release or self-timer, and use both autofocus and manual focus.

Also, if the camera is on a tripod, are you connected it to the head of the tripod with lens collar or by the camera?

Last, what are you shooting? If you are trying to shoot fast moving sports, 2 out of 5 sharp images, especially with that camera, is pretty good. It is not that that is bad camera - it is just that even with 1 series bodies fast moving objects aren't easy to get. (We'll ignore the current 1D Mark III AF issues)

My nikon with funky kit lenses only focuses consistently when there is good light and contrast. I don't know about Canon. Also, what Basil said. Motion blurring and bad focus are two different issues. You may need to focus manually under some conditions.

Wanted to also add, if you are dealing with a long shutter speed and a tripod, use your self timer to take the shot so depressing the shutter doesn't add to the camera shake issue..