HELP! e-620 + 50-200mm autofocus failure

None of these is cropped or post-processed.

Single shot with focus lock set to ON. Interestingly, the Exif shows the focus mode as "MF" which I am sure it was not: the lens was racking back and forth to focus, but couldn't lock. I wonder if any photo that fails to lock gets recorded as "MF"...

• I nearly always focus pressing the shutter half-way, aiming at the eyes. On some of these sequences I would get so frustrated as the lens racked back and forth several times past my subject, that I would push the shutter release the entire way hoping something good would come of it... Either way, focus would rarely lock on anything. I think I see what you are getting at though, and no, I do not think that I was often losing the point of focus by reframing.

• On the first sequence I used spot metering and aperture priority without compensation. On the second sequence I used center-weighted average metering (larger subject) with shutter priority. I never use AEL/AFL.

I hope that helps!

Thanks again