A solution to P5100 focusing woes in dim light?

We all know how the P5100 has problems focusing in low light at times. In those cases, could one not just set the focus mode to "infinity", and most times make out okay? Since it is a preset focusing mode, it focuses very quickly. No searching in dim light. And the DOP should pretty much cover it unless the subject is very close? Any one see any downside to this idea?

vjayshutterbug said:

We all know how the P5100 has problems focusing in low light at
times. In those cases, could one not just set the focus mode to
"infinity", and most times make out okay? Since it is a preset
focusing mode, it focuses very quickly. No searching in dim light.
And the DOP should pretty much cover it unless the subject is very
close? Any one see any downside to this idea?

Click to expand...

Yes, setting it to infinity works as long as the lens-to-subject distance is no closer than (say) 15 meters.

Another strategy is to find a bright spot + - 10 meters lens-to-subject, half-press, focus on it, recompose your pic and take it.

Both of these work because the camera has very wide DOF at any lens opening (except in macro-mode).

Another thing to do is to put the focus into 'manual' mode, where you manually ove the focus spot to where you want it to focus. In auto-focus, it tries to focus on the closest, brightest point.
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Jerry
CP4500 P5100 Canon iP6700D

This sounds silly but I carry a 2 AA cell flashlight when using my 5400 in dark situations. I just light up the spot that I want the camera to lock focus on and it usually does it unless it's too far away to get good illumination. Frankly I only use the PS for work related machinery shots and not people shots; so this may not be useful if you're trying to get a face in focus.

Keith

When shooting in low light you need to use the flash, but when in infinity mode
the flash turns off automatically. No good for low light situations.

mousse said:

When shooting in low light you need to use the flash, but when in
infinity mode
the flash turns off automatically. No good for low light situations.

Click to expand...

While the flash might be off in 'infinity' setting, you can still use a higher ISO setting with little noise, and with VR you can get longer shutter speeds with no blur. So taking low-light pics without flash is very possible.
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Jerry
CP4500 P5100 Canon iP6700D