E-20 blur issues

SeanU · Oct 21, 2002

Rich,

If you do a search in the forum, there are lots of threads about E-XX focus issues. Here are a few tips...

Point the camera so the eye of the subject is centered. Half press the shutter to focus and recompose. The eye/skin transition gives some contrast for the AF to do its job. You can also try focusing on a shirt collar etc.

Don't trust the AF indicator, trust your eyes.

Are you using a filter? Take it off and see if it gets any better.

Turn off the Infrared Focus Assist by setting the camera to the "Teleconverter lens attached mode". The focus will be slower, but many people have reported it is more accurate.

Sean

Rich Hawley · Oct 21, 2002

I'll try that, thanks!

Paul Taverner said:
Another thing you might like to check is the state of the
batteries. Focus accuracy takes a real hit well before the
batteries actually give up!

Not knowing that little nugget caused me no end of grief... Can't
wait for the DPS 9000 to be available in the UK.

Rgds

Paul

Rich Hawley said:

Olympus E-20n Autofocus issues
--
New E20 - I'm finding that the Autofocus has trouble when the lens
is fully or almost fully zoomed - especially when focused on faces
(portraits). Autofocus beeps to say it's in focus - viewfinder
looks to be in focus, yet when examined - the photos are somewhat
to really out of focus.

Has anyone else experience this? Curious....

Rich

Click to expand...

--

http://www.btinternet.com/~djfalse/Introduction/index.htm

Rich Hawley · Oct 21, 2002

Thanks for the tips!

I do have a haze filter on the lens (protection only). I'll try removing it to see what it does. I'm also going to try and adjust the aperture for more depth of field in my next attempts (tonight). I'm working on it!

Thanks.

Rich

SeanU said:
Rich,

If you do a search in the forum, there are lots of threads about
E-XX focus issues. Here are a few tips...

Point the camera so the eye of the subject is centered. Half press
the shutter to focus and recompose. The eye/skin transition gives
some contrast for the AF to do its job. You can also try focusing
on a shirt collar etc.

Don't trust the AF indicator, trust your eyes.

Are you using a filter? Take it off and see if it gets any better.

Turn off the Infrared Focus Assist by setting the camera to the
"Teleconverter lens attached mode". The focus will be slower, but
many people have reported it is more accurate.

Sean

Sharon Rentz · Oct 21, 2002

John and Phil,

Could you walk me through turning off the IR assist. I looked in my manual under converter lens options but didn't sese anything like what you are referring to. Is it just a matter of switching from the macro flower symbol to the (flower/lens symbol/lensx3 symbol)? I too am having some problems with focusing, especially landscapes.

Thanks,
Sharon Rentz

John Gruffydd said:
Phil Rose said:

Flash? Hmm, you didn't mention that in your first post. Anyway, one
of the tips I got on someone's website a few months back was that
more-reliable auto-focus resulted from disabling the IR assist.
This is done by enabling the "converter-lens" option in the
macro-options menu item--it turns off the IR assist. This may
improve your AF experience.

Click to expand...

I would echo that and I'm grateful to someone in this forum who
made the same point many weeks ago. I was getting inconsistent
focus with IR assist and this largely disappeared with IR turned
off - in fact I haven't used it since.

--
John Gruffydd
Mold, Wales, UK
E-10 + OM1,2n + Bronica ETRSi

Terry Thorn · Oct 21, 2002

Sharon Rentz said:
John and Phil,

Could you walk me through turning off the IR assist. I looked in
my manual under converter lens options but didn't sese anything
like what you are referring to. Is it just a matter of switching
from the macro flower symbol to the (flower/lens symbol/lensx3
symbol)? I too am having some problems with focusing, especially
landscapes.

Thanks,
Sharon Rentz

To turn off the IR Assist, turn the mode dial all the way clockwise (to the small green symbol with arrow points on each end) and power up the camera. Press the menu button on the rear of the camera. The very first option will be the converter lens selection which disables the IR assist.

Rich Hawley · Oct 21, 2002

Thanks to all for the tips -

Here's what I've found:

I turned off the IR assist
Switched from Program mode to Aperture Priority, set to 5.6

So far, like tests prove MUCH better. Out of about a dozen shots, only ONE was slightly out of focus - compared to about 50% prior to the adjustments.

I'll keep working with it!

Thanks again.

Rich Hawley said:
I do have a haze filter on the lens (protection only). I'll try
removing it to see what it does. I'm also going to try and adjust
the aperture for more depth of field in my next attempts (tonight).
I'm working on it!

Thanks.

Rich

SeanU said:

Rich,

If you do a search in the forum, there are lots of threads about
E-XX focus issues. Here are a few tips...

Point the camera so the eye of the subject is centered. Half press
the shutter to focus and recompose. The eye/skin transition gives
some contrast for the AF to do its job. You can also try focusing
on a shirt collar etc.

Don't trust the AF indicator, trust your eyes.

Are you using a filter? Take it off and see if it gets any better.

Turn off the Infrared Focus Assist by setting the camera to the
"Teleconverter lens attached mode". The focus will be slower, but
many people have reported it is more accurate.

Sean

Click to expand...

--

mike · Oct 21, 2002

I too have had good results turning off the IR Assist in terms of improving focus, but I am wondering if the IR Assist has any affect on the intensity of the flash. I know that the flash can be adjusted manually through the menu to raise or lower the intensity, but when it is set at its default (centered) position, does the IR Assist do anything to signal the flash as to the intensity required to reach the subject?

Member said:
To turn off the IR Assist, turn the mode dial all the way clockwise
(to the small green symbol with arrow points on each end) and power
up the camera. Press the menu button on the rear of the camera. The
very first option will be the converter lens selection which
disables the IR assist.

Moshe Ronen · Oct 22, 2002

Terry Thorn said:
To turn off the IR Assist, turn the mode dial all the way clockwise
(to the small green symbol with arrow points on each end) and power
up the camera. Press the menu button on the rear of the camera. The
very first option will be the converter lens selection which
disables the IR assist.

I think that what you describe here only gives you the option to turn the IR assist off.

When you select this option, hoding the flower button and turning the main or sub dial will display the small lens option, in addition to the flower option. To my understanding, to switch off the IR you need to select the lens icon, while holding the flower button and turning the dial.

Moshe

Beth · Oct 22, 2002

Rich,

Here's a tip I picked up somewhere for focusing for portraits using auto focus. Someone suggested focusing on the neckline. There is almost always enough contrast there to force the lense into good focus and is close enough to the face too. Works for me!

Beth

Rich Hawley said:
Rich

Vance said:

Is there enough contrast in your subjects to give the AF sufficient
focal points ?

Remember for the AF to work you need vertical lines in your image
as well.

--
Vance.

http://users.ev1.net/~txcowboy
http://pub57.ezboard.com/bthedigitaldinguscommunity

Click to expand...

--

--
Olympus E-10, TCON, MCON, WCON and Fl-40
Gallery: http://www.pbase.com/galleries/cokids

PeterK · Oct 22, 2002

Terry, or anyone else,

If we do what you suggest, are there any other known side-effects? What about when you actually hold the macro button down and turn the dial so that you get the little flashing lens icon on the lcd display - are there any consequences to leaving the camera in that state without the 14 on?

Thanks for sharing you ideas,

PeterK

Terry Thorn said:
Sharon Rentz said:

John and Phil,

Could you walk me through turning off the IR assist. I looked in
my manual under converter lens options but didn't sese anything
like what you are referring to. Is it just a matter of switching
from the macro flower symbol to the (flower/lens symbol/lensx3
symbol)? I too am having some problems with focusing, especially
landscapes.

Thanks,
Sharon Rentz

Click to expand...

To turn off the IR Assist, turn the mode dial all the way clockwise
(to the small green symbol with arrow points on each end) and power
up the camera. Press the menu button on the rear of the camera. The
very first option will be the converter lens selection which
disables the IR assist.

markE59102 · Oct 22, 2002

PeterK said:
Terry, or anyone else,

If we do what you suggest, are there any other known side-effects?
What about when you actually hold the macro button down and turn
the dial so that you get the little flashing lens icon on the lcd
display - are there any consequences to leaving the camera in that
state without the 14 on?

...that if you have the flashing lens icon on, when you zoom to full tele, the lens extends to a full 420mm. :-D

Sorry, I just can't be serious tonight. Actually, that's a very good question and I have absolutely no idea what the answer is!
--
Cheers,
markE

Oly E-20, FL-40, WCON, TCON, Nikon CP 990, & LOTS of batteries!

-Gallery: http://www.pbase.com/marke

Terry Thorn · Oct 23, 2002

PeterK said:
Terry, or anyone else,

If we do what you suggest, are there any other known side-effects?
What about when you actually hold the macro button down and turn
the dial so that you get the little flashing lens icon on the lcd
display - are there any consequences to leaving the camera in that
state without the 14 on?

Thanks for sharing you ideas,

PeterK

I honestly don't know because I've never used it since I've not had any problem with OOF shots. I would suggest that if you're interested, you should give it a try and see for yourself. I may just do that myself. That's the beauty of digital.

Leon Wittwer · Oct 23, 2002

In some situations, it will slow the focus process down since the contrast autofocus will have to search more.

PeterK said:
If we do what you suggest, are there any other known side-effects?
What about when you actually hold the macro button down and turn
the dial so that you get the little flashing lens icon on the lcd
display - are there any consequences to leaving the camera in that
state without the 14 on?

Thanks for sharing you ideas,

PeterK

Terry Thorn said:

Sharon Rentz said:

John and Phil,

Could you walk me through turning off the IR assist. I looked in
my manual under converter lens options but didn't sese anything
like what you are referring to. Is it just a matter of switching
from the macro flower symbol to the (flower/lens symbol/lensx3
symbol)? I too am having some problems with focusing, especially
landscapes.

Thanks,
Sharon Rentz

Click to expand...

To turn off the IR Assist, turn the mode dial all the way clockwise
(to the small green symbol with arrow points on each end) and power
up the camera. Press the menu button on the rear of the camera. The
very first option will be the converter lens selection which
disables the IR assist.

Click to expand...

PeterK · Oct 23, 2002

Thanks for the replies guys. I, in fact, have left it on in the past by accident. No noticable effects, but then I wasn't looking for any either.

What's difference when you turn the dial one more click to set the steady lense icon for the TCON300? What does the camera do differently?

Thanks,

PeterK

Leon Wittwer said:
PeterK said:

If we do what you suggest, are there any other known side-effects?
What about when you actually hold the macro button down and turn
the dial so that you get the little flashing lens icon on the lcd
display - are there any consequences to leaving the camera in that
state without the 14 on?

Thanks for sharing you ideas,

PeterK

Terry Thorn said:

Sharon Rentz said:

John and Phil,

Could you walk me through turning off the IR assist. I looked in
my manual under converter lens options but didn't sese anything
like what you are referring to. Is it just a matter of switching
from the macro flower symbol to the (flower/lens symbol/lensx3
symbol)? I too am having some problems with focusing, especially
landscapes.

Thanks,
Sharon Rentz

Click to expand...

To turn off the IR Assist, turn the mode dial all the way clockwise
(to the small green symbol with arrow points on each end) and power
up the camera. Press the menu button on the rear of the camera. The
very first option will be the converter lens selection which
disables the IR assist.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Search

E-20 blur issues

SeanU

Senior Member

Rich Hawley

Active member

Rich Hawley

Active member

Sharon Rentz

Well-known member

Terry Thorn

Guest

Rich Hawley

Active member

mike

Guest

Moshe Ronen

Guest

Beth

Guest

PeterK

Senior Member

markE59102

Veteran Member

Terry Thorn

Guest

Leon Wittwer

Forum Pro

PeterK

Senior Member

Keyboard shortcuts