NX500 - Disappointed by AF performance

Raw Jaw wrote:

andre95 wrote:

Strongly lit backgrounds always inhibit AF of any camera. The best is using Single Shot AF with a small box at center.

Well, I had the NX100 before for ~3 years. It never had such problems. I usually have a box of the size that the subject fully fills the box. I often have the box on the third-smallest size. With my way of framing, depending on distance and lens, the square nearly always covers the whole head, or a smaller area such as the eyes. My experience with using smaller squares is, that it then is more likely that the camera doesn't find focus (because it may happen that there are no big contrasts in the smaller square).

BTW, that the NX500 has a particular problem with focussing in backlit situations is known.

- I usually shoot in A mode, adjusting ISO (put on second wheel) to get a sufficiently short exposure time (usually at least 1/60s, often 1/100 or faster). I know the difference between motion blur and out-of-focus shots.

The minimum I shoot people at is 1/160, especially children being children.

That depends on the situation. If they are quietly sitting somewhere and there is poor lightening, it may be more effective to reduce shutter speed than to push ISO further... Sure, if they are running around I use completely different speeds...

- Only today I realised that OIS 1 was on. But it shouldn't make that big a difference...

- Body firmware is 1.10. I haven't had the time to play in the newest one...

Not good on your part.

True, but AFAIK there were no reports (and no claims in the Change Log) about noticably improved AF in the last minor update.

- Most problems appeared with the 30mm, but also with the 16-50mm PZ

- Drive mode was continuous normal

This was your big mistake.

Why? Showing a green square (= found focus) and then producing a totally unfocussed image should happen in no mode. And also that no focus is found at all shouldn't happen (at least not in these lightening conditions, they were indoors, but really not that bad - during a day in a function room with a lot of big windows and all ceiling lights on)

I suggest you download the user manual and read and apply its information. This will enable you to separate camera issues from operator issues.

I actually read the whole manual. I checked again, because I didn't remember anything about having poorer performance in Continuous normal [not High!]. That's the information of the handbook (exhaustive, there is not more):

[start citation]

Single AF: Single AF is appropriate for shooting a still subject. When you press [Shutter] halfway, the focus fixes in the focus area. The area turns green when the focus is achieved.

Continuous AF: While you press [Shutter] halfway, the camera continues to focus automatically. This mode is recommended for shooting action.

Notes: Depending on the type of lens, auto focus results may differ when you capture photos continuously using Continuous AF. Use an optional lens for smooth auto focus operation. Select an optional lenses from the following: - SAMSUNG 16-50mm F2-2.8 S ED OIS - SAMSUNG 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 Power Zoom ED OIS - NX 50-150mm F2.8 S ED OIS

[end citation]

Where does it say AF is worse? And it also says to use optional lenses for *smooth* AF operation. However, for just one shutter press, this isn't required?

Andre