beagle1
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Forum Pro
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Posts: 11,740
Re: M5 — First impression
Hclarkx wrote:
777Ian wrote:
Hi,
I have the M5, upgraded form a 60d love the size weigh and handling. Couple of things I have noticed, the AF assist light is too easily blocked by your hand, probably a generic problem with a small form factor camera. The most annoying thing I have found is that the auto focus in low light is very poor, I really struggle to get focus, the shots are fine it handles the ISO and noise but do struggle to get focus lock, hopefully this can be improved with a firmware update ? Other than that love the little camera
Yes, it's poor, but not much worse than my SL1 or 5DIII. One problem is the slower M lenses when zoomed to the tele end, e.g., the 18-150 at F/6.3 at the long end. There's just not enough light coming through the aperture to allow an easy focus. Quite unlike the F4 or faster L lenses.
Also, it seems the DP system prefers to see vertical lines and higher contrast when focusing. It helps if you can find this in your frame at the desired focus distance (focus lock and re-frame).
There are a host of other options for AF (most I have not explored, at least not enough to discuss in any detail). I tried AF+MF and focus peaking, but my old eyes weren't up to it. I have also played briefly with "Smooth Zone AF" in "AF method" in the Camera-3 menu. That seems to help low-light focusing immensely. Also, the "AF Frame Size" set to "normal" is, I think, better than the "small" option (both also on the Camera-3 menu -- set AF Method to 1-point AF to enable these modes).
Trying to shoot above about 50 or 70mm with the 15-150mm M lens in a dark room is almost fruitless even with "Smooth zone AF" though I can't imagine ever using more than 50mm on this lens inside or outside in near darkness.
I'm more interested in how the AF performs in good light with older EF and EF-S lenses