E-10 focus problem: Please advise

I've had an E-10 for about three weeks, and I do mostly indoor portrait shots, many self portraits (using remote and occasionally auto timer). The focus is off -- or very soft -- on most of the photos, and I've played with all the settings. Could it be I have a defective camera? Alos, is it normal for the shots to look extremely out of focus at 200%? (I've seen shots from other cameras that looked focus at very large magnifications.)

My sample exhibits the same phenomenon.

At a party recently and seventy shots whittled down to fifteen, five were tac sharp, one way off focus and the remaining nine all ‘just soft’. In each case, including the really bad focus sample, I had both audio and visual focus confirmation.

I am finding the E10s focus just not reliable; a recent Santa party had seventy individual shots with one soft, and a cheque presentation later on seven frames two focus (one burst on four, refocus and one burst on three) and all seven out of focus.

It is not just ‘me’ anymore the camera just does not respond with the focus engine giving focus beep and green dot but the lens just does not move. All this with IR focus.

I am going to turn IR off for a week and see if my overall hit rate goes up or down, the maddening thing is its randomness and then a few spectacularly sharp shots, I’ve 1,600 shots in under two weeks and have not got a full assignment without as much as half the shots not focussed, I’ll take 3~7 shots in bursts looking for a best one, sometimes I haven’t one focused, more times the one I want to use is the one not focussed and the worst one tac sharp.

I think this is a firmware issue and I am not recommending my colleagues to buy this until Olympus release the first update. A focus bleep and a green dot MUST mean the camera focussed.

Jay Dougherty said:

I've had an E-10 for about three weeks, and I do mostly indoor
portrait shots, many self portraits (using remote and occasionally
auto timer). The focus is off -- or very soft -- on most of the
photos, and I've played with all the settings. Could it be I have a
defective camera? Alos, is it normal for the shots to look
extremely out of focus at 200%? (I've seen shots from other cameras
that looked focus at very large magnifications.)

Click to expand...

I don't know if this will help, but I know that you must make sure that the center spot is actually on what you want in focus as it is very critical. I always focus first with the center spot on what I want in focus and then hold it down before taking the photo. Sometimes your subject is not always in the center of the picture on that small center dot when shooting it. I have almost never had an out of focus picture.I find the focusing fast and reliable for me.

Ger Beee said:

At a party recently and seventy shots whittled down to fifteen,
five were tac sharp, one way off focus and the remaining nine all
‘just soft’. In each case, including the really bad
focus sample, I had both audio and visual focus confirmation.

I am finding the E10s focus just not reliable; a recent Santa party
had seventy individual shots with one soft, and a cheque
presentation later on seven frames two focus (one burst on four,
refocus and one burst on three) and all seven out of focus.

It is not just ‘me’ anymore the camera just does not
respond with the focus engine giving focus beep and green dot but
the lens just does not move. All this with IR focus.

I am going to turn IR off for a week and see if my overall hit rate
goes up or down, the maddening thing is its randomness and then a
few spectacularly sharp shots, I’ve 1,600 shots in under two
weeks and have not got a full assignment without as much as half
the shots not focussed, I’ll take 3~7 shots in bursts looking
for a best one, sometimes I haven’t one focused, more times
the one I want to use is the one not focussed and the worst one tac
sharp.

I think this is a firmware issue and I am not recommending my
colleagues to buy this until Olympus release the first update. A
focus bleep and a green dot MUST mean the camera focussed.

Jay Dougherty said:

I've had an E-10 for about three weeks, and I do mostly indoor
portrait shots, many self portraits (using remote and occasionally
auto timer). The focus is off -- or very soft -- on most of the
photos, and I've played with all the settings. Could it be I have a
defective camera? Alos, is it normal for the shots to look
extremely out of focus at 200%? (I've seen shots from other cameras
that looked focus at very large magnifications.)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Even if you wanted to turn off the IR, what would that gain you? Also, how do you turn off the IR?

Ron said:

Ger Beee said:

At a party recently and seventy shots whittled down to fifteen,
five were tac sharp, one way off focus and the remaining nine all
‘just soft’. In each case, including the really bad
focus sample, I had both audio and visual focus confirmation.

I am finding the E10s focus just not reliable; a recent Santa party
had seventy individual shots with one soft, and a cheque
presentation later on seven frames two focus (one burst on four,
refocus and one burst on three) and all seven out of focus.

It is not just ‘me’ anymore the camera just does not
respond with the focus engine giving focus beep and green dot but
the lens just does not move. All this with IR focus.

I am going to turn IR off for a week and see if my overall hit rate
goes up or down, the maddening thing is its randomness and then a
few spectacularly sharp shots, I’ve 1,600 shots in under two
weeks and have not got a full assignment without as much as half
the shots not focussed, I’ll take 3~7 shots in bursts looking
for a best one, sometimes I haven’t one focused, more times
the one I want to use is the one not focussed and the worst one tac
sharp.

I think this is a firmware issue and I am not recommending my
colleagues to buy this until Olympus release the first update. A
focus bleep and a green dot MUST mean the camera focussed.

Jay Dougherty said:

I've had an E-10 for about three weeks, and I do mostly indoor
portrait shots, many self portraits (using remote and occasionally
auto timer). The focus is off -- or very soft -- on most of the
photos, and I've played with all the settings. Could it be I have a
defective camera? Alos, is it normal for the shots to look
extremely out of focus at 200%? (I've seen shots from other cameras
that looked focus at very large magnifications.)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I am experiencing the focus problem with my camera also. But for me it is less frequent. Every so often (often enough so that I find it unusual) the focus light will beep and light up but the picture is out of focus.
I have taken pictures of trees from 30 ft. where the focus ring is definitely
on the tree, and at that distance the entire tree should be in focus.

Also, even when it does appear to be in focus, if it is a picture of leaves
on a tree they always see to be a little bit blurred or fuzzy. I cannot get
a very sharp picture of leaves.

Peter

Curly Joe said:

Ron said:

Ger Beee said:

At a party recently and seventy shots whittled down to fifteen,
five were tac sharp, one way off focus and the remaining nine all
‘just soft’. In each case, including the really bad
focus sample, I had both audio and visual focus confirmation.

I am finding the E10s focus just not reliable; a recent Santa party
had seventy individual shots with one soft, and a cheque
presentation later on seven frames two focus (one burst on four,
refocus and one burst on three) and all seven out of focus.

It is not just ‘me’ anymore the camera just does not
respond with the focus engine giving focus beep and green dot but
the lens just does not move. All this with IR focus.

I am going to turn IR off for a week and see if my overall hit rate
goes up or down, the maddening thing is its randomness and then a
few spectacularly sharp shots, I’ve 1,600 shots in under two
weeks and have not got a full assignment without as much as half
the shots not focussed, I’ll take 3~7 shots in bursts looking
for a best one, sometimes I haven’t one focused, more times
the one I want to use is the one not focussed and the worst one tac
sharp.

I think this is a firmware issue and I am not recommending my
colleagues to buy this until Olympus release the first update. A
focus bleep and a green dot MUST mean the camera focussed.

Jay Dougherty said:

I've had an E-10 for about three weeks, and I do mostly indoor
portrait shots, many self portraits (using remote and occasionally
auto timer). The focus is off -- or very soft -- on most of the
photos, and I've played with all the settings. Could it be I have a
defective camera? Alos, is it normal for the shots to look
extremely out of focus at 200%? (I've seen shots from other cameras
that looked focus at very large magnifications.)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

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I just spoke to Dino Olympus E-10 support. He confirmed that if you turn off the IR the focus may improve. The IR is only needed in low light where there is little contrast. In that case the IR is needed or manual focus is a must.

As far as a firmware upgrade, he confirmed that there are no firmware upgrades in the works. The different firmwares that are out there do not change the functionality of the camera at all. Some people have claimed that they notice better functionality with certain firmware upgrades. This is a falicy and I wanted to put it to rest. Anyone waiting to buy the camera because of this are wasting their time.

peter said:

Also, even when it does appear to be in focus, if it is a picture
of leaves
on a tree they always see to be a little bit blurred or fuzzy. I
cannot get
a very sharp picture of leaves.

Peter

Curly Joe said:

Ron said:

Ger Beee said:

At a party recently and seventy shots whittled down to fifteen,
five were tac sharp, one way off focus and the remaining nine all
‘just soft’. In each case, including the really bad
focus sample, I had both audio and visual focus confirmation.

I am finding the E10s focus just not reliable; a recent Santa party
had seventy individual shots with one soft, and a cheque
presentation later on seven frames two focus (one burst on four,
refocus and one burst on three) and all seven out of focus.

It is not just ‘me’ anymore the camera just does not
respond with the focus engine giving focus beep and green dot but
the lens just does not move. All this with IR focus.

I am going to turn IR off for a week and see if my overall hit rate
goes up or down, the maddening thing is its randomness and then a
few spectacularly sharp shots, I’ve 1,600 shots in under two
weeks and have not got a full assignment without as much as half
the shots not focussed, I’ll take 3~7 shots in bursts looking
for a best one, sometimes I haven’t one focused, more times
the one I want to use is the one not focussed and the worst one tac
sharp.

I think this is a firmware issue and I am not recommending my
colleagues to buy this until Olympus release the first update. A
focus bleep and a green dot MUST mean the camera focussed.

Jay Dougherty said:

I've had an E-10 for about three weeks, and I do mostly indoor
portrait shots, many self portraits (using remote and occasionally
auto timer). The focus is off -- or very soft -- on most of the
photos, and I've played with all the settings. Could it be I have a
defective camera? Alos, is it normal for the shots to look
extremely out of focus at 200%? (I've seen shots from other cameras
that looked focus at very large magnifications.)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

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I have had my E-10 for about 2 weeks now and use it for advertising and brochure work. I am currently shooting a small catalogue and have shot about 300 objects in the studio using the autofocus and I have to say that the camera has failed to focus on about 5 or 6 items and this has generally been because of shiny surfaces etc. All of the results have been exceptionally sharp. I am not sure how this helps you except to say that maybe there is a fault in your camera or perhaps as has been suggested the centre spot was used to focus on the subject of your shot.

John

Curly Joe said:

As far as a firmware upgrade, he confirmed that there are no
firmware upgrades in the works. The different firmwares that are
out there do not change the functionality of the camera at all.
Some people have claimed that they notice better functionality with
certain firmware upgrades. This is a falicy and I wanted to put it
to rest. Anyone waiting to buy the camera because of this are
wasting their time.

peter said:

Also, even when it does appear to be in focus, if it is a picture
of leaves
on a tree they always see to be a little bit blurred or fuzzy. I
cannot get
a very sharp picture of leaves.

Peter

Curly Joe said:

Ron said:

Ger Beee said:

At a party recently and seventy shots whittled down to fifteen,
five were tac sharp, one way off focus and the remaining nine all
‘just soft’. In each case, including the really bad
focus sample, I had both audio and visual focus confirmation.

I am finding the E10s focus just not reliable; a recent Santa party
had seventy individual shots with one soft, and a cheque
presentation later on seven frames two focus (one burst on four,
refocus and one burst on three) and all seven out of focus.

It is not just ‘me’ anymore the camera just does not
respond with the focus engine giving focus beep and green dot but
the lens just does not move. All this with IR focus.

I am going to turn IR off for a week and see if my overall hit rate
goes up or down, the maddening thing is its randomness and then a
few spectacularly sharp shots, I’ve 1,600 shots in under two
weeks and have not got a full assignment without as much as half
the shots not focussed, I’ll take 3~7 shots in bursts looking
for a best one, sometimes I haven’t one focused, more times
the one I want to use is the one not focussed and the worst one tac
sharp.

I think this is a firmware issue and I am not recommending my
colleagues to buy this until Olympus release the first update. A
focus bleep and a green dot MUST mean the camera focussed.

Jay Dougherty said:

I've had an E-10 for about three weeks, and I do mostly indoor
portrait shots, many self portraits (using remote and occasionally
auto timer). The focus is off -- or very soft -- on most of the
photos, and I've played with all the settings. Could it be I have a
defective camera? Alos, is it normal for the shots to look
extremely out of focus at 200%? (I've seen shots from other cameras
that looked focus at very large magnifications.)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

If one turns off the IR one has single servo focus which HUNTS for focus lock and won't fire until focused or until it reaches the end of its travel without finding focus. It is neat enough but slow and not great in low light, I’ve tried it quite successfully around the house and the office but never on assignments.

Turn off IR: First in the menu with the command dial set to ‘setup or outer connect mode’ the first item is the rose and a series of lenses, select the lenses. Then, out of the menu in any mode press the ‘close up button’ and rotate either the main dial or the sub dial until a lens icon appears in the top plate LCD, the camera is now on contrast detection or CCD focus mode only.

Curly Joe said:

Even if you wanted to turn off the IR, what would that gain you?
Also, how do you turn off the IR?

Click to expand...

cut..

I have noticed that it is necessary to use macro mode in what I would consider some fairly extreme distances from lens-to-subject (as in feet) to get a sharp autofocus; seems to work, but I too get a "beep" and a green light with what is clearly an out of focus subject sometimes....

Doc H.

Hello Jay,

Have my E-10 now for about two weeks, and of all photos, just 6 were out of focus - using the autofocus.
Have you yet visited the E-10 album 01.12.2000&02.12.2000?
( http://www.belgiumdigital.com )
In that album, there are two shots of the same object:
trees in front, a river and a church in the background (photos 18 & 28).

For the first shot, I focussed on the tree and for the second on the church (between the branches).
They became as I wanted them - the autofocus did a great job.
So, no problems over here so far.
Same results when using flash. Did a serie of 90 photos at school.
Just one image was out of focus - all using autofocus.

The only problem I encountered was in nearly dark with an extra lens attached and switched off IR. Focussing was much slower an not that accurate.

Jaja
http://www.belgiumdigital.com

Jay Dougherty said:

I've had an E-10 for about three weeks, and I do mostly indoor
portrait shots, many self portraits (using remote and occasionally
auto timer). The focus is off -- or very soft -- on most of the
photos, and I've played with all the settings. Could it be I have a
defective camera? Alos, is it normal for the shots to look
extremely out of focus at 200%? (I've seen shots from other cameras
that looked focus at very large magnifications.)

Click to expand...

An excellent suggestion, I was thinking along the same lines but my little test put is out of the range, but I was very tempted to try that – it work a treat on the CP with the Tele adapter which one could use macro for a head and shoulder about ten feet away.

I’ll try this, funny my instinct was to do just that, now I will.
Thanks

Allan Hancock said:

I have noticed that it is necessary to use macro mode in what I
would consider some fairly extreme distances from lens-to-subject
(as in feet) to get a sharp autofocus; seems to work, but I too get
a "beep" and a green light with what is clearly an out of focus
subject sometimes....

Doc H.

Click to expand...

I won't get my E-10 for nearly 2 weeks when the first batch arrives in Australia. However, this discussion of focus problems is worrying. Could someone please do some test shots of, say, a brick wall at a uniform distance. Can you switch off AF and read the distance it measured in manual mode? It would be interesting to see if successive shots gave different readings. A tripod would be essential for the test and the distance measured with a tape to confirm. Perhaps also taking manual focus shots using the measured distance would help, as well as tests with different focal lengths. I'd greatly appreciate this and it will help us all get to the bottom of this. If some find worse results than others it may indicate a faulty batch of cameras.

Doug

I don't know if this helps, but I had C2000 with a poorly calibrated focus - that is, it focused on any object that was in the bottom left of the frame, not what appeared in the center. It took a long time to discover why most pictures didn't come out in focus, until I inspected each picture and saw that the objects in the lower left were always razor sharp. No could I understand how this could happen, since I thought the focus was TTL, but maybe there's a sensor that wasn't aligned properly.

Jay Dougherty said:

I've had an E-10 for about three weeks, and I do mostly indoor
portrait shots, many self portraits (using remote and occasionally
auto timer). The focus is off -- or very soft -- on most of the
photos, and I've played with all the settings. Could it be I have a
defective camera? Alos, is it normal for the shots to look
extremely out of focus at 200%? (I've seen shots from other cameras
that looked focus at very large magnifications.)

Click to expand...

It's not a faulty batch of cameras as the tech's at Olympus have the same problem. I noticed that if the camera can't determine the focus with the IR on, the focus will set itself ot Infinity. You can see that if you turn on the LCD screen and watch it focus to Infinity. I have not tested it with the IR turned off, but I'll take the word of all you good people that it works. In conclusion, I also think we are all complaining about a camera because we expect it to be point and shoot whereas it is supposed to be a professional camera made for professionals who know what they are doing. I certainly don't claim to be one, but am enjoying learning.

Doug said:

I won't get my E-10 for nearly 2 weeks when the first batch arrives
in Australia. However, this discussion of focus problems is
worrying. Could someone please do some test shots of, say, a brick
wall at a uniform distance. Can you switch off AF and read the
distance it measured in manual mode? It would be interesting to
see if successive shots gave different readings. A tripod would be
essential for the test and the distance measured with a tape to
confirm. Perhaps also taking manual focus shots using the measured
distance would help, as well as tests with different focal lengths.
I'd greatly appreciate this and it will help us all get to the
bottom of this. If some find worse results than others it may
indicate a faulty batch of cameras.

Doug

Click to expand...

You may also want to turn off the IR on the camera. For something that close I would manually focus anyway to get the clearest image.

Ger Beee said:

I’ll try this, funny my instinct was to do just that, now I
will.
Thanks

Allan Hancock said:

I have noticed that it is necessary to use macro mode in what I
would consider some fairly extreme distances from lens-to-subject
(as in feet) to get a sharp autofocus; seems to work, but I too get
a "beep" and a green light with what is clearly an out of focus
subject sometimes....

Doc H.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Jaja, your problem with focusing in the dark with the IR shut off is expected. There is little or no contrast in the dark so the camera cannot focus w/o the IR. You will have to focus manually in that case if you have an external lens.

Jaja - Belgium Digital said:

Have my E-10 now for about two weeks, and of all photos, just 6
were out of focus - using the autofocus.
Have you yet visited the E-10 album 01.12.2000&02.12.2000?
( http://www.belgiumdigital.com )
In that album, there are two shots of the same object:
trees in front, a river and a church in the background (photos 18 &
28).
For the first shot, I focussed on the tree and for the second on
the church (between the branches).
They became as I wanted them - the autofocus did a great job.
So, no problems over here so far.
Same results when using flash. Did a serie of 90 photos at school.
Just one image was out of focus - all using autofocus.
The only problem I encountered was in nearly dark with an extra
lens attached and switched off IR. Focussing was much slower an not
that accurate.

Jaja
http://www.belgiumdigital.com

Jay Dougherty said:

I've had an E-10 for about three weeks, and I do mostly indoor
portrait shots, many self portraits (using remote and occasionally
auto timer). The focus is off -- or very soft -- on most of the
photos, and I've played with all the settings. Could it be I have a
defective camera? Alos, is it normal for the shots to look
extremely out of focus at 200%? (I've seen shots from other cameras
that looked focus at very large magnifications.)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

A little catch-22 here. How are you supposed to focus manually in the dark? :^)))

Gene

Curly Joe said:

Jaja - Belgium Digital said:

Have my E-10 now for about two weeks, and of all photos, just 6
were out of focus - using the autofocus.
Have you yet visited the E-10 album 01.12.2000&02.12.2000?
( http://www.belgiumdigital.com )
In that album, there are two shots of the same object:
trees in front, a river and a church in the background (photos 18 &
28).
For the first shot, I focussed on the tree and for the second on
the church (between the branches).
They became as I wanted them - the autofocus did a great job.
So, no problems over here so far.
Same results when using flash. Did a serie of 90 photos at school.
Just one image was out of focus - all using autofocus.
The only problem I encountered was in nearly dark with an extra
lens attached and switched off IR. Focussing was much slower an not
that accurate.

Jaja
http://www.belgiumdigital.com

Jay Dougherty said:

I've had an E-10 for about three weeks, and I do mostly indoor
portrait shots, many self portraits (using remote and occasionally
auto timer). The focus is off -- or very soft -- on most of the
photos, and I've played with all the settings. Could it be I have a
defective camera? Alos, is it normal for the shots to look
extremely out of focus at 200%? (I've seen shots from other cameras
that looked focus at very large magnifications.)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Hello Joe,

I agree, I don't find it a 'problem', just a constatation ... ))
Focussing is great and I even use the autofocus for "panning" shots of cars.
Point at the object, and shoot. Works very well.

Jaja
http://www.belgiumdigital.com

Curly Joe said:

Jaja - Belgium Digital said:

Have my E-10 now for about two weeks, and of all photos, just 6
were out of focus - using the autofocus.
Have you yet visited the E-10 album 01.12.2000&02.12.2000?
( http://www.belgiumdigital.com )
In that album, there are two shots of the same object:
trees in front, a river and a church in the background (photos 18 &
28).
For the first shot, I focussed on the tree and for the second on
the church (between the branches).
They became as I wanted them - the autofocus did a great job.
So, no problems over here so far.
Same results when using flash. Did a serie of 90 photos at school.
Just one image was out of focus - all using autofocus.
The only problem I encountered was in nearly dark with an extra
lens attached and switched off IR. Focussing was much slower an not
that accurate.

Jaja
http://www.belgiumdigital.com

Jay Dougherty said:

I've had an E-10 for about three weeks, and I do mostly indoor
portrait shots, many self portraits (using remote and occasionally
auto timer). The focus is off -- or very soft -- on most of the
photos, and I've played with all the settings. Could it be I have a
defective camera? Alos, is it normal for the shots to look
extremely out of focus at 200%? (I've seen shots from other cameras
that looked focus at very large magnifications.)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

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Very carefully.

Gene Bonin said:

Gene

Curly Joe said:

Jaja - Belgium Digital said:

Have my E-10 now for about two weeks, and of all photos, just 6
were out of focus - using the autofocus.
Have you yet visited the E-10 album 01.12.2000&02.12.2000?
( http://www.belgiumdigital.com )
In that album, there are two shots of the same object:
trees in front, a river and a church in the background (photos 18 &
28).
For the first shot, I focussed on the tree and for the second on
the church (between the branches).
They became as I wanted them - the autofocus did a great job.
So, no problems over here so far.
Same results when using flash. Did a serie of 90 photos at school.
Just one image was out of focus - all using autofocus.
The only problem I encountered was in nearly dark with an extra
lens attached and switched off IR. Focussing was much slower an not
that accurate.

Jaja
http://www.belgiumdigital.com

Jay Dougherty said:

I've had an E-10 for about three weeks, and I do mostly indoor
portrait shots, many self portraits (using remote and occasionally
auto timer). The focus is off -- or very soft -- on most of the
photos, and I've played with all the settings. Could it be I have a
defective camera? Alos, is it normal for the shots to look
extremely out of focus at 200%? (I've seen shots from other cameras
that looked focus at very large magnifications.)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...