70-300mm f4-5.6 review

robert1955 wrote:

Lettermanian wrote:

pharles wrote:

I've been giving this lens a good workout the past few weeks in a nature setting. Though I don't consider myself much of a nature photographer, it's a good excuse for a walk in the woods.
Generally I've been please with the lens. It is sharp, focuses quickly, has excellent close focus for the focal length, handles well and is relatively compact.
I've been using it on the end of an X-S10 so I don't know if this is a camera or a lens issue, but at times the AF can get confused and do nothing. An example would be a situation where there's a bird or an insect with surrounding vegetation. I'm using Single Point AF Mode together with the joystick to pick my focus point. Fairly frequently I find that the AF just can't lock on to the subject. I have to move the camera to point to a more distant object where the FA then works. I recompose to the subject and everything then works fine. I've made the AF box quite small so that not much intrudes, but it still gets these confused moments and nothing happens.
Usually I'm not one of those who obsesses over bokeh and out of focus areas, but I'm not impressed with how these areas look. The out of focus areas are busy and distracting.

Overall I'm very happy with the lens and I can live with the out of focus areas. Again I don't know if it is camera, lens or both, but the AF issue needs some firmware help.

Just wondering if the focus issues are caused by where the focus limiting switch is set, either at Full (the lens will look for focus through the full focus range) or at 5m-infinity (will not utilize the full focus range)? I had less focus issues once I made sure I had that switch where I wanted it. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I thought that only influenced focusing speed, not accuracy?

It doesn't "influence" either. it is literally just a limiter switch. When it is set to 5m it will not focus on anything closer than 5m to the camera.

The switch was my first thought but the fact that it focusses after a bit of work would suggest it isn't. I would make the focus box larger. The focus box size can be very hit and miss depending on what you're shooting. If you have it set too small it may not be able to detect enough contrast to operate efficiently.