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A80 Close Focus

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zuruck

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I received my new A80 a couple of days ago and am enjoying learning all the features. One thing I have noticed though, is that close focus and macro focus are pretty tricky. I've been experimenting on some flower pics (most pink/white, not red) in strong sunlight. Seven or eight out of 10 will be out of focus.

I have disabled AIAF. If I am very careful about picking a focus point and verifiying as carefully as possible, I improve my odds a bit. I've been zooming out and stopping down a bit, but it is still a bit picky.

In contrast, my old Olympus 520 focuses perfectly on the same subject flowers every time.

Curious if others have noted this kind of pickiness in close-in focusing?
 
I have better luck when using macro on my A80, use Av like f5.6, no AiAf use center box focusing and no flash. Just get close and shoot. Takes alot of practice..... and I don't like to take pictures in strong sunlight, I wait like mid afternoon or mid moring.................

sue anne
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zuruck said:
I received my new A80 a couple of days ago and am enjoying learning
all the features. One thing I have noticed though, is that close
focus and macro focus are pretty tricky. I've been experimenting
on some flower pics (most pink/white, not red) in strong sunlight.
Seven or eight out of 10 will be out of focus.

I have disabled AIAF. If I am very careful about picking a focus
point and verifiying as carefully as possible, I improve my odds a
bit. I've been zooming out and stopping down a bit, but it is
still a bit picky.

In contrast, my old Olympus 520 focuses perfectly on the same
subject flowers every time.

Curious if others have noted this kind of pickiness in close-in
focusing?
Click to expand...
 
Thanks sueanne. Actually, your settings sound pretty much like mine. I have also been shooting this in the morning or late afternoon, it's just that I live in Fla, so even then, the light is pretty strong, just not direct.

It surprises me that my other two digicams (Oly 520Z and Toshiba M70) haven't had this kind of focusing challenge. But as I learn this camera and its personality, I'm improving on getting these shots and learning to take more frames than I used to.
sueanne said:
I have better luck when using macro on my A80, use Av like f5.6, no
AiAf use center box focusing and no flash. Just get close and
shoot. Takes alot of practice..... and I don't like to take
pictures in strong sunlight, I wait like mid afternoon or mid
moring.................
Click to expand...
 
If you have enough light and aren't too close to your subject, the macro autofocus will lock. If you are zoomed any, you'll have to back up because it can't focus from as close as you can in wide angle. If you find the autofocus not getting locked, then simply switch it to manual focus and adjust it down, then move in or out with the camera itself to zoom.

A80 takes some great macros, don't give up on it.

Dan
zuruck said:
Thanks sueanne. Actually, your settings sound pretty much like
mine. I have also been shooting this in the morning or late
afternoon, it's just that I live in Fla, so even then, the light is
pretty strong, just not direct.

It surprises me that my other two digicams (Oly 520Z and Toshiba
M70) haven't had this kind of focusing challenge. But as I learn
this camera and its personality, I'm improving on getting these
shots and learning to take more frames than I used to.
Click to expand...
 
Here's some info that might help:

"In macro mode, you can get as close as 5 cm at wide-angle, and 25 cm at telephoto. The recordable area is 56 x 42 mm and 87 x 65 mm, respectively.

If that's not close enough, get the close-up lens, which lowers the minimum distance to 4 cm at wide-angle, and 8 cm at telephoto." (DCResource.com review)
 
pat scales said:
this little guy (grasshopper) was patient enough with my focusing.
almost seemed to be posing.



Pat
http://antara.smugmug.com
Click to expand...
--

I have had problems with unpredictable focussing on macros with my A80. For the last couple of weeks I have been testing the 'bar code trick' (mentioned elsewhere on the Canon forum), which involves cutting out a piece of black-and-white barcode (from cereal packet etc) and holding it at the point where you want the camera to focus. Obviously you remove it after you have achieved focus lock (easy to forget - I have some wonderful sharp photos of barcodes!). The A80 seems to find it much easier to focus on a nice crisp black/white vertical bar.

This works a dream - so thanks to whoever made the original posting. I am totally addicted to this website, and am learning something new every time I visit!

Eleanor
 
One word:

Tripod.
zuruck said:
I received my new A80 a couple of days ago and am enjoying learning
all the features. One thing I have noticed though, is that close
focus and macro focus are pretty tricky. I've been experimenting
on some flower pics (most pink/white, not red) in strong sunlight.
Seven or eight out of 10 will be out of focus.

I have disabled AIAF. If I am very careful about picking a focus
point and verifiying as carefully as possible, I improve my odds a
bit. I've been zooming out and stopping down a bit, but it is
still a bit picky.

In contrast, my old Olympus 520 focuses perfectly on the same
subject flowers every time.

Curious if others have noted this kind of pickiness in close-in
focusing?
Click to expand...
 
Hmm, I don't think a tripod is going to do much for focus lock. The barcode idea is a very good one that I will try out.

It still disturbs me a bit that my other two cams (Olympus 520Z and Toshiba M70) don't seem to be so finicky regarding close focus. Every camera has its personality, though, so this is one aspect of this otherwise excellent camera that I will have to learn to work with.

Thanks for the suggestions.
Rob Bernhard said:
One word:

Tripod.
Click to expand...
 
Well, it strikes me as counter-intuitive, at least. Can you elaborate about your experience? Obviously the photo will be sharper with a tripod, but have you found that the tripod stability actually helps with focus lock? I wouldn't think that camera movement during focus would be that critical....but I'm willing to listen.
Rob Bernhard said:
zuruck said:
Hmm, I don't think a tripod is going to do much for focus lock.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I don't understand how you can't understand.

You're trying to focus on something that's a few mm away. Do you think you can hold the camera still enough to do that? Your natural body movements are going to be greater than the distance from the object.

Any tests that are related to focus are worthless if you are hand-holding the camera, especially when it comes to macro work. Your working distances are smaller than you can possibly keep yourself from moving.
zuruck said:
Rob Bernhard said:
zuruck said:
Hmm, I don't think a tripod is going to do much for focus lock.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Well, I was pretty good at that kid's game, Operation.. ;-)

Seriously though, I'm not too sure about this. One mm is about 0.040". The only motion that would matter for focus lock is forward and backward, not laterally. I doubt that my camera position varies by even a mm. Even if it is varying by as much as a tenth of an inch (2.5mm), I have several photos of flowers that are completely out of focus. The flowers are a couple of inches deep ( 50mm) and no point is in focus.

Does anyone happen to have the DOF values handy for wide and tele? If my focus point was off a mm or two, I would agree with this idea. But it's not.

Further, I have two other digicams that rarely fail to focus accurately under the same circumstances.

All that said, I will give it a try over the next day or two and report back.
Rob Bernhard said:
I don't understand how you can't understand.
Click to expand...
 
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