I can't get my camera to focus

[Nay]

I have an Oly C-5060 and I have trouble getting it to focus all of the time, or even most of the time. I've spent a bunch of time online reading about digital photography and all of the answers seem to be get what you want in focus into the center of the screen, press the button down half way to lock the focus and then comopse and take the shot.
Sure, that sounds easy.

What I know I'm doing wrong:
It is pretty difficult to gague if you have the button half way down when it's in the housing, but I'm getting better at that.
I know that I get way too close, even in macro mode, I'm right on top of whatever I'm trying to photograph and it's just too close.

Here are some shots from last July when I was still doing that, you can see that most of the small stuff is not crisp.

http://gallery.scubapost.net/v/NayAlbum/San+Clemente+073005/

This is a set of photos from last month, which is better but still not really sharp.

http://gallery.scubapost.net/v/NayAlbum/Catalina+021216/

I was shooting in P mode, I'm now in A mode but it didn't really help what I was trying to do. I don't plan on going back to P mode but I don't feel like I can move on to really focusing on appature and shutter speeds, composition, lighting etc until I can get a picture in focus.

I don't have a strobe, will be getting one this year, which may be causing my shutter speeds to be a bit slower but I am using the internal flash.
Even so, with the button half way down, I can't get it to lock on what I'm trying to get in focus.

Any ideas? Am I lame?

thanks

 

[Larry C]

They really don't look bad. There are some areas of good focus in most of them, so you may need to work on composing your picture with the focal point of the shot in your camera's focus area. If you have a choice of focus types, e.g. point focus or frame focus, you might try switching. Some shots show possible camera motion. You might have to adjust your shutter speed and increase your aperture or ISO to get more light. I'm no expert by any means, but when I had similar problems these and working on bracing the camera while I squeezed the button helped solve them. You don't seem too close to the subject. You might also try manual focus if you have something like the kelp shot where your autofocus might be fooled by an object in the foreground too close to the focus sensor. Overall, some nice pictures. Keep plugging away.

 

[alcina]

Add a focus light. Cameras need contrast to focus lock and adding a focus light will help find edges, differences in colour and just generally give the camera's tiny brain more to work with.

Practice on land. See if you are getting the same issue.

 

[Nay]

Practice on land. See if you are getting the same issue.

I am, There was this really cool red flower on a bush recently and I tried to get it with the ivy on the ground in the background. In Macro even 12-18 inches away, I was getting the ivy in focus. I would have thought that the bright red would have been enough contrast. I need to play with it more on land, maybe if it doesn't rain this weekend.

I had a focus light for a while, but I don't think I was using it right. I've since killed it and need to add another one. I think that I forget it's there and don't use it.

thanks

 

[divinman]

Do you happen to look at your exif data and see what your shutter speed was. The problem with shooting in "P" or "A" is that your camera will invariably want to shoot at a slower speed. In macro mode any motion will give blurring. I shoot in full a manual so this is less of an issue for me. If I could only shoot in "A" or "S" I would shoot shutter priority. While I may end up sacrificing some depth of field at larger apertures, I would have control over how much motion effects my shots.

I would also check your firmware against the latests version on the Olympus site. Seems like I read somewhere there was a firmware fix for focus issues. I could be wrong...happens a lot.

Terry

 

[alcina]

Second that on checking your shutter speed...if you aren't at 1/100 or faster that might be part of the problem.

I think divinman is right about the firmware update...or was that for another model? Worth checking at least.

Manual isn't as scary as you may believe. Set your aperture to 4.5 and your shutter to 1/125. Start from there - those settings work pretty darn well if you are shooting with a good brightness in the water. And by not having the camera at its widest your photos won't look as soft. Practice adjusting just one to see what the difference is.

You'll soon find a core set that will work as a starting point for your type of diving.

 

[divinman]

And as a side note......
Make sure you are not zoomed in to far. All the models of Olympus I have ever used don't like to focus when zoomed in.

T.

 

[Wolverine]

I think there are a couple of issues here. First, I think that you need to switch to spot focus. That will tell the camera to focus at a point rather than take the whole picture into consideration. When you do that, make sure you have your subject in the area of the focus. Second, try not to use maximum zoom with a large aperture (small number). It will be difficult for the camera to focus when the depth of field is too shallow. Reduce the aperture size and reduce shutter speed (assuming it is not too slow), or take the zoom back a couple of notches.

 

[discrepancy]

Nay,

We've all been through the same loop with the focus thing. A few tips:

- Alcina is right. A focus light will help when conditions are bad. But for some people the extra gear is too much kit to worry about.

- When you're up against it, depth of field is good. Go for the highest F number you can get.

- My Oly C7070 has kittens trying to focus in super macro mode, and I presume the 5060 is the same. It will hunt around for ages, then gives up. I eventually decided to go for manual focus in super macro. With all the things we're up against shooting underwater, I decided to take the guesswork out of focusing in super macro mode, so I rigged a removable plastic rod to the housing to tell me how far away I should be.

The rod cost me 28c at a garden shop. They're sold as 'rigid risers' for garden sprinkler systems. I cable-tied a couple of inches of clear plastic tubing to hold it in place. See pics below.

Once underwater, I insert the focus rod into the holder, as in the 2nd pic. There is a piece of red electrical tape about half-way down the rod. I can slide the rod in to the line up with the red mark, or all the way out so the end butts up against the end of the holder.

The other half to this arrangement is to set up two "My Mode" settings on the camera to correspond to the manual focus and other settings I need for each of the two focal lengths.

For example, if i want to photograph something really small, I call up My Mode #4 on the camera, which I've pre-set to be super macro mode, manual focus, and the focal length matches the distance from the 'short' rod to the camera. My Mode 3 matches the focal length for the rod when it's fully extended. See pics below.

It sounds complicated, but it isn't. All I do is decide whether it's a short or long focus subject, slide the rod in or out, and call up the corresponding My Mode setting. Then I know the manual focus will drive itself to the right length. After that, all I have to do is put the tip of the rod next to the subject and shoot. Sure, there are the other normal exposure things to do, but at least I know the focus will be correct.

Another big advantage to this is that you don't have to hold on while the auto-focus hunts around. You're in manual focus mode, so the camera fires when you fire the shutter.

It took a bit of fiddling around to work out what manual focus lengths (underwater) corresponded to the lengths of my short and long rod, but the experimenting was worth it. I can send you my settings if you want them.

Finally, you might think that fiddling with a focusing rod underwater is a pain. It isn't. I looped a couple of elastic hair ties onto the arm of the housing, and the rod stays slid under them up against the arm while entering and exiting the water. Once underwater and sorted out, I pull the rod out from the hair ties and stick it in the plastic tubing holder on the base of the housing so it points towards the subject. I don't need to touch it again during the dive, except to slide it in or out for a long or short manual focus, depending on the shot. Then, before exiting, I pull the rod out and put it back under the hair ties so it's out of the way flush with the arm.

Stick with it.

 

[Nay]

Thanks guys,
You are totally right, I am almost always fully zoomed; it's one of those, don't want to be too close, but want to fill the frame things, I'll back off a little and accept some background in the shot. And move to manual. scary.
I'll also have the hubby check the firmware thing, (I would just break it)

discrapency, thanks for the tip on the manual focus in super macro, I don't have a strobe yet so I don't use supermacro at all. Yet, but I will soon! Yay!!

I'll play with these settings and post the results the next time mother nature decides to let me in the water.