Low light AF for E510

[Oly5050]

Does anyone have any thoughts about low light AF for Oly? Do you find that it AF assist strobe takes some time to get in focus? I know the older ones used to hunt and then give up. I wonder how the 510 is compared to other DSLR cameras? Is it normal to use a white strobe to assist in AF or do most others use an infra-red assist?

[olymac]

That is actually one issue I have with the E510; without the flash up the AF does hunt a fair bit .... with the flash up .......very distracting

[schon]

yup it does hunt quite a bit. especially irritating if it is prolonged. like -

flickerflickerflickerflickerflickerflickerflickerf lickerflickerflickerflickerflicker *beepbeep*.

[philshots]

Originally Posted by schon yup it does hunt quite a bit. especially irritating if it is prolonged. like - flickerflickerflickerflickerflickerflickerflickerf lickerflickerflickerflickerflicker *beepbeep*.

Hello Schon,

Try to search through your e510's menu and see if you can disable the Low light AF function. The e330 has the option: AF ILLUMINATOR > "ON" or "OFF". I switched mine to "OFF". So I have no more "flicker effect" whenever focusing in darker area.

Happy shooting.

cheers

[Mikefellh]

Or get the FL-36 or FL-50...both of those flashes use a less annoying red beam (not IR) that's not as obvious (unless your subject thinks they are being targeted). Also it will give you a LOT more flash power!

[schon]

Originally Posted by philshots Hello Schon, Try to search through your e510's menu and see if you can disable the Low light AF function. The e330 has the option: AF ILLUMINATOR > "ON" or "OFF". I switched mine to "OFF". So I have no more "flicker effect" whenever focusing in darker area. Happy shooting. cheers

hi phil, yes I do know that I can turn it off. but that would devoid me of an AF assist. thanks anyway.

[cjtune]

Originally Posted by schon flickerflickerflickerflickerflickerflickerflickerf lickerflickerflickerflickerflicker *beepbeep*.

LOL. That's cute.

[cjtune]

If you're not in the hurry for time, you may use the Live View magnification to do really accurate manual focussing in the dark. I only do that for night scenes with a tripod but it's impossible for candid shots.

[philshots]

Originally Posted by schon hi phil, yes I do know that I can turn it off. but that would devoid me of an AF assist. thanks anyway.

When I disable the "flickering" lights in e330, the AF still works well; no problem focusing in shadow areas :-) but you can't expect it to focus near darkness ...

[OlyFlyer]

Originally Posted by philshots When I disable the "flickering" lights in e330, the AF still works well; no problem focusing in shadow areas :-) but you can't expect it to focus near darkness ...

Same with my E-500. I don't understand this complaining about low light focus. I think it is a question of photographing technique. I found the AF assist is not necessary to use at all for 90% of the time when the camera thinks it is. I noticed that, since I have it always on and occasionally, when I have the FL-50 on, the red flashing starts for no reason, if I don't have the flash on and use the camera under the same light, no problem with focusing, and definitely no hunting. Problem starts when I aim at something totally contrastless. In that case the the FL-50's red pattern does help to give something to focus on.

Of course, in total darkness the FL-50 works very well also, in that case focusing is impossible without AF assist.

[selamatlzh]

Disabling af illuminator will also cause the external flash af assist to turn off as well. Use with caution.

[OlyFlyer]

Originally Posted by selamatlzh Disabling af illuminator will also cause the external flash af assist to turn off as well. Use with caution.

Yes, that's why I am not disabling it. I had it disabled before I got the FL-50 but not anymore. Now, occasionally, when I want to use the pop-up flash, I forget that and then the flickering begins...

It kind of wakes up everybody around me.

[BrandonSit]

Sorry to borrow the thread. Is there any other compatible flash to be used on the E510 ?

[microcosm]

Originally Posted by BrandonSit Sorry to borrow the thread. Is there any other compatible flash to be used on the E510 ?

Look at the archive thread in the sticky section (interesting threads archive)... you will find the information there. Cheers.

[Oly5050]

Thanks guys. I switched off the low light AF assist and found that the camera can still focus. No problems whatsoever in low light. Thanks again.

[olymac]

May remove yr 'red-eye' prevention for flash ....

[tomcat]

If there is no flash, there is also no red-eye problem.

[Oly5050]

True, but if I am not wrong, the anti-red eye thing has to be specifically selected from the flash controls. I guess the AF assist light does secondarily help to reduce red-eye too when the flash is up.

[tomcat]

Turning off the AF Assist does not have any adverse effect on the Red-Eye Prevention function. If you select the Red-Eye Prevention flash mode, the camera will preflash a few times before exposure regardless of whether the AF Assist is on or off. Try it and see for yourself.