BG FOCUS PROBLEMS WITH SAMSUNG GX20 CAMERA

Hello!<br /><br />I'm having trouble with focusing. Example - I photograph a person in a field using <acronym title="Auto Focus">AF</acronym> - set at SAF, adjust the spot focus indicator to where the person is & snap. But the person is never in focus, but the background always is. It has nothing to do with aperture or shutterspeed as they're at reasonable settings. <br /><br />I have tried various lenses and its the same problem. If I focus in manual, it's in focus. <br /><br />Even when I'm doing head and shoulder shots, the focus is not always correct. It will focus on maybe the neck, the face won't be in focus, and I am at a fair distance from the subject too. I'm really stressing out. Can I do some kind of in-camera setting to fix this? <br /><br />If someone can please help me - I'd REALLY appreciate it.<br /><br />Thank you.

<p>I'm assuming that one of two things is happening:<br>

-The camera is set to manual focus. Look at the switch by the mount, and ensure that it is set to an autofocus mode. Or, you changed a setting in your camera that makes the camera focus when you press the AF button on the back, instead of when you half-press the shutter.<br>

-You aren't giving enough time for the camera to acquire focus. Change the focus mode to AF-S, and it won't let you fire a photo unless the focus point is achieved.</p>

 

<p>There is a setting for "Autofocus adjust" or similar. You need a test focus sheet to use, and best on a tripod. You can set it for one lens, or for all lenses (but not both). Perhaps someone has mis-set that?</p>

<p>It's my understanding that Samsung GX-20 is a sister model of Pentax K20D which offered "AF Adjustment" in custom settings. I don't know if GX-20 had the same option.</p>

<p>As far as setting it for 'one lens' or 'all lenses', I was under the impression that the adjustment was combined between the two -- that is, one global setting for the baseline, then the single-lens adjustment would be applied on top of that.</p>

<p>I would encourage you to come up with a very controlled environment to make these adjustments however -- try to come up with something that will work for all your most frequently-used lenses. You want to make sure that camera is focusing on the same thing every time. Possibly take a few shots with each lens, refocusing with each shot -- both starting at infinity and starting at minimum distance.</p>

<p>Hi everyone -<br>

Thanks for the posts.<br>

How do I find a focus sheet?<br>

Ariel - I can cross ut both of your queries. It's not either of those. :-/<br>

I'm going to try the "Autofocus adjust", but the lenses that come with it, can they too be improved with the adjust method? I don't understand why a lens made for the camera needs adjusting. It's weird. But I DO have the same problem with the lenses that were made for the camera, plus my Tamron 17-50mm lens.<br>

I have the camera set so I can focus with shutter speed & the AE button. Could that have anything to do with it? I feel like crying. I just want to be able to use my camera to focus correctly. Close ups are pretty ok - its full head to toe shots I'm having MAJOR problems with. It'll focus on the background and not my subject. BUT, focus on close-up is not right either, out of 5 shots took, about 3 will be in-correct focus. :-/ I even thought it might be MY eye sight & I had my brother take pics. Still, same problem.</p>

<p>Darren,</p>

<p>Can you please provide a sample image of this focus problem? I have a feeling the "AF Adjustment" is entirely the wrong answer here. </p>

 

<p>Hi Rob,<br>

I've just up-loaded a pic that I took. In high resolution, the whole subject (model) is not in focus - the background is. Doesnt look too bad this size. Really hope you can help. THANK YOU!<br>

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7187/7078153483_c0ef87efbd_b.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>I use a Samsung GX20 and have had focus problems of exactly the same nature as faced by Darren Connolly. If there is a prominent foreground object with a lot of potential focus points in the distance the foreground object sometimes has poor focus while the background is in focus. The lens in my case was the Pentax-DA 16-45mm/f4.0. Settings were SAF, function selector at M, focus using the central focus point. In the EXIF metadata I saw two instances with poor results where the OIS (Samsung jargon for SR) was stated to be 'Not Ready'.<br>

Focussing with a Pentax-M lens was satisfactory. Having written the above, I must say that Darren's model is not terribly out of focus even on enlargement, but it is still not acceptably sharp. Suggestions would be welcome.</p>

 

<p>I would not make any adjustments to AF micro adjust based on an image like this -- adjustments should be made only based on a more controlled & repeatable test.</p>

<p>At least at this resolution I have a hard time telling what the camera was really focusing on. It does look like the background is reasonably sharp but the subject isn't so out-of-focus either. And since subject was likely not 100% still either, that's another variable.</p>

<p>I'm thinking that we should also consider that the effective focus regions for each 'point' are considerably larger than the square that appears in the viewfinder -- and if the very center of the square was over a low-contrast area, some other nearby area with more contrast might have been chosen. In this case, that higher contrast area might indeed have been background.</p>

<p>I can't see EXIF for this shot -- what focal length, shutter speed & aperture - trying to guess about how frozen subject might be and how much DoF.</p>

<p>Darren, Is your AF focus select lever on Center, SEL or Auto. If it's on Auto, the camera chooses where the focus points are and will drive you mad. It sounds like that is what's happening and that's why Manual Focus works. One of my best portraits shots was spoiled this way and I'm still kicking myself. There was no do-over possible. I NEVER use Auto-focus, now.</p>

<p>I hope this helps.<br /> If you've ever seen the TV program Outer Limits and remember the opening and closing lines, you'll get the point Here's the original:<a watch="watch">

and the remade intro: <a watch="watch"> /> You want to control what the camera focuses on.</p>

<p><em> Settings were SAF, function selector at M, focus using the central focus point.</em><br /> <em><br /></em>DC - If you're in SAF, why is your Function Selector (for the lens) at Manual? The camera must be confused by that and chooses it's own focus point. Is SAF a menu item?</p>

<p>Sorry I saw this late as I don't get alerts by email. By function selector I meant manual exposure mode or M on the top left hand dial of the GX20. SAF is Single Autofocus on the focus mode selector switch at the front of the camera.<br>

Chhayanat</p>