5D mkII low light focusing

[george_doumani]

<p>Was out last night shooting at a very dimly lit bar. Was using my 5D mkII in conjunction with the 35mm f1.4L. Focusing was not as easy as I expected. In all 3 forms of AF the focus simply could not lock onto anything 70% of the time. After switching to MF (seeing I also have the EG-S screen fitted) I of course could shoot at will but the results were less than acceptable IMO. Hitting critical focus in such low light and often moving subject matter was extremely difficult.</p>

<p>If I was to use the focus assist beam on my 430EX but disabled the flash from actually firing would that be an option? If so, how can I tell the flash to focus assist and not fire? Please remember I am after an ambient light look. </p>

<p>thanks for any tips in advance</p>

<p>George</p>

<p> </p>

[bueh]

<blockquote>

<p>If I was to use the focus assist beam on my 430EX but disabled the flash from actually firing would that be an option?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Yes, that is what I do all the time. Every camera will struggle in low light and AF accuracy will always be less than optimal, regardless of camera and lens.<br /> You can disable the flash from firing in the custom functions. You have to use One Shot AF, of course. And for best results only use the center AF spot.</p>

[george_doumani]

<p>thanks Buch</p>

<p>that's what I thought</p>

[chris_clarke3]

<p>I have used my STE-2 for low light stuff with my 50. Did the job.</p>

[george_doumani]

<p>would the only advantage of having a STE-2 on the camera over an ordinary speedlite be the size (given one only wants to both of them in assisting focus)?</p>

[PuppyDigs]

<p>I bought a ST-E2 in 1999 for AF assist on my EOS 3. While it worked great for that purpose the main advantage isn't that it's smaller than a flash, but that it can be used as a wireless ETTL trigger. Opened a lot of possibilities for me. If you do use the ST-E2 for AF assist only, be sure to disable flash in the flash menu. Although you may not be triggering a Speedlite, the camera meters for flash and the ambient exposure will be off in some modes.</p>

<p>As for low light AF without AF assist, I've found my slow zooms like the 17-40 4L, 24-105 4L and 70-200 4L actually do better than my fast primes (EF 50 1.2L, 50 1.4, 50 1.8, 35 2.0 & 35 1.4L). Not sure why. If I stick to the center point and target points of contrast and rarely miss focus in dim scenes with my 5D2. </p>

[savas_kyprianides]

<p>I'll take that as gospel. ST-E2 is in the drawer and now I'll give it a spin again with an enlightened viewpoint.</p>