EOS 630 AF problem

[gustavo_friggi]

I've recently bought an used EOS 630 as a second body. It had a good

price (around US$ 90 here in Brazil). The only problem is with the

AF, which only gets a lock with plenty of light (read exteriors,

daylight). Anything less and it just hunts.

 

Have anyone had this problem? The mirror is a little bit dirty; some

cleaning would be helpful? Send it to Canon?

[NK Guy]

The 630 is a first-generation EOS camera and, as such, has somewhat limited

autofocus by today's standards. If you're having difficulty focussing try a faster lens

(eg: f 1.8 or 2.8), always find a high-contrast line (I forget if the 630 looks for vertical

or horizontal lines - I think vertical) and use an external flash unit which has a red AF

assist light in low light conditions.

[PuppyDigs]

I used to own a 630 and loved the feel of the body, sort of a budget EOS 1. However, even back in the day I found the AF unreliable and used only manual focus and my 24 mm lens stopped down and set to max hyperfocal distance. Other than the EOS 1, the first consumer priced EOS with good AF was the 1990 EOS 10S/10. The 630 only has a single axis AF sensor.

[jim_larson1]

Ummmm, I have a 630. Although it has only one sensor, I am still not 100% convinced that my brand spanking 7 point AF 10D focuses any better or reliably.

 

Cleaning may help.

[gustavo_friggi]

I think it may have a bad CPU. This is not a common slow lens/low light situation. I used to have an EOS 1000N (Rebel II), which was old, had ancient AF (single line), and worked much better with the same lenses.

 

The seller also noticed the problem (a seasoned wedding photographer) and told me before I bought. Thing is, I tested the body in the street and it was OK, but later, at home, no AF except on *bright* subjects (e.g. a lamp bulb).

 

Also, after I attached my 420EX, I found that it wouldn't trigger the AF assist (TTL flash is fine, though).

 

Maybe this wasn't really a good deal...

[jim_strutz]

Another possiblility is simply a dirty AF sensor. We're talking about over a decade of acumulated dust here. Not sure how you'd go about cleaning it though.

[ron c sunshine coast,qld,a]

Every 630 and 650 i've tried have been monumentally useless in anything less than daylight.The 630 needs vertical lines but a strong pattern seems to work better-it seems to match what the AF sensor sees.Things like leaves or fabrics are great.<br>I just tried mine,it will focus on a fabric reflecting 1/45th sec,f2 of light (just) but can't focus on an overcast sky (2000/4.5)!!!!!!!<BR>And don't even think about trusting the focus tracking...

[eosdoc]

<a href=mailto:uce@ftc.gov></a>

Remember that the 630 sold together with the 430EZ Speedlite

that had a red patterned beam for AF assist in dark conditions.

<P>

Also, check on your 630 that the EL backlight still works.

If it does not, perhaps the extra battery drain could affect

power to the AF CPU and slow things down. One fix is at eosdoc:<P>

<center><a href=

http://eosdoc.com/manuals.asp?q=ELfix

><img src=

http://eosdoc.com/manuals/body/630/ELfix/img10k.jpg

width=150 height=105 border=0

><br>

http://eosdoc.com/manuals.asp?q=ELfix</a>

</a></center>

[oliver_s.]

Wrt the flash problem, the EOS 630 doesn't know about E-TTL, of course, and may not tell a flash for that system (such as the 420 EX) that it should switch on the assist light.<p>And yes, the 630's AF needs lots of light and strong contrasts to function. I know it from my EOS 600 (non-US version of the 630). Sometimes I'm tempted to throw it onto something hard... but then I remember its lovely build quality.