I'm having a real hard time getting in focus at night. its even difficult for the autofocus. I have a slave flash unit that I use and the AF illuminator would set it off... any suggestions?

What kind of camera are you using - and if it's an SLR, tell us about the lens too. What kind of situations are you photographing? AF can be very difficult in very low light levels.

ok I'm using an olympus evolt e300 dslr. with the 14-45mm lens it comes with. I'm shooting action shots. its really annoying because the af already isnt very good. or maybe its just me I probably have to callorbrate it or something. anyways low light sucks any help?

Since I do a lot of shooting in low light conditions, carry a flashlight with you a small pocket one (I suggest something with a Luxeon LED bulb) point it at the subject you want to focus on and hopefully it can lock onto that for an AF.

If all else fails, go manual.

A faster lens (like f2 or so) will help, but I'm not sure what options are available for this system. Sometimes you'll get into situations where you'll do better with manual focus, regardless of how good the AF in the camera is, and how fast of a lens you're using.

Auto focus at night is a problem for ALL AF cameras. The camera needs light to be able to focus, even with the fastest lens available.

Your on camera built-in flash will help illuminate the subject by strobing, but you can't use a shoemount flash unless it's designed to strobe with your camera. I'm not sure if there are any that do that.

Manual focus is your best bet with a flashlight for close subjects.

Tim

Auto focus at night is a problem for ALL AF cameras. The camera needs light to be able to focus, even with the fastest lens available.

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Manual focus is your best bet with a flashlight for close subjects.

Tim

Yes the AF will not work at night. Your eyes can see better than the camera. You will have go with manual focus. Also unless you have a large strob that will reach the photos are going to under exposed.