Autofocus in dark situations

[Jerryjohn]

Hi there. I just recently took some pics of a friend of mine outside and it was pretty dark. Actually, it wasn't even that dark, but it was dark enough to where the autofocus wouldn't work. I had to turn on my flash, use the red beams, then turn the flash off to cheat the system.

Is there a good way to get through this?

I have an XTi with a Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 lens.

[another view]

An f2.8 lens is pretty fast, but the faster the lens the better off you would have been in that situation. A 50 f1.4 or 1.8 may have helped but at a point they won't "see" either. The red beam on the flash was a good solution - it just takes a certain amount of light and contrast for AF to work.

[freygr]

Most of the time with low light it is manual focusing. In fact using a light meter and going full manual you will get repeatable results with digital of film, with low light photography. I've found the my camera if it can't focus refuses to take photos.

[PhotoTrucker_37]

Hi John, I use to use Canon but now shoot Nikon as Nikon is better with low light photography. If you look at my portfolio, you'll notice I shoot a lot in low light situations. The best recommendation I can give you is that when your searching for a lens to purchace for low light photography, choose a fast f/2.8 or faster lens and the biggest objective lens you can find. The faster lenses or usually better in low light situations and the bigger objective lens is going to allow more light to come in through the objective lens .
Here's what I do in these kind of situations. If it's too dark out to manually focus, try the following steps while shooting on MANUAL :
(Set your camera's focus area selection to Dynamic Area and your Metering to 3D Color Matrix.)
STEP 1- Set your autofocus to AF-C (For moving subjects, AF-A for stationary subjects)
STEP 2- Set your cameras AE-L / AF-L button to lock both focus and exposure.
STEP 3- Split your focusing screen on your main subject and the brighter sky line.
STEP 4- Press the shutter release button half way and focus your shot.
STEP 5- Once you have your subject in focus, press the AE-L / AF-L button to lock your subject in focus and exposure.
STEP 6- Repostion your shot while holding the AE-L / AF-L button and shoot.
( While holding down the AE-L / AF-L button, with your other hand you can scroll your Main or Sub-Command dial depending on what kind of camera your using and you can under and over-expose your shots.) Hope this has helped.

Regards, Erik