Focusing problems

[Stephen Lutz]

This weekend I photographed a Native American Pow Wow using a Minolta 7D. During the faster dancing, I had problems with the focusing. I was taking the photos in continous mode. The camera would focus on different places of the person's outfit and not have the whole person or thier face in sharp focus.

What can I do to improve this??

I'm still working on processing all the photos, but I've posted some here:

http://www.powwows.com/galleries/sho...=last7&cat=562

First, let me say I enjoyed your images. Very good color!

Now, let me ask some questions: what lens were you using, and what was it's aperture? What was your shutter speed? What ISO did you use?

From the looks of your photos, it appears to me you were some distance from them, possibly using a 70-200 2.8 lens, wide open or close to it. It also looks like you were using ISO 800 and a fairly slow shutter speed. I know the Minolta has built in IS, which is great for static subjects, but with won't do a thing for sugject movement.

When I shoot in relatively low light, a shutter speed of 1/200 of a second is about the best I can expect at ISO 800. Since focus on a particular part of the subject is important, I suggest you switch to a single focus point and put it directly on the face of the subject. In this way, you will maintain focus on the face. You can also try a higher ISO, if it yields acceptable results. Good luck!