Sony H2 does not autofocus...

[Black Stang 97]

well i was using my camera today and im not sure if i moved a setting but it does not auto focus when i press the button half way... can anyone help me out to try to fix this problem, i am going on vacations and 3 days and i hope this is just sumthing simple... thankz!!

[Black Stang 97]

anyone????????

[Canuck935]

Sorry. I have no experience with that camera nor have I heard of that problem. I would contact Sony.

[Sushigaijin]

Your camera might be in manual focus mode. There is a small button next to the shutter, labeled focus. Set the camera to M mode, press that button several times - this will cycle through the focusing options. I prefer to use spot focus, which is a tiny bracket in the very center of the screen that you can move with the directional pad. I usually just leave it set in the center, but this lets me focus on a very small percentage of the frame to get perfect focus on important things like eyes.

another thing to check is the autofocus mode. go to setup>AF mode and set it to monitor, this is the best setting for everyday use. Continuous is good for moving objects, and off is good for extra battery life - but I don't think that most shooters will gain any benefit from any setting other than monitor.

once these two things are set appropriately, a half-press of the shutter button should start the autofocus; sometimes my H5 or H1 shutter buttons are not particularly responsive on the half press, but it should work MOST of the time - I only get unresponsive presses if I slur one press into the next. If these two things don't fix it, I second contacting sony, it could be a faulty focus drive.

[Black Stang 97]

ok i tried everything you guys have told me and still no auto focus, it takes the picture but if i press it half way it does nothing....

[Sushigaijin]

when focus is found, the reticle will turn green, and if the sound is on, it will make a chime sound. At wide angle, in monitor mode, the H2 will very seldom hunt for focus because it already pretty much has focus. If the reticle is green, it has focus.

Another suggestion, try focusing in good light on something with high contrast - an edge between a tree and the sky is a good example. Digital cameras use high contrast areas to find focus, perhaps you are not aiming the camera at something with enough contrast?

hope this helps.