[Culture]

So I am black. I have shot events that has predominately black people.
The events have low lights. I noticed that sometimes the AF just refuses to lock focus.
It can be really frustrating. I have always felt that it was user error. I guess it could be.

But last week I decided to take some portraits of myself.
Before jumping into the shower, I decided to set everything up so I am not sweat after I put on my clothes.
Softbox, reflectors, camera, the whole shebang.
It was the middle of the day with a lot of light outside. But i closed the blinds as I was going for a low key look.
But the room still had a lot of light.

Standing infront of the camera it was really difficult to get focus lock. I had my F50 f1.7 lens at f5.6 on my K-30.
I had to open the blinds to get a focus lock.

I was so surprised. Which made me think that what I had been experiencing might not be user error after all.

So I was wondering how to improve my AF at my next event with similar situations. I considered using the AF assist light.

So my questions:

1. Is the focus assist light intrusive?
2. Is AF.S better for weddings where people moving all the time?

Culture

[Steve.Ledger]

So I am black. I have shot events that has predominately black people.
The events have low lights. I noticed that sometimes the AF just refuses to lock focus.
It can be really frustrating. I have always felt that it was user error. I guess it could be.

But last week I decided to take some portraits of myself.
Before jumping into the shower, I decided to set everything up so I am not sweat after I put on my clothes.
Softbox, reflectors, camera, the whole shebang.
It was the middle of the day with a lot of light outside. But i closed the blinds as I was going for a low key look.
But the room still had a lot of light.

Standing infront of the camera it was really difficult to get focus lock. I had my F50 f1.7 lens at f5.6 on my K-30.
I had to open the blinds to get a focus lock.

I was so surprised. Which made me think that what I had been experiencing might not be user error after all.

So I was wondering how to improve my AF at my next event with similar situations. I considered using the AF assist light.

So my questions:

1. Is the focus assist light intrusive?
2. Is AF.S better for weddings where people moving all the time?

Culture

Can't you focus on the eyes (which you should be doing anyway)? Skin colour should make no difference for portrait shots.
I take photos of my jet black cat all the time, no trouble at all because I focus on her eyes.

[Culture]

Can't you focus on the eyes (which you should be doing anyway)? Skin colour should make no difference for portrait shots.
I take photos of my jet black cat all the time, no trouble at all because I focus on her eyes.

Portrait session I guess should be ok. You can easily focus on the eyes. Because you ask for a pose.
Cats well can stay still for a while. At events you dont really have the luxury of focusing on the eyes as people are moving all the time.

In the the self portrait mentioned about I just tried to focus on my head.

[clackers]

By hook or by crook, the AF module needs to see a line under the chosen AF point, Culture. Fundamental of photography, so do what ya gotta do.

[Na Horuk]

I don't know how much AF and metering get confused by different skin colors, but it is possible. There are many examples of smartphones not detecting eyes correctly on Asian people - even though the cameras were made by Asian companies! AF needs light, so I assume it sees a very pale person as 'glowing'. Would be interesting to see how it works with albino people - whether it would try to make them darker? I think we even had threads on this forum about photographing darker skin tones.

Anyway, it comes down to the fact that the photographer is responsible for their images. If you can't rely on the automation, you need to do it yourself.
My question is mostly what lens you use at events? If you use a wide angle lens you can stop down to f3 for DoF and just do zone focusing or MF. Try MF in live view with focus peaking, try MF through viewfinder. Something like Samyang 24mm f1.4 would probably be a good lens at events, if AF is useless anyway

The final option is to buy a LED ringlight and rechargeable batteries. That way you have a constant flow of light in front of you. It might not be a perfect solution, but I think I saw some club photos taken that way and they turned out alright

Oh, and finally.. if its a wild dance party, a concert, a club, people probably don't need perfectly sharp photos anyway. A little motion blur, a little OoF can be used to make everything seem a little crazier

[Angel Perez]

Culture,

I have been photographing people of color with my k3 over the past 3 years without out a problem. Low light is low light. Most cameras will have a tricky time focusing in this environment. Now your question is somewhat going to give you a lot of opinions so here is mine. In a party or event type situation go ahead and use the auto focus assist light if the lighting is too low. It's a party and people are busy partying and not thinking about the green light. Now, I love to capture the performing arts and in that setting, yes do not ever use your AFassist. As far as AFS vs AFC I have been pretty successful leaving my camera on AFS. However check out some of the other forums where this topic has come up. You should also consider playing around with the various AF modes and see what works best for you in your environments.

Best of luck

[goatsNdonkey]

I wonder how much of this is an auto-focus problem more than a focus problem. I have a couple of AF lenses, but mostly I use manual focus lenses. So I know what I would try to do in the kind of shooting situations you describe. I'd try to stop down enough to get some depth of field (shooting an f/1.7 lens at 5.6 as you were doing might be enough), rather than shooting wide open, as tempting as that might be. As another person suggested, I might lean toward using a wide-ish normal to a wide-angle lens. I'd use whatever was bright or sparkly (highlights glinting off of anything glass or metallic or wet like eyes, for example) in the same plane as the people I wanted to photograph and focus on that in the viewfinder (whether or not I was getting a focus-confirm light). Then I'd frame the shot and shoot.

Some people who love their AF lenses still turn off the AF when they do macro work. Depending on the lens-camera pairing you have, that might be an option.

[Na Horuk]

Some people who love their AF lenses still turn off the AF when they do macro work. Depending on the lens-camera pairing you have, that might be an option.

Yeah. I avoid AF in some conditions and have learned MF well enough to get away with it most of the time. Low light or when there are lots of subjects at different distances on the same focus point, when there is really low contrast.. and LED lights at events are often almost useless when it comes to AF help..
I use back button focusing anyway so I don't need to wait for AF to go through the whole range for each photo