Canon PowerShot SX50 HS - Focus Problem (11 May 14)
A montage of Canon PowerShot SX50 HS shots of a Garden Warbler taken from the same position with different exposure compensation settings, 11 May 14.
As noted in the text accompanying the Yellow Wagtail photo posted a few days ago, this is the sort of shot that I've had trouble with on numerous occasions with the SX50 HS, as it repeatedly refuses to focus on the subject. Ironically, if there's a single blade of grass or small twig between the camera and bird, it has no trouble at all in homing in on the wrong thing, and so clearly there isn't a need to fill all of the focusing frame to achieve focus.
The problem seems to be related to the exposure compensation setting: my default practice is to under-expose by 2/3 of a stop in order to reduce the chance of blown highlights (which I have a particular aversion to) and then to carry out any necessary brightness adjustments in Photoshop. However, I found by trial and error that reducing or eliminating the degree of under-exposure can sort the focussing problem out.
The images in the montage are unedited (with the exception of resizing) and show that in this particular case it was necessary to reduce the exposure compensation to zero to achieve focus - and even then it took several attempts to get it right. The resulting shots were overexposed in my eyes, and so not usable.
Thankfully, I did eventually manage to get a good shot of the bird in question (see next photo) under less demanding conditions.
Canon PowerShot SX50 HS - Focus Problem (11 May 14)
A montage of Canon PowerShot SX50 HS shots of a Garden Warbler taken from the same position with different exposure compensation settings, 11 May 14.
As noted in the text accompanying the Yellow Wagtail photo posted a few days ago, this is the sort of shot that I've had trouble with on numerous occasions with the SX50 HS, as it repeatedly refuses to focus on the subject. Ironically, if there's a single blade of grass or small twig between the camera and bird, it has no trouble at all in homing in on the wrong thing, and so clearly there isn't a need to fill all of the focusing frame to achieve focus.
The problem seems to be related to the exposure compensation setting: my default practice is to under-expose by 2/3 of a stop in order to reduce the chance of blown highlights (which I have a particular aversion to) and then to carry out any necessary brightness adjustments in Photoshop. However, I found by trial and error that reducing or eliminating the degree of under-exposure can sort the focussing problem out.
The images in the montage are unedited (with the exception of resizing) and show that in this particular case it was necessary to reduce the exposure compensation to zero to achieve focus - and even then it took several attempts to get it right. The resulting shots were overexposed in my eyes, and so not usable.
Thankfully, I did eventually manage to get a good shot of the bird in question (see next photo) under less demanding conditions.