Fuji Finepix S9500

[yelvertoft]

Raymond,

You may find that focus lock can be acieved using AF if you turn the camera on its side to portrait format if you start off in lanscape, or vice versa. If you then get focus lock, you can keep your finger half pressed on the shutter button, turn the camera back to its desired orientation, and do a full press of the button.

Hope this helps.

[treeve]

Thank you for that ... I can often get focus on an object of similar distance, but transferring a full sweep is not easy, so if there is a focus lock after getting focus, like the one you suggest, that would be great. This is where standard film cameras score well over digital, as far as I have observed, in that on the Nikon I can set lens focus to any specific, and shoot away. I suspect that a more expensive digital camera would cover that option. Nil Desperandum.

[Joe]

It might also help with the AF system to try and look for contrast differences to lock the focus on to. To explain, most of the better digital compacts through to digital SLR's have a passive AF system. Passive systems rely on contrast detection, so it often speeds up auto focusing if you can lock onto, for example, the edge of an object where the background is lighter (or darker) so the sensors can basically optimise the contrast 'line' between that lighter and darker part of the picture. It's also one reason why passive AF systems can slow up quite significantly in low light (ie low contrast), or indeed with slower/darker lenses, particularly zoom telephotos, where focus is made even more critical....Now of course many of the new cameras have focus aids like sending out short fast bursts of light (which also doubles as 'anti red-eye functions) to help the AF sensors out. Many newer flash systems now have Infra-red (active) AF assist functions to help speed up auto focusing in low light (indoor parties being a prime example).
Sounds daft, but shining a torch at the subject also helps AF systems too!
Hope this makes sense, and might be a factor why the AF is sluggish sometimes?

[treeve]

Yes thank you .. occasionally I have tried to focus on some object in a 'spotlight' of sunshine. Not only is the object out of focus, the exposure is dreadful; so I have focused on an object nearby of late, in a half light and then gone back to the highlighted object and taken it then, result, correct exposure and focus. Does seem odd though, all that sophisticated technology to replace the fresnel screen.