Low light autofocus on the 5s

A

Allard

macrumors member
I've noticed that in shoddy lighting situations (a la Target store) the 5s doesn't catch focus quite as easily. I was photographing a friend wearing a hat inside a Target around 10PM and I just couldn't catch a crisp photo of him even when I did tap the area where I wanted the focus. I'm an avid photographer and I do take the focus on my photos as seriously as the next person.

I'm wondering if this is an issue with the 5s, since I never really had this problem on my old 4s. Thoughts?
 
Ambient lighting from the store used, or did you turn on flash by chance OP. I did a few test photos inside my home with overhead lighting, turned out OK, but not perfect, than used my flash, and it came out much better.
 
As a photographer, you should know that your highest end DSLR's (eg. Nikon D4) all have minimum light requirements for their auto focus capability to work properly for a given a maximum aperture.

Simply put, the more light available to the AF sensor, the more reliable the focus. With DSLRs we have manual focus options to solve this problem in low light conditions.... iPhone not so much.

So..what you are seeing is not uncommon.
 
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MT0227 said:
As a photographer, you should know that your highest end DSLR's (eg. Nikon D4) all have minimum light requirements for their auto focus capability to work properly for a given a maximum aperture.

Simply put, the more light available to the AF sensor, the more reliable the focus. With DSLRs we have manual focus options to solve this problem in low light conditions.... iPhone not so much.

So..what you are seeing is not uncommon.
Click to expand...

Most, if not all DLSR's now, have autofocus assist lamps so manual focus is not necessary in most situations.
 
sumsingwong said:
Most, if not all DLSR's now, have autofocus assist lamps so manual focus is not necessary in most situations.
Click to expand...

So does the iPhone if you turn the flash on, however I fail to see how it is a low light situation in a Target store. How about posting your pic OP so we can try to see what went wrong?
 
jaseone said:
So does the iPhone if you turn the flash on, however I fail to see how it is a low light situation in a Target store. How about posting your pic OP so we can try to see what went wrong?
Click to expand...

The autofocus assist lamps on DSLR's are not always used in conjunction with the flash. On the iPhone stock camera app, the only time it fires is when you have flash on or auto. It cannot be used just to focus and then not fire to allow the shooter to use ambient lighting.
 
sumsingwong said:
Most, if not all DLSR's now, have autofocus assist lamps so manual focus is not necessary in most situations.
Click to expand...

For short distance (10 feet or less), point and shoot they may help. For landscape, sports photography...etc. in low light/overcast conditions, they don't provide a solution.

As you move to smaller apertures (larger f/#), all else being equal (proper exposure), you will lose the number of available focusing points your DSLR camera is able to use.
 
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Allard said:
I've noticed that in shoddy lighting situations (a la Target store) the 5s doesn't catch focus quite as easily. I was photographing a friend wearing a hat inside a Target around 10PM and I just couldn't catch a crisp photo of him even when I did tap the area where I wanted the focus. I'm an avid photographer and I do take the focus on my photos as seriously as the next person.

I'm wondering if this is an issue with the 5s, since I never really had this problem on my old 4s. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Pureshot camera app allows focus assist flash (you can set it up to use flash only for focus and then you can take a photo without it or you can use assist flash+shot with flash)

https://itunes.apple.com/hr/app/pureshot/id591785487?mt=8
 
sumsingwong said:
Most, if not all DLSR's now, have autofocus assist lamps so manual focus is not necessary in most situations.
Click to expand...

Both Nikon and Canon's professional grade lineups do not contain autofocus assist lamps. When paired with their related flash options, they do have autofocus assist beams to assist with focus. However this is only operational by way of the flash and not the camera alone.
 
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