For Christmas, my mum got an EOS 300, her first SLR. Owning only a 2nd hand EOS 1000F [a.k.a. Rebel S], I experienced a great deal of camera envy, but I'm keen to help her with the transition. Canon makes much of the 7 autofocus points, which the camera helpfully selects.

My question is, what logic does the camera use to make its selection? It appears to be totally random, for example in portrait mode, it might choose a focusing point to the left of someone's face. Obviously, this is not particularly helpful. Having waxed lyrical about the superiority of an EOS over a compact, I want to avoid getting egg on my face because of a camera's quirks, The manual offers no helpful suggestions. It's possible to make a manual selection of focusing point, but this rather defeats the object, as with changing light, a moving subject, or a facial expression, you could lose the shot while you fiddle with buttons. So is there anyone out there who knows what's going on in the camera's mind, or has experience of this body? If it helps, the shots were being taken in fairly low light [indoors] conditions, around Christmas (well, you want to capture the magic of a lit-up Christmas tree, don't you) Even when the AF-assist strobe (another issue, could it induce an epileptic fit?) was used, it often took several tries to get the right focusing point latched on to.

Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks.

-- David Miller (david_miller@earthling.net), December 31, 2001

Answers

If I remember right, the camera is supposed to focus on the closest object in your frame that is covered with one of your focusing points. My Elan 7E seems to work that way as well, but I usually select the point myself via ECF. The Rebel 2000 may not have much success with focusing in low light without help. One way to fix this is to use a speedlite, like the 420EX. The 420 and 550EXs have IR AF assist beams that are much less ubtrusive than your pop-up flash (you can even use the assist beam without actually using the flash if you want). A fast lens will also help. You didn't mention what lens you are using - with that camera, possibly the 28-80 f/4.5-5.6? You can get the Canon 50mm f/1.8 for less than $100 new, and with a wide aperture you'll have better focusing performance in general on any camera. Whatever you try, if the camera just won't get it, focus manually.

-- Derrick Morin (dmorin@oasisol.com), December 31, 2001.

Well,i've used EOS 300 during X'mas. Its auto-focus is somewhat random.But there are some patterns 1)If set to auto selection,it will select the focus point(s) that cover(s) the most contrasty objects,with priority given to the closest subject.The point(s) in focus will be shown in the view finder and lcd. 2)If set to one of the 7 points,then it will only focus at that point. 3)if set to manual focus, then it will check and show whether that point is in focus. I feel that it is difficult to focus people in 'complex' background eg.in front of christmas tree.EOS 300 may wrongly focus at the tree instead of the people.Also the places u shoot are often in low light,so u need to wide open the aperture.This increases the chance of out of focus people.So i advise u that set to 1) and manual focus at the face.

-- legnum (legnum212@email.com), December 31, 2001.

I think the 7 sensor, auto select features are great marketing tools for Canon, but most shooters who care about the quality of their images generally end up manually selecting the focus point, in order to control what part of the photo is in sharp focus.

When in doubt, select the center sensor (cross sensor which should be the most sensitive one for low light), lock focus on your subject (face or eye), recompose and shoot.

-- kenneth katz (socks@bestweb.net), January 01, 2002.