Aside from the obvious how could I prevent this: Thank u for chiming in on my very amateur question. Went out w/ my Canon t2i and 10-22mm lens to practice landscape shots. When I got...

Laszlo

Thank u for chiming in on my very amateur question. Went out w/ my Canon t2i and 10-22mm lens to practice landscape shots. When I got home & inserted the SD card into my computer, I was horrified. Every single shot was out of focus. The lens settings, ISO shutter speed were all fine. I checked my lens & found that it was switched to MF instead of AF. I of course still shoot everything in auto. I'm sure that I checked some of the shots in the field but there I could not tell how bad the focus was. The bright sunshine probably washed out my screen a bit. Also my glasses are polarized which makes the camera screen appear even darker. Needless to say I will always check my lens setting from now on but is there anything else I could have done to discover this sooner.

tramsey Loc: Texas

I used to hand hold with great results but lately not so much. Now I use a tripod on EVERTHING. Happens to all of us.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I have my T1i set to beep on attaining focus when in AF.
No beep, no focus.
Plus, doesn't a "manual" indication show on the status screen?

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Set your camera so that it won't take the shot unless you have focus lock when in auto focus. No green box - no shutter release. That'll program you to wait till you have focus lock.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

R.G. wrote:

Set your camera so that it won't take the shot unless you have focus lock when in auto focus. No green box - no shutter release. That'll program you to wait till you have focus lock.

What if you don't want the camera to lock on what it thinks you want it to lock on -eg - you are taking a wide shot where you want to focus on the foreground but want the element in focus to be low in the composition?

Better to disable focus on the shutter release, shoot continuous AF, and not have the camera shutter release tied to achieving focus. But the problem has nothing to do with this anyway. Best for the OP to check his lens and camera settings on a regular basis.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Gene51 wrote:

What if you don't want the camera to lock on what it thinks you want it to lock on -eg - you are taking a wide shot where you want to focus on the foreground but want the element in focus to be low in the composition?

Better to disable focus on the shutter release, shoot continuous AF, and not have the camera shutter release tied to achieving focus. But the problem has nothing to do with this anyway. Best for the OP to check his lens and camera settings on a regular basis.

OK - continuous AF is one possibility, but that comes with its own set of problems. There's something to be said for obtaining focus lock on the desired object (or something at the desired distance), then recomposing. Continuous AF has obvious advantages for moving subjects but there's a constant threat of the focus moving off of the desired object after you think you have the focus lock that you want. Getting a clear focus lock in AF-S eliminates that possibility.

And again, checking everything first is one possible answer - but easily forgotten or overlooked. If he gets into the habit of looking for the focus lock, he'll miss it straight away when it isn't there.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Gene51 wrote:

What if you don't want the camera to lock on what it thinks you want it to lock on -eg - you are taking a wide shot where you want to focus on the foreground but want the element in focus to be low in the composition?

Better to disable focus on the shutter release, shoot continuous AF, and not have the camera shutter release tied to achieving focus. But the problem has nothing to do with this anyway. Best for the OP to check his lens and camera settings on a regular basis.

The camera doesn't care what is in focus so long as something is in focus. It's not foolproof but it would definitely have prevented what happened to the OP.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Laszlo wrote:

Thank u for chiming in on my very amateur question... (show quote)

Someone suggested setting "focus priority" that would work. Also some cameras can be set to make beep when in focus and most cameras have some type of indicator display when in focus. Try to remember to look for that.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Laszlo wrote:

Thank u for chiming in on my very amateur question... (show quote)

We all do it. Don't beat yourself up. There's a suggestion above to use AI Servo 'continuous' focus, preferably set to a Back Button Focus. This was one of the most impactful changes I made to my shooting technique about 6 years ago. Your EOS T2i lets you make this change. I didn't pull your manual. You might need to look at C.Fn-4 on that model, using I believe the 3 setting. If you're interested but have difficultly finding / understanding how to set-up, just give a follow-up question. Once you get the hang of telling the camera to always be focusing whenever your thumb is pressing the BBF, you just have to remember every once in a while to check the AF/MF setting on the lens, trying to make it a habit whenever mounting a lens or turning on the camera.

BebuLamar

The best thing is to look at the image in the viewfinder and see if the camera has achieved focus. I know immediately if the lens doesn't focus.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Same thing the military taught us about our weapons. Never assume anything and check all settings, switches etc when you start out. And esp if you change something, in this case a lens.

I just had a similar thing happen. I was getting a lot of shots that were just a hair off with my Tamron 150-600 G2. So I looked at every setting and discovered the stabilization was turned off. Now I use it with it on all the time but when carrying it I cradle the lens on my left arm with the lens and camera body against my chest. I figure that the pocket clip of my pen snagged the switch and moved it to off. I use the IS in mode 3, it stays off until I push the shutter button so I never noticed it was turned off for about 1 1/2 days.

Grahame Loc: Fiji

Laszlo wrote:

Thank u for chiming in on my very amateur question... (show quote)

Ok, here's another idea that can be considered at times when conformation of focus in the field is difficult, different from the above ones.

If you are going to be using a 10-20mm at average apertures learn what the rough DoF ranges are. Some practice at home will soon teach you that a an aperture of f/x and focus set at a certain distance marking on the lens will give everything in focus from say 2 metres in front of the camera to infinity.

It's a practice I use often use with short FLs in very low light where AF is impossible and MF very dodgy.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Always check lens and camera settings prior to shooting

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Always check lens and camera settings prior to shooting

ggab Loc: ?

CHG_CANON wrote:

We all do it. Don't beat yourself up. There's a su... (show quote)

Why "AI Servo" when shooting landscape with stationary objects?