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Step 3 Focus and Shoot
Basic Photography and Playback: A (Auto) Mode
B During Recording
While the AF lamp or the indicator showing the number of exposures remaining is blinking, images
are being recorded. Do not open the battery-chamber/memory card slot cover. Cutting the
power or removing the memory card in these circumstances could result in loss of data or in damage
to the camera or card.
B Autofocus
Autofocus may not perform as expected in the following situations. In some rare cases, the subject
may not be in focus despite the fact that the active focus area or focus indicator lights green:
• Subject is very dark
• Objects of sharply differing brightness are included in the scene (e.g. the sun behind the subject
makes that subject appear very dark)
• No contrast between the subject and surroundings (e.g. a portrait subject, wearing a white shirt, is
standing in front of a white wall)
• Several objects are at different distances from the camera (e.g., an animal inside a cage)
• Subjects that repeat the same pattern (e.g., as window blinds or buildings lined with windows of
the same shape)
• Subject is moving rapidly
In the situations noted above, try pressing the shutter-release button halfway to refocus several times,
or focus on another subject and use focus lock. When using focus lock, be sure that the distance
between the camera and the subject with which focus was locked is the same as that for the actual
subject.
The camera can also be focused using manual focus (A42).
D Focus Lock
Use focus lock to focus on off-center subjects when Center is selected for AF area mode.
• Be sure that the distance between the camera and the subject does not change.
• When the shutter-release button is pressed halfway, the exposure is locked.
Instead of pressing the shutter-release button halfway, you can also press the AE-L/AF-L button to
shoot with focus lock (A11).
D AF-assist illuminator
In dark places, the AF-assist illuminator (A177) may light when the shutter-release button is pressed
halfway.
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F5.6
F5.6
F5.6 1/250
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F5.6
F5.6 1/250
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F5.6
F5.6
Frame the
subject to be
focused on
using the
camera.
Press the
shutter-
release
button
halfway.
Confirm that
the focus area is
green.
Continue holding
down the shutter-
release button
halfway and
recompose the
picture.
Press the
shutter-release
button the rest
of the way
down to shoot.