focusing

[goodolemargaret]

i have sony dsc-h2 that i cannot get clear focus except the macro section - i am shooting off a tripod with a 2 second delay - have tried both regular and telephoto - has a nice zeiss lense that is clean - anybody got any ideas - i am at my wits end - i have used every focus fucstion available on camera and still get the same old crap - bout ready to toss it

 

[Happy Hour]

First of all you wont get much help on a soy here. There are very few Sony lovers in this site. I don't know much about your camera, but I need more info to help you. You say your shooting on a tripod. Ok well if your in the dark it means nothing. (Get my drift?) Do you know how to properly expose a picture? What aperture are you set at, Iso speed, are you shooting in full auto mode? Manual mode, aperture priority?, shutter priority? If this is all gibberish to you? You need to pick up a book called understanding exposure by Bryan Peterson. It will make anybody a better photographer! Let me know. I'll try and help as much as I can

 

[Battou]

Happy Hour, The dsc-h2 is a P-shooter, goodolemargaret likely has little to no controll over such aspects and understanding exposure works best if one has full conrtroll over exposure.

goodolemargaret, Focusing a camera like that generally requires holding the shutter button for a second or two untill the AF (auto focus) has found and focused on it's target, this applies to delay timer shots as well. However if you are trying to take photos in low light and/or night shots, AF can not find the target and thus will not focus properly. Also naturally AF can not focus on a target that is not present at the time of focus in the event of self portrates, Some object must be there to focus on the coorrect spot otherwise the AF will focus on the nearest visabal target with in the focusing brackets. Stepping into the frame after words will result in out of focus subject.