Help with Rebel XT focusing problem.

[bowronfam3]

I've noticed here lately that my Rebel XT seems to have trouble focusing. When it's set on Auto Focus it always chooses a really random spot to focus on, and all my photos just seem really soft. I've tried playing around with the aperture, but that doesn't seem to help at all. Any suggestions?

 

[Digital Matt]

Are you shooting in low light? Are you using 1 focus point, or all 9 or however many there are? What lens are you using? Autofocus will never be perfect. If you are unable to get good results from your AF in the shooting situation you are in, turn it off and manually focus.

 

[Cyrus]

My wife has has had that problem a couple of times. Once the diopter was not set right, another it was the camera body because none of her lenses would focus. Maybe the lense itself needs cleaning(mechanics); other than that Digital Matt maybe right you are shooting different stuff than you used to.

 

[Nefertiti]

I have a similar problem with my Canon Powershot A630. Not always, but at times the focusing doesn't seem right or may focus something else than my intended subject.

 

[darich]

more often than not it's due to low light or the wrong focusing point being selected by the camea or user. Even in good light, many cameras will struggle to focus properly on highly reflective surfaces eg polished car body or on a surface with little contrast eg a wall painted the same colour with no blemishes to pick out.

Have you tried a different lens?
Have you tried your lens on another body?
is it sharp when focussed manually?
Diopter has been suggetsed and is a good shout
Lens glass or contacts dirty/faulty?

It could be lots of things but a few can be eliminated fairly easily if you check a few things as i've suggested.

 

[Alex_B]

i am working with SLRs for some years now, but when I got my first DSLR with all those nice features, focussing was a problem until I switched off all the autofocuspoints but the central one.

After i did that i again was in control of focus as i used to be

the camera does not know which point it should focus on, so it often makes the wrong choice, depending on the image's composition...