AF Assist Light

[nickma]

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What are your experiences with the AF Assist Light Disabled vs Enabled?

 

Does it make a big difference in focusing speed, or given the relatively slow AF speed, is it generally superfluous?

 

Any measurable difference in accuracy of focusing with or without?

[DwF]

I haven't tried it in really low light conditions but in common shadowy areas, I find the lamp unnecessary. It certainly is a drag when trying to take pictures of someone engaged in quiet activity and you see your assist lamp painting the subject!

 

Sometimes if I am shooting at smaller apertures (allowing greater dof), I will point the camera while focusing at an object within similar range as my subject so that I can pre-focus away from the subject and then reposition and just shoot at the decisive moment.

 

DwF

[prk60091]

What are your experiences with the AF Assist Light Disabled vs Enabled?

 

Does it make a big difference in focusing speed, or given the relatively slow AF speed, is it generally superfluous?

 

Any measurable difference in accuracy of focusing with or without?

 

i never used to keep the AF light on- then I was taking a shot in a relatively dark venue - the lens was hunting for focus etc = i then turned the AF light on- and got my image- since then i have left it on....ymmv

[robert blu]

I do not use it, I think it will disturb the subject (if animated, if it is a thing I probably have more time to focus). My approach in low light is similar to what DwF does.

robert

[wda]

I haven't tried it in really low light conditions but in common shadowy areas, I find the lamp unnecessary. It certainly is a drag when trying to take pictures of someone engaged in quiet activity and you see your assist lamp painting the subject! ...

 

DwF

In those conditions I find it better focus manually, if possible.

[DwF]

I tried the Manual Focus option after installing the firmware update, but for me the X1 has been an AF camera. I've just finally gone back to using my M8 and that's where I get my exercise focusing I think that if I was traveling with only the X1, I might take the time to work on the manual focus option.

 

I am really enjoying my M8 again and partially because I am using the CV28mm 3.5 instead of the larger Summicron. After the X1 and LX5, it is tough to carry a large (I didn't say "real" camera.

 

Best Regards,

David

[nickma]

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Thanks for the input folks.

 

I would certainly now take quite a high proportion of my indoor shots with a profile I've set up that gives me optimal DOF for any given aperture, preset for subjects that are 5-6 feet or more away, in conjunction with higher ISO and tweaked white balance.

 

I've a similar profile for outside action shots with optimal DOF from 9-10 ft+.

 

This strategy, copied from methods shared on this forum by Ivan Muller , works really well. Swapping from Profile 1 to these others is fast and other than selecting an aperture is a snap for grabbing shots.

 

However there are situations where I want or need to revert to autofocus, so thanks for the suggestions and opposing points of view in this thread. I've played around with and without the AF Assist Light since posting this thread, and it does seem that disabled is much less intrusive but more prone to 'hunt'.