EOS 60 D question

Kitkatkat

Went to a cat show recently and I was having focusing problems. I hate the P mode, but used it, hate the "auto" camera flash, but used it - with the Gary Fong pop up flash diffuser. I also had a tulip hood on. The auto focus was SOOO slow. Not to mention the "auto" F-stop had to be slower than 60, because of the blur and DOF was pretty shallow. Any suggestion as to what to change or look for? Lost a lot of shots that I don't ususally loose.
Could the hood keep the lens from focusing all the way? Have a feeling that it's something stupid. Maybe the focusing screen wasn't really on the center mark, like I wanted it to be?

Please help with suggestions...
Nancy

Oh yeah.....Canon 35-105 1:3.5 -4.5 lens

ziggy53

In an indoor situation and working with subjects that have feathers or fur you can try either:

1) Use a single AF dot in One-Shot mode and try to AF on an eye.

2) Use an external flash with a focus-assist lamp and again use a single AF dot in One-Shot mode. Position the AF dot on the area of the animal you want to be in sharpest focus. (This is by far my recommendation for you and what I would do.)

The Canon 60D has an all cross-point AF system, but the center dot is the most sensitive. In my experience the center AF dot is best to choose in a difficult available light situation, but you need either a constant aperture zoom of f2.8 or a prime with at least an f2.8 setting. (Your f3.5-f4.5 zoom will not be helpful.) An external flash with a focus-assist lamp would probably help quite a bit.

For camera setup I strongly suggest using either full manual mode or aperture-priority mode, and then setting the metering to "evaluative". Add an E-TTL II capable flash and make sure to use a lens which supplies distance information. (I'm pretty sure that your current lens does "not" supply distance information, but I'm not really sure which lens you have.) Watch the histogram after a few test shots and use the EV compensation to tweak your exposure. Shoot with the histogram "to the right" and avoid clipping the highlights.

If you're looking for recommendations I can recommend the following:

For the external flash I suggest at least a Canon 430EX series or 580EX series flash, or possibly a Sigma DG Super flash. (The Sigma DG Super flashes support Canon E-TTL II and they have a very nice cost/feature ratio, making them an excellent value flash.) All of these flashes have a focus assist light, which is a major feature that you need to improve the AF success rate.

For a lens I suggest a Canon EF 85mm, f1.8 USM, which does supply distance information to support E-TTL II operation of the camera and flash. If you choose the center AF dot then I suggest shooting a little "loose" to get the center AF dot on the eye and then crop to recompose in post.

You may wish to use a flash modifier which works with the flash in bounce configuration. In that case the camera and flash will revert to E-TTL operation, which can still be OK with the camera in evaluative mode for exposure. A very good recommendation, which I use a lot, is a "scoop" modifier, which is a simple DIY project and costs around $3USD.

http://www.fototime.com/inv/908195739C4C0D3

Kitkatkat

Thank you so much for your support. I do have a 580 EXII that I love. I do remember seeing the center dot but I thought it was strange to only see one dot , with such a short depth of field. I thought the 580 would scare the cats so I decided to use the "pop up "flash (which I hate) and the Fong diffuser for that word work!?
Tell me more about the flash modifier, I thought I'd get the TTL with the "pop up". The 1.8 USM is probably too $$$ at this point. I wish!
How do I set the evaluative mode?
You can E-Mail me with more at Kitkatkat@verizon.net. This is easier than this site if you wish to use it, otherwise I will check your respose when I can.
Thank you, again.

ziggy53

By all means use the 580EX external flash that you have. The focus-assist system of the 580EX is superb.

You already have the Gary Fong diffuser for your popup flash. Now just build the "scoop" modifier/diffuser for the 580EX and do a set of comparisons, to satisfy your curiosity and to bolster your confidence. (You can even build a "mock-up" of the scoop modifier out of white printer paper for testing.)

The combination of getting the light off the camera plus the much larger diffuser size yields very pleasing results, while the focus assist lamp yields improved AF accuracy and speed. Win-win.