D300/MDX300 frozen focus square

[mintaka]

Topside everything works fine, but at depth, I couldnt move the focus square around the screen with my D300/MDX300. The buttons worked for menu items and pic viewing/scrolling, but just wouldnt move the square around. Same settings worked at the surface. It's probably something stupid on my part, but I dont know what. Any ideas ?

 

[jcclink]

Try quickly hitting the shuttle release, then move square. Its like the camera is in playback mode & needs to be put back in shooting mode.

 

[Mariozi]

I double what JCC says.

 

[mintaka]

Thanks guys, Ill give it a whirl.

 

[Mariozi]

You can easily check that on the dry w/o the housing.
"The buttons worked for menu items and pic viewing/scrolling"
This means it's not a housing x camera match up problem.

 

[mintaka]

You can easily check that on the dry w/o the housing.
"The buttons worked for menu items and pic viewing/scrolling"
This means it's not a housing x camera match up problem.

Exactly, thats why I mentioned it. I knew the buttons were hitting properly, the square just wouldnt move, I was just wondering if there was some other issue, maybe from another part of the housing ?. It was on my last dive of the trip so I never got a chance to reproduce it and I cant reproduce it topside. Also, its going to be a while before I'll get under with the camera again. I'm just starting to experiment with moving the square around, things just change too fast to center focus and then frame the shot.

 

[Mariozi]

What might help you is the following:

The AF Area selection is only available as long as the metering is ON.
The meter only comes on, for a limited time (6s is the factory default) after a slight tap on the shutter release button. And underwater it can take a lot of time to tap it, find the thumb-pad controls, and look through the viewfinder to reselect another AF Area.

If you go to:
Custom Setting Menu: Timers/AE Lock
c2: Auto meter-off delay

And set it to 8s or more you might have more time to switch your hands around the housing after tapping the Shutter Release Button, reaching the thumb-pad controls, looking through the viewfinder and selecting the AF Area.

Good Luck!

 

[mintaka]

Thanks Marcelo-- sounds like thats the problem