TG 5 and slight focus issue.

[Steelyeyes]

P7150121

• Steelyeyes
• Jul 16, 2020

White Spotted Filefish

I shoot a TG 5 in a housing with two Inon S2000 strobes. I generally have counted on the autofocus feature an until recently wasn't disappointed. I'm 60 years old and my close vision is not what it used to be. I have custom lenses in my mask but with the little LCD inside a case I can frame a shot but focus one, not happening.

Lately I haven't been getting a crisp a result as I had in the past. This image is an example. The fish was being very cooperative and gave lots of time to get a good focus. My indicator showed that it was in focus when I took this, and a half dozen other shots but not one was actually all of the way in focus. Distance to the subject was about four feet.

What do I need to look at to improve this?

 

[PedroP]

Hi,

The causes can be multiple, I suggest trial approach.
Clean the inside part of the housing port, the focus can hunt if there is dirt on the port.
The blueish tint of the photo suggests lack of light, did the strobes fire ?
Do you use focus light ?

Underwater photography is a trial approach

 

[sunnyboy]

I found my TG-6 really benefited from a focus light. It doesn't have to be super bright, just enough to light the scene.

 

[Steelyeyes]

I have a focus light but don't usually use it at 20 feet due to the level of available ambient light. I can give that a shot. The odd part is I've only had the focus light since January and the camera focused great until just lately. I wipe out the port with a soft cloth and do the same with the back viewing port, as well as get smudges off of the LCD, every time I load the camera in the case. Maybe it's time for a gentle cleaning solution in case there's a film that needs to go.

The other part that's odd is in microscope mode it's spot on.

 

[Chris Ross]

four feet is a bit distant - it may lock onto some floaties, however in your case the focus has locked onto the BG corals/hydroids they are sharp. This can happen if you don't hold the AF sensor over your target or if it spills over so it covers both subject and background. If you are using a centre AF point then it looks like that is exactly what happened. Getting closer will help as the fish is bigger in the frame and more of it will be under the AF point. Otherwise more attention to placing the AF sensor where it needs to be will help I think. You have the option for multiple or single AF points - I would use single, you can also move the AF point around if needed, which should help.