FZ10 - focus problems

[bluepeter 26]

Hi
I've been a proud owner of the FZ10 for a couple of years now. Always been very happy with everything. Yet in the last week, the camera has developed a problem - I wonder if anyone else has experienced?
Basically, whilst in P mode, the camera loses its ability to focus. Not trying anything fancy - just point & press. Yet the camera is not able to focus on the subject. Turned it off & on again, & it resolved itself. But rather worrying. Am I alone?

Pete

[John_Reed]

Hi
I've been a proud owner of the FZ10 for a couple of years now. Always been very happy with everything. Yet in the last week, the camera has developed a problem - I wonder if anyone else has experienced?
Basically, whilst in P mode, the camera loses its ability to focus. Not trying anything fancy - just point & press. Yet the camera is not able to focus on the subject. Turned it off & on again, & it resolved itself. But rather worrying. Am I alone?

PeteAre you maybe flirting with the issue of being too close to your subject for focusing? It's definitely distance-dependent, and when you turn the camera off and on again, it comes on able to focus at the closest distance, where before you turned it off, you may have had a little zoom cranked in? How close are you to your subject when this happens, and what are your zoom conditions?

[bluepeter 26]

Just re-read my post, and I was a bit undetailed: I was trying a range of shots - a church 25 yards away, a tree 6 ft away...all sorts of shots. When I looked through the viewfinder, I saw the object. I half pressed the shutter, and the object became sharp for a moment..before bluring out. It was like the autofocus was unable to decide what to focus on. And I then checked in case the manual setting had been knocked on, but it wasn't.
After switching off and on, it righted itself. However of the next 50 shots I took that day (mostly landscapes & buiuldings), I'd say 10% were out of focus.

It does leave me anxious before I go to Africa for 3 weeks - do I pay for a service or even upgrade?
Pete

[LoveLife]

Just re-read my post, and I was a bit undetailed: I was trying a range of shots - a church 25 yards away, a tree 6 ft away...all sorts of shots. When I looked through the viewfinder, I saw the object. I half pressed the shutter, and the object became sharp for a moment..before bluring out. It was like the autofocus was unable to decide what to focus on. And I then checked in case the manual setting had been knocked on, but it wasn't.
After switching off and on, it righted itself. However of the next 50 shots I took that day (mostly landscapes & buiuldings), I'd say 10% were out of focus.

It does leave me anxious before I go to Africa for 3 weeks - do I pay for a service or even upgrade?
Pete

I f you want consistently better pictures you will have to do some re-learning.
:
> 1- Change the camera so it operates in spot focus mode. No computer
> is as smart as you and focus averaging makes compromises that do
> not work most of the time.
>
> 2- The next thing you should do is move the focus switch down on
> the side of the barrel to MF mode. This changes the shutter button
> in to capture and exposure. And you do not have to stop halfway if
> you are happy with what you see. Flicking the switch down
> now controls the focus. When you want a specific piece of your
> image to be in maximum sharpness point the camera at that spot,
> push the button and no matter where you rearrange your image the
> focus is now fixed.
>
> 3- The next time the camera says no with the flashing green light
> tell it who is the boss. Find some other spot to get a lock.
>
>

[genece]

Spot focus and spot meter were my favorites on the FZ10, but I do not see
why something that worked before does not anymore.

Maybe reset the camera to factory defaults and start over.

And just to try ...remove the filter and see if that makes a difference.

[bluepeter 26]

Thanks for feedback.
Yes, I've always used Spot focus and spot meter.
I like the idea of removing & cleaning my filter - that sounds highly possible, yet something I'd have never thought of.
The real positive here is that I haven't been inundated with 'yes that's happened to me too', implying its a common fault. Its gone away now, so I'll put it down to one of those things.

Pete