Recent discussions in the Canon Digital Rebel XSi Forum

Recent discussions in the Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Black) forum


Customer Discussions > Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Black) forum
Canon Rebel XSI auto focus problems

new mom says:
I was all set to order the xsi until I read the reviews about the auto focus problems. The whole reason I want a new camera is because I'm sick of the blurry pictures. I will be taking most of my pictures on auto focus. What should I do?
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Technology Guy says:
new mom-

The number of highly positive reviews vastly outnumber the negative reviews mentioning "auto-focus problems" here at Amazon. And you don't see this "problem" ever mentioned in professional reviews of the camera.

I strongly suspect the "auto-focus problems" you're referring to are actually caused by a very common beginner's mistake. The Xsi has 9 independent auto-focus points available. The full auto mode which beginners are likely to start out with will use all 9 points at the same time. What this means is that the camera will end up picking the auto-focus point or points which present the camera with the best contrast for determining correct focus. The focus points the camera selects, however, aren't necessarily the best ones for the photographer because the camera doesn't really know what part of the scene is the subject and what parts are the background.

The proper technique is to not use FULL auto mode but one of the other modes - P, Av, Tv or M - and to manually (pre)select ONE auto-focus point. Generally, you'll pick either the center point or the one focus point closest to your actual subject in the frame. Many photographers will use a "focus and recompose" method where they auto-focus on the subject using just the center focus point and, while still half pressing the shutter release button, reframe the scene as desired. This works very well in most cases.

I believe with the proper techniques, you'll find the Xsi can focus VERY accurately and give you quite professional looking results.

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