Why does auto focus work so poorly when trying to take a picture through smudged glass?

Comments

• zeppo@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  I assume because it’s not possible to get a sharp photo due to the smudge?

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  • HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    Yes, because the camera focuses on the smudge.

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    • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      You’ve solved it!

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    • zeppo@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Yeah, basically it keeps trying and can’t find a sharp image and doesn’t know what to do.

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  • HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    Yes, because the camera focuses on the smudge.

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• ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  It depends on the camera and the method of auto focus it uses. Older cameras and cheaper modern cameras use contrast detection, that alters the focus until the edges of an object in the focus zone are as contrasty as possible. The smudge makes it harder to find clean edges on the subject.

  Old school dSLRs and modern mirrorless cameras often use a different, faster method of auto focus called phase detection. It’s more expensive, because it requires specific hardware to work. Either way though, phase detection has the same problem. It uses two different sensors (or a single hybrid sensor) to split the light coming though the lens and overlay the resulting images. When the images are identical, the image is in focus. But because of the way this system works, smudges don’t really stop the auto focus from working. The smudge will still reduce the contrast and crispness of your final photo, but you’ll still get good auto focus.

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  • HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    So what makes it try to focus on the near smudge in the glass window instead of the larger scene outside?

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    • ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Oops, sorry, I assumed you were talking about a smudge on the glass of the lens, not a glass window.

      In the case of a smudged glass window, that’s an issue for both types of autofocus, and it occurs because the glass is closer than the subject you’re trying to focus on. And due to the way the physics of light work, it’s easier to find focus on closer subjects than distant subjects, for the same reasons that your depth of field increases the further your focal point is away from your sensor. And because the smudge itself is something that provides sufficient detail for autofocus to work, if the smudge will often become the target of the autofocus.

      There are a few ways of dealing with it though. You can step closer to the glass, so the smudge is within the minimal focal point distance of your camera. If it’s too close for your camera to focus on, it won’t accidentally focus on it. You can also change the active autofocus points on your camera so the smudge under an autofocus point. You can also drop the camera down to one autofocus point, move the camera to focus on the distant target without the smudge in the way, then half hold down the shutter button, and then reframe the shot whilst holding the shutter. That will keep the focal length set to where it was, but it won’t actually take the photo until you press the shutter the whole way in

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    • ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Nothing, because that’s not what happens.

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• MantisToboggon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Because it is smudged.

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  • garbagebagel@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    I know what community we’re in but like… There has to be a line right.

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• Kolanaki@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Because it can’t tell when it’s focused if the lens is smudgey and smearing the image. It sees what you see for the most part.

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• IWW4@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Auto Focus is working fine, your vision isn’t.

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