Hexar AF in the fog/rain?

[wojtek]

Hello

Just wanted to read about your experience with using Hexar AF in the heavy fog or rain. Are you also experiencing some focusing problems, when shooting in such conditions?

Cheers
Wojtek

[Arjay]

Hm - I wonder how heavy a fog/rain you are thinking of.

As far as I understand the Hexar AF's autofocusing mechanism (I own one myself), there are two IR light beams which are progressively set to converge until some kind of IR imaging device detects maximum contrast. The system has to assume that the space between the camera and the target is empty, or else it has no way to find a point of maximum contrast.

I can imagine that the system will come to its limits when the fog is so dense that visibility is severely impaired over a distance of less than 20m (~60ft), since that is the maximum distance the system is designed to measure. Up to now, I haven't observed any AF problems in rain (I haven't tried fog yet, or densely falling snow).

But I have often observed that my Hexar AF focused on the windowpane when I wanted to take a shot of what is behind the window.

[wojtek]

Originally Posted by Arjay

Hm - I wonder how heavy a fog/rain you are thinking of.

Heavy. It's Scotland, man. Meet Haar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ha...ail_bridge.jpg

[Frank Petronio]

As long as there is something, it works fine.

[filmfan]

I have only noticed issues in cold weather...

EDIT: Shot in heavy fog and noticed the camera focusing on the min distance

[wojtek]

Originally Posted by filmfan

I have only noticed issues in cold weather...

Is your film drive getting a bit squeaky sometimes in cold weather?

[pvdhaar]

My experience with the Hexar-AF is that in the fog you need to really pay attention to what the autofocus does. The breaking index and the reflective properties of the water particles that make up the fog, make that the IR telemetry gets upset and the camera focusses too close. This happened even if I myself could easily make out the subject..

[Alex Krasotkin]

No issues at all.
Here are examples:
http://www.krasotkin.com/portfolio/?photo=352
http://www.krasotkin.com/stories/?all=33

[wojtek]

Originally Posted by pvdhaar

My experience with the Hexar-AF is that in the fog you need to really pay attention to what the autofocus does. The breaking index and the reflective properties of the water particles that make up the fog, make that the IR telemetry gets upset and the camera focusses too close. This happened even if I myself could easily make out the subject..

Voila! So it looks like it's not only me, then. Good, I was thinking that maybe I am going insane, blind or both. :)

My Hexar behaves the same. When the fog (or rain, or any other type of air flowing particles) is dense, then it focuses, but usually wrongly.

This is actually the only bad thing I can say about that camera, anyway... :) But it's a bit of limitation when you live in the land of fog and rain.

[dreilly]

Reviving a dead thread here. Just had this experience with my Hexar AF this AM. Not a particularly heavy fog, I've seen heavier, but when trying to focus on infinity or near it, it would focus all the way in to close focus. I had to shift to MF for one shot of a building, about 50 feet away.

It seemed to be more realistic up close. I wonder if the Hexar has a default focus position for errors, and assumes close up work since the camera is designed for that kind of situation. Also did some experimenting and sometimes windows fool it, sometimes not.

[ferider]

Same experience here, Doug.

For this shot, I had to focus the camera manually, the AF would set itself to 1m or so.



I assumed the camera was focusing on the mist in the air. But your default position makes sense, too.

[dreilly]

Nice shot, however!

[dogbunny]

I first experienced the fog problem while climbing Mt. Fuji. I came back with a couple of rolls of missed focus pics. When in such situations I look at the distance indicator to be sure that it is at least in the right ballpark. It also goes wonky at temperatures lower than -10C, even with brand new batteries. She's still a keeper.

db

[Richard G]

Originally Posted by ferider

Same experience here, Doug.

For this shot, I had to focus the camera manually, the AF would set itself to 1m or so.



I assumed the camera was focusing on the mist in the air. But your default position makes sense, too.

Roland is this in Australia?? I seem to remember a very similar structure photographed by lynnb from Sydney.

[skibeerr]

Originally Posted by Richard G

Roland is this in Australia?? I seem to remember a very similar structure photographed by lynnb from Sydney.

Given Roland's latitude .....

[ferider]

Thanks, Doug. Richard this is the Pt Reyes lighthouse here in California.

[caasols]

I've had problems in extreme fog with the Hexar, couldn't focus. The same happened in extreme cold situations (-20ºc).

[filmfan]

Shot in HEAVY fog:

1) had to manually set focus to infinity



2. this one I left on autofocus and focused on infinity, but as you can see:



3. and this was autofocus

[dreilly]

Ah, pictorialism!

Actually those are nice misshots!

[dreilly]

Actually, i just watched Beasts of the Southern Wild and your blurry photos remind me of it...

[daniel~]

I've used my Hexar Silver in the fog/rain many times. Didn't find focusing problems.
However, one time after a long shooting in the rain, the moisture went into the little LCD on top. That's it, no functional problem. I think it was a day after, that I finally took off the top to get rid of the moisture.

[lynnb]

Richard, it is the same lighthouse. I was at Pt Reyes in 1979, with a Nikon FE and kodachrome 25...