Most accurate AF on P&S in low light?

[analogpics]

Hey everybody, sorry if this has been previously discussed, but...though there may not be one point and shoot rated with the "best" autofocus, i was wondering which ones you recommend. My konica hexar af seems to have the most accurate of all my cameras tbh, but sometimes i just want to carry something smaller with a built in flash.

I shoot in low light a lot with flash so preferably one with active rather than passive af. I believe some of the older point and shoots from the 80s used active and i've had reasonably good results at night with the nikon L35AF and pentax PC35af-m, but was wondering what else is out there that would fit the bill.

My two olympus stylus epic's seem to be a bit hit or miss as well as the fuji klasse s, contax t3, nikon one touch, nikon 35ti and yashica t4 (though they're all great in daylight). I haven't tried any of the leica offerings (cm, minilux) and am looking into a konica big mini or a pentax UC-1. Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated! 🙂

 

[Ko.Fe.]

You just have to look at the bottom 🙂
Any basic, non prestige P&S with wide lens and AF assistance will do.

Why:
AF assistance beam is really good function, even not complicated one.
Wide lens in cheap P&S has only two distance position.
AF assistance and lens simple AF only determine if object is close or not.
The rest is covered by DOF of wide lens.

Those P&S are from late nineties or even later. Believe or not, I almost purchased one for 29 bucks last year in camera store. Old new stock. But find it used for $5.
This is the scan of 5x7 wet print from camera like this.


Antony, his art and art. by Ko.Fe., on Flickr

 

[f16sunshine]

I don't think you will find better than the Hexar AF.
For the last month I have been testing a Rollei afm35 (same camera as the Fuji Klasse).
It's performing very well in low light as far as AF is concerned.
It's about 2/3 the size of the Hexar af and one stop slower with a f2.6/38mm "tessera" type lens.

You may check that out. I will likely let mine go as I prefer the Hexar as AF cameras go and know that, when I prefer one it blocks out all the others. 🙂

 

[NeeZee]

Would you consider a scale focusing P&S instead of AF? I find them a lot quicker to shoot when using direct flash. The Konica C35 EF3 or an Olympus XA2 with A11 flash attached are two examples. Even the fixed focus Konica Pop is not that bad - and it comes in any colour you want 😉 http://www.collection-appareils.fr/konica/images/konica_pop_new_rose.jpg

 

[johannielscom]

The Hexar AF is the camera to get.

It has infrared focusing, one diode emits the beam and another registers the reflection of it. It doesn't need any light at all and can focus in absolute darkness!
The Hexar has a 290 step 😱 focus engine, while most DSLR's have significantly less and rely on increased DOF to cover focusing errors of their mechanism.

Don't shoot the Hexar with AF engaged through a window though, the reflection of the glass will throw the distance metering off big time. Switch to manual distance setting when you shoot through a window.

Check out my website for a portal page on the Hexar AF: www.johanniels.com, in the Gear Articles section

 

[Archlich]

(http://cgi.kiwi.ne.jp/~mizusawa/penguin/CAMEdata/index.html - The models' on the left - simple enough for a translator.)

You'll find even the (rather) lowly Mju II has a 3-point infrared active autofocus with 414 steps. In reality it will miss... so it really depends on something else.

 

[JoeV]

IIRC, the Canon AF35M also has IR AF. I need to pull mine out of storage and run a roll through her. Pretty good lens, too.

~Joe

 

[jbielikowski]

AF? in low light? nah, but XA (even scale focused and stopped down) will be pretty accurate and much faster than lets say L35AF.

 

[analogpics]

Thanks for the great suggestions everybody! I actually have 2 hexar af's. Seriously, probably seen more film run through them than any other film cam i own. But there's times where i want something smaller to tote around than the hexar with a flash 😀

Wish i could implant the AF system in it into a small point and shoot haha. Anyways, had a contax T, may get one again... was contemplating an olympus xa (maybe that's my best option, with the A16 flash), as a possibility as well. Even something like a konica c35 ef or oly xa2, but i still want to be able to have accurate focus wide open if need be.

I used to just tote the hexar with a flash everyday, but in recent years, i just end up taking a T3, klasse, or L35AF around for the size. I got excited when i saw the stylus epic was active af but neither of mine seem to hit the mark in low light(?) same with the yashica t4...

The more i think about it, basically im looking for a small 35mm f2.8 daily shooter, with flash, that focuses fine wide open for day time shooting, and also at night in available light. Both with and without flash (when i have tri x pushed 2-3 stops in there).

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

My experience is that both the Nikon 35Ti (a bit smaller than Konica AF) and the Ricoh GR1 (much smaller) have equally reliable AF in low light, and not terribly slower either.

 

[xyz3450]

I have not had the opportunity to compare to some of the other cameras mentioned above but I have a Contax T3 which performs admirably (at least for my needs). I have used available light indoors, no need for the on-board flash and have good luck. Focus seems to work well. There are so many nice thins about the T3. It was a camera I bought a few years ago for a trip to China and it worked out well -- I originally though I'd sell it on my return but happily is has just stayed, I'm pleased to say.

 

[analogpics]

Well, i tested out all my point and shoots since my last post in january, and lo and behold, the one that seems to be the most accurate between contax t3, fuji klasse s, nikon 35ti, yashica t4 super, olympus stylus epic, pentax pc35af-m, nikon l35af, nikon af3, samsung af slim, and minolta af-c (yes, i have a problem)....the hands down winner...Nikon AF3 haha.

Little cheap gem of a camera. Only controls are on/off and no-flash override. Shot about 7 or so rolls with it and even in very diverse conditions, focused like a champ. It kinda boggles my mind to be honest. Maybe it's just my lucky camera, but it's pretty consistent, even when shooting from the hip and snagging quick grab shots...it doesn't let me down. Reasonably sharp little 35 2.8 on it too (obviously not up to par with the t3, t4 or klasse). Wish it had fill flash and that the flash sync speed was faster (do get a bit too much ambient light for my taste in many shots) but overall, it's been great. May snag a couple more off ebay since they're so cheap!

 

[pvdhaar]

Hexar AF has without a doubt the best AF. I used them for years, and no other camera ever came even close. Only two things can trip up the Hexar AF, but that holds for any active IR based system. On is shooting through glass, where the camera can lock focus on the glass surface instead of what's behind it, the other is in dense fog breaking index for IR is so different from normal conditions that it fools the IR based AF (but that holds for any camera with an active AF system).

The manual made quite a fuss at the time about it having a triple IR beam for focusing accuracy instead of a single one like every other P&S had. This triple beam means that the AF wasn't thrown off by runaway beams reflecting off at odd angles from round objects like beer cans and such.. and given my experience, I've no reason to doubt that..

 

[analogpics]

Yeah, i mean, i have two hexars because of how accurate the af is (not to mention, the 35mm f2.8 is no slouch) I really have been happy with them, buuuut, sometimes i just want to carry something smaller. I wish i could implant the AF system into my T3 😛 The nikon af3 has been great for me so far though 🙂 but it's not a hexar for sure

 

[Dante_Stella]

The Hexar AF is the camera to get.

It has infrared focusing, one diode emits the beam and another registers the reflection of it. It doesn't need any light at all and can focus in absolute darkness!
The Hexar has a 290 step 😱 focus engine, while most DSLR's have significantly less and rely on increased DOF to cover focusing errors of their mechanism.

Don't shoot the Hexar with AF engaged through a window though, the reflection of the glass will throw the distance metering off big time. Switch to manual distance setting when you shoot through a window.

Check out my website for a portal page on the Hexar AF: www.johanniels.com, in the Gear Articles section

The Hexar actually has two beams. It's ingenious.

I would give another first prize to the Fuji GA series cameras, which have passive AF when there is decent light/contrast and switch to active infrared when it's dark.

Dante

 

[farlymac]

I had a Canon Sure Shot Classic 120 (say that three time really fast) that did well in low light. That is until it quit focusing altogether.

PF

 

[analogpics]

Hey Dante, any idea why one of my hexars is considerably louder than the other? Maybe it just needs a tune up? 🙂 Same goes for my ga645i. Buddy has the ga645 and it's much quieter when you press the shutter button halfway. Mine makes a slightly hilarious farting noise (especially if pointed downwards).

 

[DanskDynamit]

my experience in low light with the mju-II has been very good.

 

[btgc]

Compacts with infrared AF system work in low light and darkness much better than contrast based AF systems.

 

[AlexBG]

Try the Pentax, my espiomini (uc-1) never missed in low light. Really small as well.