Fluorescent Lighting... Uggg!
When I wrote about Sheila's awards ceremony the other day, I mentioned that I could write a separate piece just about the problems I had in shooting photos at that event. Well, I am going to keep this as short as possible because it is a boring topic for most people, but here is some info on the problems I had that day.
I suspect that most people probably assumed that I had problems shooting photos that day because people kept getting in the way. That does, indeed, happen at many events but that did not happen at all at this event. Not at all. The few people shooting photos at this ceremony were polite and considerate, ensuring they weren't in the way of others and always being aware of their surroundings.
At other events, however, this type of thing is often a huge problem. Wedding photographers have a nightmare at every wedding because so many people constantly jump in front of them to shoot crappy photos with their cellphones or cheap compact cameras. Of course, even if they had high quality gear, this would still be a huge problem. This type of person is rude, ignorant, selfish and will never understand that they are ruining the bride's experience by getting in the way of the professional photographer who is expected to get that shot the inconsiderate guest just ruined. In my opinion, wedding photographers are not paid nearly enough for this aggravation. There is not enough money in the world to pay me to be a wedding photographer! This, however, was definitely not my problem at Sheila's awards ceremony.
At Sheila's awards ceremony, my camera was having a problem with the lighting. This large room was lit with fluorescent lighting. My camera had a terrible time trying to find accurate focus in this terrible, miserable type of lighting.
It has been long known that some Pentax camera models have focus problems in fluorescent lighting. But wait... I am using Olympus gear! I have never heard of any Olympus photographers having this problem. I can tell you with absolute certainty that I did have this problem at this event and I don't ever want to experience this again. Missing shots at such a big event in the life of someone special to you is a terrible, frustrating feeling.
When I first fired off a few test shots, I noticed the shots were extremely out of focus. They were so out of focus I thought that maybe the diopter adjustment on my viewfinder had been accidentally bumped making everything I see in the viewfinder appear out of focus. Nope. That wasn't it.
Then I thought that maybe my lens was broken in some way. I tried focusing on things in brighter areas of the room and I had far fewer problems. I still had the occasional problem, but I also had a lot of sharp photos. So, the lens seemed okay.
After a few more test shots it was obvious that my camera was 'front focusing'. This means that when I focused on Sheila, the camera actually chose a spot about four feet in front of her for the focus point. So, Sheila was consistently out of focus but things in front of her were sharply in focus. The photo (at right) shows the problem I was having... in this photo, Sheila is obviously out of focus but the woman's blouse in front of Sheila is sharply in focus.
Since I have heard many Pentax photographers complain about this problem recently, I recognized it quickly. "Front focusing in artificial light." The odd thing is that I don't remember any Olympus photographers complaining about this problem.
I rarely shoot any photos in fluorescent lighting so I never encountered this problem before with my Olympus gear. Actually, I always try to avoid even being under fluorescent lighting, with or without my camera... the pulsing of the lighting gives me a headache... the color of the lighting is sickening... and it reminds me of my childhood school classrooms which makes me anxious to the core of my soul! (More on that another time.) So, not only do I intensely dislike fluorescent lighting, but now my camera gear also dislikes it! It is bad enough that I already despise this type of popular lighting but now my camera gear refuses to work in this lighting too?
I did manage to get a few good shots at Sheila's awards ceremony though as you have seen in my post about her award so the day was not a complete loss. I do have to say, however, that even though my problems seem to be limited to fluorescent lighting, which I always try to avoid, this still bothers me considerably. After all, many awards ceremonies are held under this disgusting, hideous, and even toxic and environmentally unfriendly type of lighting. Contrary to what many others think and say, fluorescent light bulbs are an environmental nightmare because of their toxicity.
Anyway, of the hundred or so photos I shot at this event, only a handful were close enough to being in focus to use. That is not good for anyone nevermind someone with decades of experience in photography. There is no doubt that I should have a camera body that has no problems focusing in this type of light. Maybe that should be my next photography purchase...
I suspect that most people probably assumed that I had problems shooting photos that day because people kept getting in the way. That does, indeed, happen at many events but that did not happen at all at this event. Not at all. The few people shooting photos at this ceremony were polite and considerate, ensuring they weren't in the way of others and always being aware of their surroundings.
At other events, however, this type of thing is often a huge problem. Wedding photographers have a nightmare at every wedding because so many people constantly jump in front of them to shoot crappy photos with their cellphones or cheap compact cameras. Of course, even if they had high quality gear, this would still be a huge problem. This type of person is rude, ignorant, selfish and will never understand that they are ruining the bride's experience by getting in the way of the professional photographer who is expected to get that shot the inconsiderate guest just ruined. In my opinion, wedding photographers are not paid nearly enough for this aggravation. There is not enough money in the world to pay me to be a wedding photographer! This, however, was definitely not my problem at Sheila's awards ceremony.
At Sheila's awards ceremony, my camera was having a problem with the lighting. This large room was lit with fluorescent lighting. My camera had a terrible time trying to find accurate focus in this terrible, miserable type of lighting.
It has been long known that some Pentax camera models have focus problems in fluorescent lighting. But wait... I am using Olympus gear! I have never heard of any Olympus photographers having this problem. I can tell you with absolute certainty that I did have this problem at this event and I don't ever want to experience this again. Missing shots at such a big event in the life of someone special to you is a terrible, frustrating feeling.
When I first fired off a few test shots, I noticed the shots were extremely out of focus. They were so out of focus I thought that maybe the diopter adjustment on my viewfinder had been accidentally bumped making everything I see in the viewfinder appear out of focus. Nope. That wasn't it.
Then I thought that maybe my lens was broken in some way. I tried focusing on things in brighter areas of the room and I had far fewer problems. I still had the occasional problem, but I also had a lot of sharp photos. So, the lens seemed okay.
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| "Front focus" issues |
Since I have heard many Pentax photographers complain about this problem recently, I recognized it quickly. "Front focusing in artificial light." The odd thing is that I don't remember any Olympus photographers complaining about this problem.
I rarely shoot any photos in fluorescent lighting so I never encountered this problem before with my Olympus gear. Actually, I always try to avoid even being under fluorescent lighting, with or without my camera... the pulsing of the lighting gives me a headache... the color of the lighting is sickening... and it reminds me of my childhood school classrooms which makes me anxious to the core of my soul! (More on that another time.) So, not only do I intensely dislike fluorescent lighting, but now my camera gear also dislikes it! It is bad enough that I already despise this type of popular lighting but now my camera gear refuses to work in this lighting too?
I did manage to get a few good shots at Sheila's awards ceremony though as you have seen in my post about her award so the day was not a complete loss. I do have to say, however, that even though my problems seem to be limited to fluorescent lighting, which I always try to avoid, this still bothers me considerably. After all, many awards ceremonies are held under this disgusting, hideous, and even toxic and environmentally unfriendly type of lighting. Contrary to what many others think and say, fluorescent light bulbs are an environmental nightmare because of their toxicity.
Anyway, of the hundred or so photos I shot at this event, only a handful were close enough to being in focus to use. That is not good for anyone nevermind someone with decades of experience in photography. There is no doubt that I should have a camera body that has no problems focusing in this type of light. Maybe that should be my next photography purchase...
Hi Patrick, I found you by looking up questions regarding Zenni sunglasses and I'm enjoying your thoughts about photography. Could the focus issue in florescent light be due to the 'vibration' of the light? I can only imagine how frustrating that must have been . . . there are so many fabulous cameras out right now at such reasonable cost it's hard to choose . . . best of luck.
ReplyDeletelove your lake shots!