Autofocus in dark conditions

[talan]

Hi,

Went out for a little fun strobe shoot with Mr. Powell last night. First time doing off camera flash properly in dark conditions. I found the autofocus useless -- probably because it detects light to autofocus. I found manual focussing equally as difficult as I couldn't really see through the view finder. It was a bit of a hit and miss.

What can you do in these situations.

I was using a manual Cactus KF36 strobe so no TTL metering :D

Images will be up tonight when I get around to loading them.

Cheers

[BaNaNaMaN]

I know Nikon uses a little light on the front of the camera to aid in auto focus at night. It needs to be turned on with a switch found at the front (right side looking at the front of the camera) which has "C/S/M" options. Select the S option to activate the light.

[Cory Varcoe]

Use a torch to light where you want to focus then switch it off
I know with my canon speedlite it flashing a red light to help with focusing by i find a torch easier

[talan]

Use a torch to light where you want to focus then switch it off
I know with my canon speedlite it flashing a red light to help with focusing by i find a torch easier
That is definately a good recommendation. It's one of those things that I didn't think of! You should add that to the "one piece of advice thread" (http://www.photographersonline.co.nz/showthread.php?t=351) (Y)