Why won't my DSLR camera focus properly and what can I do about it

Low light makes any DSLR hunt because it needs contrast to lock on. Try single point AF with the center point and One Shot for still scenes. Aim at a hard edge with contrast such as where a window frame meets a wall or the lettering on a shirt and half press to lock and then recompose. If it still struggles, briefly add light with a phone flashlight to get focus, then turn it off and shoot. Live View can sometimes focus more reliably in dim rooms, so give that a try for family shots.

Do a quick tune up before your trip. Clean the front element and the lens mount contacts with a dry microfiber, reseat the lens, and remove any filters that might be causing reflections. Make sure the lens switch is on AF and that you are not closer than the minimum focus distance. Reset camera settings, enable AF assist in the menu if your camera has it, and charge a fresh battery. Use a faster shutter to avoid motion blur that looks like bad focus by raising ISO, and use a wider aperture to feed the AF system more light, then stop down a bit if depth of field is too thin. If your camera supports AF microadjust, run a simple test at home to see if the lens is consistently front or back focusing. If you have another lens, compare behavior to learn whether the issue is the lens or the body. Keep stabilization on when handholding and turn it off on a tripod.

Two things often get mistaken for bad focus in dim rooms.

The camera firing before it has focus and the viewfinder being out of adjustment.

Set it so the shutter only releases once you get the focus confirmation and spin the little diopter wheel by the eyepiece until the letters in the display look razor sharp.

way you are judging focus correctly.

Switch to back button focus so the shutter only handles exposure.

It prevents accidental refocus as you press down and lets you grab focus once and reframe, then shoot without the lens hunting each time.

Worth a try.

Avoid focus and recompose at very wide apertures or very close distances because the plane of focus can shift off the eyes.

Move the active point to sit on the subject instead or step back a touch to gain depth of field, then crop later if needed.

If you zoom, do it first then focus.

Many zooms change focus slightly when you change focal length, so focusing after you set the zoom helps.

Also pick the most sensitive point in the array for low light and keep it on a textured edge rather than a smooth surface.

Hey Delilah,

I ran into this before a family trip & the fix for me was to stop fighting the camera when it got too dark. For portraits in dim rooms I went to manual focus and watched for the little focus confirmation to light up and then shot a short burst so at least one frame was perfect. Surprisingly reliable. For group shots I flipped to the rear screen and used magnification to check eyes, braced my elbows on a chair back or a doorway, and let the ISO climb so the shutter stayed fast. Pre focus at the distance where people will stand and wait for them to land there rather than chasing them with the focus box. If someone is moving, switch to continuous focus and keep the point glued to the face while you half press and track.

Phase detect needs detail with direction... Plain walls and all black outfits and shiny surfaces give it nothing to chew on, so it hunts. Put the point on stitching, hairlines, a collar edge, the rim of a cup so yeah... if the scene lacks contrast, create some by angling slightly so a shadow edge appears or by focusing on something at the same distance that has texture.

Indoor lights that flicker can also confuse things and you get focus pulsing even though the subject is still. A slower shutter that averages a full cycle or a much faster one that lands between peaks can stabilize exposure and help the system settle, so try stepping from 1/125 to 1/60 or the other way and see which behaves better. Odd but it works.

If repeat shots consistently land in front or behind the spot you chose,, fine tune the autofocus for that lens at home. Set up a slanted target and shoot from a sturdy surface, adjust until the sharpest line aligns with the focus mark, then save it. Do this once and you are set for the trip.

Low light makes autofocus hunt and miss, so use the AF assist beam or a brief focusing light, or pre focus on a lit subject then switch to manual before recomposing. If it still misses, test and calibrate the body and lens and steady the shot with a tripod.

I've been there with my DSLR struggling in low light too. It's frustrating when you're trying to capture those family moments and it just won't lock on. What helped me was switching to manual focus for those tricky spots and just twist the ring until it looks sharp in the viewfinder. Works great.

Also and make sure your sensor isn't dirty, that can mess with focus. Give it a gentle clean if you can, or take it to a shop before your trip. And yeah, bumping up the ISO a bit lets in more light without blurring everything. Fixed my issues last vacation.