Focusing in low light....

I still have my old Minolta 7000i which I bought some 20+ years ago. It was, and still is an unbelievably good camera, way ahead of it's time I think. The thing is, with this camera I can turn all the lights off, and in a completely darkened room, point the camera at a blank wall and it will focus very easily indeed; no problems or hesitation at all. The red light on the front of the camera shines a grid pattern on the wall for the camera to focus on.

Why is it so hard for the most high-tech modern cameras of today to do this? My 1D MKII N struggles to focus against anything at low light levels, let alone a blank wall.....

Like to hear your opinions....

Regards,
Baz

Hi Barry,

I may be wrong, but I think what you are comparing here is AF performance with the Minolta using its built-in focus assist beam (it also has a built-in flash I presume?) compared to a 1D without any form of assist (purely though-the-lens, with available light). Put a Canon speedlight on top of the 1D, and it will also focus accurately on a blank wall when it emits a focus assist beam, and I suspect it will do so very much faster than your Minolta.

Not to be prejudiced against your Minolta, but (apart from some cases where I think a Nikon D2x beats a 1D in low light) the Canon has arguably the fastest, finest AF in the world.

A bit off-topic, but in cases where you're using a fast lens in very, very low light without flash, and it's not moving subjects (i.e. you can take a second or so to focus) a split-prism focus screen works wonderfully, I've found.

Thanks Dawid..

Yeah, I guess though it could have been easy for Canon to put an focus assist beam in body as well..... It seems the Minolta system was way advanced for it's time I think. I've yet to buy a flash for my 1D, so I didn't know they had an assist beam built in. I'm still spending money on lenses........ flash will be next I guess...

Barry.