Why is my AF so slow?

[MrArconite]

Hi everyone,

I am new to DLSR photography and I'm wondering why AF is so slow.
I have a Canon EOS 550D with a 18-200mm lens. If I want to focus it takes him about 2-3 seconds which is too slow most of the time when I'm trying to get that one shot. So currently I use MF a lot.

Does anyone know if there's a solution?

[OsmosisStudios]

What are you shooting? What conditions are you in?

[inkista]

Non-USM lens + f/5.6 max. aperture + low light/low-contrast focus target

creates conditions any lens would struggle to autofocus quickly in.

There are reasons to pay attention to the numbers and letters after the focal length of a lens.

[MrArconite]

Thanks, I have problems with slow AF in all types of situations even in a high light/high contrast environment with aperture at f/22. Does everybody have this?

[Elmo]

First the camera you use requires an f-stop of 5.6 or faster. Your lens is minimum f-stop value. As the lens focuses when wide open the f-stop you choose does not matter in focusing.

Your lens does not have the more expensive faster focus motor.

Your camera uses a slower focusing methodology than the higher end cameras.
Also depending on what you are shooting you may have the wrong type of focus selected.

But most important is what you choose to focus on. It needs to be something with well defined changes in contrast AT THE CHOSEN FOCUS POINT.

[sk66]

2-3 seconds is terribly long.....That's longer than it takes for my P&S to power up AND take a pic. Something is off. I would guess the focus settings may be less than ideal and technique...

[MrArconite]

I now have more experience because I used my camera a lot lately and I have found that a long AF only occurs in the worst situations.
I didn't know the right settings back than but now everything is fine, thx guys.

[aprillove20]

I agree with the ideas of Elmo that your camera uses a slower focusing methodology than the higher end cameras.