Problems with AF / I hope somebody can help

[jahva]

Hiya,
I'm new to this, so I'm sorry if I've posted to the wrong forum, or if this has been asked before.

I shoot with an Olympus E-600, my first DSLR and I love it. Except for one problem, which I find that the more I struggle with, the more it inhibits my photography in general.

I struggle with Autofocus -- especially in low light, which I have heard is common, but in general it doesn't seem to cooperate with me. I have tried the technique that's been suggested of choosing my focal point, focusing by pressing halfway and then recomposing, but when I recompose, it also refocuses, even though I haven't released the button! Another issue is that it won't find what I want to focus on, I keep hearing it try to find something to focus on, or it will focus at the last minute on the wrong thing.

This is very frustrating. I know using manual focus is more consistently reliable, but I want to take better photos of my daughter, especially when she is playing or moving around. It's so frustrating to have focused on a great expression or moment, only for the autofocus to take too long, or go out of focus at the last minute and wind up seeing a blury reminder of what a great shot it would have been. It's so frustrating!

I hope somebody else has had and found the solution to this problem

I love photography, but the more I struggle with this problem the more it chips away at my confidence and the less inclined I am to take photos.

I would sincerely appreciate any help anybody has to offer.
Thank you.

[Doug Pardee]

Check the owner's manual, pages 54-58 and 95. You have the autofocus system set up to do continuous auto-focus. Either you're in C-AF, or you've got S-AF set to mode 3.

That camera gives you a lot of choices of how you want your autofocus to work. You need to sit down and read about them if you want to get control of autofocus.

[jahva]

Thank you.