It is difficult to focus automatically.

Auto focus may not focus well depending on the distance of the camera from the subject or the environment in which you are taking a photo. In such cases, check the following.

• When you are shooting a subject from a close distance, the shortest shooting distance of the lens is fixed. If the subject is closer than the shortest shooting distance, the focus cannot be confirmed. Shoot from at least the shortest shooting distance. Refer to the lens manual for the shortest shooting distance of your lens.
• When you are shooting a subject on which it is difficult to focus or under difficult focusing conditions, it may be difficult to focus on the following subjects or under the following conditions.
  • Subjects with no contrast, such as the blue sky or white walls
  • Situations where multiple subjects are at different distances within the focus area
  • Subjects with repeating patterns, such as building exteriors
  • Bright or backlit subjects
  • Shiny subjects, such as water surfaces, and glossy subjects
  • Fast moving subjects

Try the following operations to adjust the focus.

IMPORTANT: Supported functions or function names vary depending on the camera model. For details, refer to the manual. Manuals are posted on your model support page.

• When you press down the shutter button lightly, a green frame is displayed around the area that is in focus (Focus-lock). If you want to focus on a very tiny subject or a small area, move the AF range frame to the desired point on the monitor using Flexible Spot.

  NOTE: If the problem persists, try locking the focus on another object as close as possible to your original subject and recomposing the image, or use the manual focus.

• When Lock-on AF is set, you can automatically keep moving subjects in focus.
• When you shoot dark scenes or under backlit conditions, use Superior Auto.
• When you shoot night scenes, use Night Scene or Hand-held Twilight in Scene Selection, or Center in P (Program Auto) mode. When you shoot night scenes including people, use Night Scene or Night Portrait.

NOTES:

• If you are using a DSC-RX10, DSC-RX10M2, DSC-RX100, DSC-RX100M2, DSC-RX100M3 or DSC-RX100M4 and the Focus Mode is set to Continuous AF (AF-C) the camera will continually adjust the focus and maintain focus on the subject while the shutter button is held halfway down. Although it may seem that the focus is not locked when you are holding the shutter button halfway down, this is not an issue. The lens moves or the angle of view changes on the monitor in order to adjust the focusing position, so you can shoot without worrying that the image will go out of focus.
• When Focus Mode is set to AF-S (Single-shot AF) or AF-C (Continuous AF), make sure that the subject on which you want to focus is inside the green frame.
• The MF Assist and Peaking Level functions make manual focusing easier. For some models, MF Assist and Peaking Level functions are not available.

If the problem persists and the lens is dirty, clean the lens using a soft cloth. If the problem remains unresolved, the camera may need to be repaired.  Go to Product Repair.