Lowlight autofocus

How to use Nikon’s Autofocus Assist Illuminator when light is low

There was a time where we had to manually focus our lenses. And before that, in the very earliest days of photography, cameras had no control over focusing at all. You’d have to be more of a scientist than an artist to set up a shot, positioning the camera to focus it, but today we have it easy since the introduction of autofocus.

Autofocus works as soon as you depress the shutter release button halfway (or use a button on the back of your Nikon, if set up). It analyses the scene in front of you and makes adjustments in the focus of the lens until things are nice and sharp.

It’s a huge step up from where photography was when it started out, but autofocus still struggles in low light. If it’s too dark the Nikon won’t be able to analyse the environment accurately and will be unable to focus.

That’s where the AF-assist illuminator comes in. It shoots out a small light from the camera body onto a subject in order for the system to pin-point focus. Follow the steps in our handy guide to find out how to do it.