Photographing my kids for Halloween is fun, but isn't without challenges. One of the biggest issues is that it is so dark that the camera can't focus. Another challenge is that the kids move so fastrunning from door to doorthat it's hard to get them in focus! In the past I've used manual focus with a higher aperture which worked okay. I've also used the flash pulse to light up the scene so the camera can focus. This also worked okay, but overall I wasn't that happy with it.
This year I used my Surefire flashlight to light up a scene so the camera could focus and it worked great. What I like about the Surefire flashlight is that the light only stays on while the button on the back is pressed. When I let go of the button the light turns off instantly. This makes it easy and fast to turn the light on just long enough for the camera to focus. It is no surprise that this precision flashlight is what police officers carry.
It was convenient to be able to hold the light just under the lens and point it where I needed focus rather then have it mounted on the camera. Without the flashlight the photo above would have been completely out of focus. And for the record, I chose the photo above as an example simply because no faces are visible. I have more interesting shots, but not with usage permission of all the trick or treaters.