Focus Points

shrimperblue

shrimperblue

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Dave
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Howdy,

I was wondering what the general use of the AF Points were. Do you tend to just use all of them, or just the centre spot etc? What do you change the settings for? I.E Centre for Macro etc etc....

Just curious.... :thinking:

SB
 
I use them all. They're great help, purely for the reason of me not having the greatest eyesight. And I love them. I remember that in the past times (when I was Pentax and Minolta user) they were useless, especially with zooms. I must say that now with Fuji S5 and bright primes they kick ass. :D
 
I nearly always use the centre spot. Very occasionally I'll use the top or right most spot when shooting people (the right spot is at the top when holding the cam rotated -90).
 
Use which ever focus point is closest to the subject you want to be the main focus of your composition. ...which is most often not the middle of the frame for me personally.

All AF points can be used, but which one you should use is dictated only by the composition you want for each individual shot.
 
I must admit I'm still getting the hang of these, I'm really a split-image and twist man.:nuts:

I just use the central point then re-compose with the shutter button held half down, that way I know exactly what's been focused on.

The idea of picking which focus point you wanted on-the-fly was too much for my little brain, maybe I'm just doing it wrong, but the method above works for me.
 
I tend to use manual focussing most of the time but if using auto I use the centre one and focus lock to reset the composition.
 
My old EOS 600 only had one so I got used to it, then the EOS 5 had 5 but in a line which was useful, often selecting one side was handy, or when focusing at catwalk shows without having to af lock then recompose. EOS 3 had more focus points than I understood and in a rather random grouping in the middle. Now the 40D is very similar to the 3 in that respect but again I have found the focus point selection to be invaluable if sometimes I forget which way to turn the wheel to select the point I want (still learning). Would I go back to a single af point camera, no it'd be a pain for many things but for many others it would be perfectly fine. I just like the choice.
 
I focus on the centre and then recompose if I'm not using MF.

Bob
 
SB, using single shot mode move the focus point over the subject press shutter halfway to focus and keeping the shutter half pressed still recompose the shot. ;)
 
Be wary of using focus and recompose if you're close to the min. focus distance of the lens and/or using a shallow aperture. As you recompose you actually change the distance and it can be enough to put the subject OOF again.
 
pxl8 said:
Be wary of using focus and recompose if you're close to the min. focus distance of the lens and/or using a shallow aperture. As you recompose you actually change the distance and it can be enough to put the subject OOF again.
Click to expand...

...and that's why it's good to use off-centre focus points if you have them and they work right (because in some cameras, even if they're present - you may find them unusable and "just for show"). :)
 
I use them all too as I've had too many OOF shots in the past when using the focus & recompose method. I just use the quick selector to choose.
 
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