What focus modes do u use

disco41

disco41

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Andy
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Hi all,
As the title just wondered which focus modes do people use, does it change depending on what u r shooting? Just playing around with my D90 seeing which are of use!
 
What do you mean.. Manual or Auto focus.. surely thats a lens option not in camera... or did you mean somehting else?
 
Yeah sorry maybe not as clear as i would of liked, af area mode like single point, auto area or 3D tracking?
 
In that case yes it would very much depend what your doing.. I favour single point as i do a lot of sport... Others will use other methods depending what they do.. You wont find a best method..a catch all.. it will be the one for the needs :) andthere are so many permutations you could get the next 20 people with 20 diff answers..
 
Single point for me almost all of the time and I never shoot any sport. I've dabbled with the others but just don't seem to get the same results.

V
 
Single point for me too. I know where I stand with it.
 
I'm another advocate of single point too - normally the centre one as it gives the best results but am happy to use the others as long as the target is contrasty enough.
 
single point, although with my new d700 i've been using the single point with 3d tracking option quite a lot..
 
Single point here too. I've never had good results with anything else.
 
Canon shooter here - I use the fewest points necessary to reliably keep the subject targeted and tracked. Usually that means a single point only. If I'm struggling with a tricky subject I may use AF point expansion, or on my 7D I may use zone AF occasionally - but only if I'm struggling to keep my one point aimed with sufficient accuracy. I will move the point around to best suit the composition.

The fewer points you have active the less focus data the camera has to deal with, the less decisions it has to make and the less chance it has to make the wrong choice.
 
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Whichever suits the occasion...

Generally single point without servo tracking but will change that to area and continuous if I'm tracking moving objects.
 
Single point continuous focus most of the time, although when doing macro I sometimes use focus trapping - make of that what you will, but it does seem to deliver the goods.
 
I nearly always use single point, mostly on AF-S, but have started using AF-C with my 50mm f1.4 as the DOF is so shallow and my 3 year won't sit still..
 
I'm gonna shot the same subject in single and then again in 3D tracking and see what results I get , gonna nip down the train station later today or tomorrow c what I get
 
Trains are great big lumps of metal, hopefully moving in a predictable fashion and having strong, contrasty markings. Try shooting a low contrast BIF against a busy background of woodland....

20100429_141157_6722_LR.jpg


in lousy light....

20100429_155238_7068_LR.jpg


....and see what works best then.
 
Wow love the second picture !
Yeah fair point about the trains, shooting those birds much more demanding on camera
 
Thanks. For that second shot I was initially using multiple points - I can't remember if it would have been zone AF or expansion, but the camera was floundering in the poor light (that's shot at 3200 ISO) and the only way to get the camera locking on was to remove the uncertainty for the camera by switching to single point AF.

I've also read something from Canon, in reference to the 1D3, cautioning against using expanded AF points if you don't need them due to the extra data generated, which all needs analysis by the camera before it can work out where to focus next.

Combining personal experience with that titbit of information I have since adopted the approach of using the fewest AF points necessary to get the job done.
 
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single, every time I move away from singe the bloody thing decides that the closest thing is what I wanted to focus on, I swear a lot and swap it back to single
 
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