How do you focus?

Nanthiel · 09-04-2008, 12:11 PM

Hello there!

In this thread, I'd like to know how you focus? Due to so many options, I didn't make a Poll.

What does your AF Button do? What does pressing your shutter halfway engage? In what focusing mode are you usually (AF.S, AF.C, MF?)?

I can't really decide on what to use... trying different options and seeing what I'm comfortable with.

Malo1961 · 09-04-2008, 01:01 PM

AF-S, AF with shutter halfway disengaged, AF button is set on activate AF, Center focus only.
This way I can quickly shift to mf focussing on my Limiteds if needed.
Front wheel dial is set to ISO, back wheel dial to aperture. This way I have shutterspeed, aperture and iso visible in viewfinder. Thats it for me.

HIH,
Martin.

rburgoss · 09-04-2008, 02:20 PM

How do I focus? Very carefully!

Seriously, I use AF.S, center sensor only. Switch to AF.C only when subject is very fast moving like race cars or alike.

RB

kerrowdown · 09-04-2008, 03:04 PM

Manually, cos I only got manual lenses apart from kit job

JahJahwarrior · 09-04-2008, 03:32 PM

I only use prime manual focus lenses...a split screen helps a ton, but I don't have one. I have the camera set so that it chirps when it thinks it is in focus, and I believe that it flahses a red square, but honestly I don't notice either of those very much. I only use them in conditions where it is hard for me to tell so I let the camera weigh in with its opinion

After several thousand shutter activations, I have gotten to where it doesn't seem like it's very difficult to focus just by looking and moving the focus ring.....it just becomes second nature.

alohadave · 09-04-2008, 07:21 PM

I set the OK button to AF so that the camera doesn't refocus every single shot. It also helps when shooting manual lenses that it doesn't require focus confirmation, and I don't need to switch the AF/MF switch.

PaddyB · 09-05-2008, 07:14 AM

For what it's worth, my n00bistic methods with the K10D consist of A) setting to AF-S and tapping the shutter button until I like what the red squares are doing or B) focusing manually and then wiggling it back and forth slightly until I like what the red squares are doing. The latter actually got me some good shots in the forest when I wanted to focus on more than one thing (eg. more than one tree or multiple boulders around a cascading brook). When left to its own devices, the AF always seems to stubbornly stick to one object (maybe the highest contrast area?) and leave everything else looking dull. Is this normal? Is it something I can preconfigure? Also, is there an easy way to manually set focus points, maybe using the four-way controller?

*LeoTaylor* · 09-05-2008, 08:27 AM

First - I'm a novice at this and I started with manual lenses.

I focus with auto or manual, depending on the situation. Bird photos are my most challenging, they don't stay still long enough for manual focus. I use auto more once I "discovered" the menu option to focus on the center spot. Before the 50-200 kit lens would search or slam to one end if there was a branch in front or behind a bird. I can even catch a nearby bird overhead without camera being confused by the open sky.

RioRico · 09-05-2008, 10:35 AM

But I digress. A split focus screen helps on an SLR. Or use an RF camera. Or a laser rangefinder, or a measuring tape. Back in the day, when my primary camera was a 1934 Kodak Retina 50/2.8 viewfinder, I learned to estimate distance visually and set focus accordingly -- just count paces or body-lengths to the subject.

Or take the Brownie approach: use a wide lens, a small aperture, prefocus so everything is sharp from 1 meter to infinity, and don't worry about focus.

Or pretend that your fuzzy pictures are intentional, dramatic, artistic. Or fix them in post processing. At this very moment, I'm 'fixing' numerous fuzzy 15mpx shots in PaintShopPro9. Histogram Equalize --> Auto Saturation Enhance --> BackLight or FillLight as needed --> Decrease Color Depth (16) --> Posterize. I end up with nice bright flat ugly images. Oh well...

Don't focus too hard, eh?

wlachan · 09-05-2008, 01:05 PM

Always OK button in AF-C mode, so that I would be ready for both still & moving subjects.

lithos · 09-05-2008, 02:14 PM

I use the Digital Focus function.

Sasquatch · 09-05-2008, 02:37 PM

Manually. My only SLR is a K1000. I use the split focusing screen and I have been very happy with it so far. My body and my lenses do not have any type of auto/program/priority anything.

heliphoto · 09-05-2008, 02:46 PM

About half the time I focus manually, even with my AF lenses. If I have the time, I feel I get better results that way.

For auto focusing I just started doing this "ok button focuses" thing and I like it because the camera doesn't need to re-hunt (sorry, but it is a pentax and often hunts) every time I go to shoot the same subject at the same distance. I've read before, and can confirm that there is a significant battery savings when using manual focusing, and I think "ok button" focusing will help in this regard vs. focusing with every shutter press.

*Mike Cash* · 09-05-2008, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by JahJahwarrior

I only use prime manual focus lenses...a split screen helps a ton, but I don't have one. I have the camera set so that it chirps when it thinks it is in focus, and I believe that it flahses a red square, but honestly I don't notice either of those very much. I only use them in conditions where it is hard for me to tell so I let the camera weigh in with its opinion

The red square is a false friend. It is not the focus confirmation indicator. The red square indicates which auto-focus point the camera is using at the moment. The green hexagon at the bottom of the screen is the focus confirmation indicator.

I also only use prime manual focus lenses and since the red square actually does nothing of any value to me I went into the menus and turned it OFF.

I think too many people take the red square as focus confirmation, when it actually turns on before focus is achieved, and then wonder why their manually focused photos are slightly off.

reeftool · 09-05-2008, 07:15 PM

When I got my first SLR everything was manual focus back then. I got pretty good and fast too. Then I started getting older and my eyesight wasn't what it was and it almost seemed like all the camera makers knew it and started making autofocus everything. I autofocus just about everything. Even with the diopter adjusted ( I wear trifocals) its hit and miss. I am pretty good with a wide angle and f/22, though.