Originally posted by Philoslothical I'm curious what you mean by that, because using additional focus points will do nothing to bring more of your shot into focus, it will just tell you if more of your shot is in focus. So, do you mean you're focusing differently without that additional feedback from the camera, or something else?
To stay on topic, I generally use center point and AF-S, unless birding, where I'll use AF-C until I go crazy enough to switch to MF entirely. I find that using 5 or 11 points makes it too easy for the camera to use an undesirable point to "steal" the focus from what I'm going for, but that could be partly user error. If the points were small points, instead of large zones, it would be a lot easier to use. Figuring out where within a "point" the camera has actually locked onto can be difficult, and when several points are in play, even more so.
A while back I changed the setting from the AF-S to AF-C on my K-x for a while just to try it out. I usually use manual focus most of the time but I've been having eye issues lately. Like a lot of people as I hit middle age the muscles in my eyes are relaxing and my vision is shifting a lot. My ability to focus is taking a hit, particularly close up, but also it's been changing a lot in terms of my script in general. My eyes can't seem to decide what they are going to do. It's been so bad that my eye doctor basically told me to wait a year to see what they are going to do permanently because I'm having to change my script so often it's almost ludicrous. I'll change it and literally the next month my eyes will shift and I won't be able to see at all through the "new" glasses. I've been through 3 pairs already this year and I just can't afford to keep switching. I have a medical condition that may also be causing part of it, but either way, my eyes are driving me nuts, changing all the time.
I've been playing with AF more trying to wait my eyes out. Someone here was actually talking about how much better it was to use AF-C with AF so I thought I'd give it a go. The shorter lenses old and new worked fine, but with both of my AF lenses the 28-200 and the 75-300 I got this effect where everything in the center is crystal clear but there was almost a circular blur almost like a vignette around the center which was focused just fine. I switched it back and suddenly that effect was gone on both lenses. I'm sorry I think I wrote that wrong in the post I did before but I meant the AF lenses, not my manual Vivitar 75-300. I'm tired and not typing very straight, long week. I'm sleep deprived right now.
I'm pretty new to switching focus points, and also to switching from AF-S to AF-C but I didn't really understand why that happened only with the 2 long lenses and not with my shorter ones. In any case I decided that AF-S worked better for me for the most part. I pretty much let the camera handle the focusing in AF now and I use the basic # of points, factory default. I still like to change iso, aperture, and film speed, but the camera on AF-S is definitely doing a better job of focusing lately than I am so I figure why mess with that?
I was actually meaning to ask about the radial blur thing, but I've been busy with other things and I suppose it slipped my mind until I saw this thread.
Last edited by magkelly; 10-07-2011 at 12:55 AM.