Originally posted by banep Sorry I also didn't understood because there is no Sel-9 in K-1 viewfinder
I did mean Expanded-S / Sel-2 in official terminology, where you select one initial point in the middle of a block of 9.
Originally posted by banep In that case please, why do you think that Sel2 (8 additional points) is better then Sel3(24 additional points) or Sel4(32 additional points) and in which situations?
My small personal experience with these modes suggest to use them when
a) the photographer himself is unable to keep a single AF point precisely on the target (depends on skill)
b) when the main subject is not passed by other subjects in a similar distance (any groups)
c) the size of the expanded area would not cover unwanted things in the same distance or close to it, like branches in a tree
d) the background being covered by the expanded area is not a lot more contrasty than the subject. Peoples faces have poor contrast edges.
The larger you go the more you take bets on electronic helpers to replace your own capabilities to point the camera where it should, kind of more and more green mode. With all advantages and disadvantages.
A single MX bike suddenly coming at you. A single bird in flight too fast for you to track yourself. A delphin in a show suddenly jumping out of the water. A single dog running to you. That's the type of thing where I'd use more expansion area. Basically anything I'd call a snapshot / documentary images of a single subject where I do not frame at all but rely on luck and thus am fine to delegate everything to electronics. Point-and-shoot in its original sense.
With single quickly flying subjects Sel-3 seems ok to me.
I seriously suggest to set
AF-hold at least to "low" when using expanded area modes. "medium" is more like it. This prevents one of the helper AF points grabbing focus attention too quickly on a contrasty background while some others are still over the subject.