5 AF points or 11 ?

Is 5 AF points better than 11 ? I have noticed a few people mention they have changed this to 5. What difference does it make ?

My understanding is that 5 are more suited to shots where the object is typically going to be in the centre area of the viewfinder. Planes at an airshow - that sort of thing. I use only the centre one anyway. I focus exactly where I want and then compose and then shoot.

I only use one

I just use one ,too ..jeff..

Using one AF point at events with fast moving objects against a distant background (the sky!) enables you to try to make sure that the camera does not focus elsewhere than on the target - something which is important when you "don't have the best" autofocus system in the world. OTOH2, with a single AF point, it can be very easy to completely lose focus and get the camera focus hunting - that said I do normally use a single AF point.

OTOH, I would expect better results with multiple AF points with objects in a relatively flat plane at right angles to the direction your camera phases.

I usually find (K7) that more often than not the centre point is the only one that lights up, even in multi-point operation. I do find myself wishing that the spread of points was wider and extended further towards the sides of the viewfinder. Often the objects under the outside points as they are seem to be covered by the centre one anyway.

I forgot there were more than one!

Must have a try using more to see what difference it makes.

One for me. You can use focus lock at any time anyway.

I think what most seem to find is 'not much'. The last time I saw this discussed the most common advice was to 'focus lock & recompose', an age-old tried and tested technique. One thing to consider with this though is your preference for exposure bias at this point - we have the option now of linking the active focus point to the exposure system for greater weighting, or not.

I went for the 'linked option', as logically in most situations this focus point is the main subject and what we would want exposed most accurately. But it wouldn't always be the case.

I'm starting to think that the extra focus points will mostly be useful for fairly precise shooting situations, say on a tripod with offset subject which its hard to see clearly in the viewfinder.

I use the centre focus point, but have started using the expanded focus point on my K30 for moving objects (sport), seems to work OK.

FOCUS LOCK makes it easy to go with one point!

only use one too

Even though I only use the centre focus point myself, I'm aware that lock focussing and recomposing can alter the distance of the subject and thus throw focus out.

This may not matter much on smaller apertures, but with wide apertures this may ruin your shot.

It's a fair point Smeggypants. How much it affects the point of focus is hard to say - when diagrams are published they tend to be exagerrated to make the point, but the actual arc involved in many situations is part of a huge circle and we could be in mm territory. Focusing isn't that accurate anyway.

But the point stands and it probably becomes more relevant the closer we get and very relevant at macro distances.

Something I have to be aware of with my 50 F/1.2