How do you focus?

After seeing a few comments about focus on this thread

link

I feel its worth a topic on its own.

Manual focus is "as is".

The AF side however is open for miss use or can be misleading to new comers.

Regards

Good idea opening up a new thread, this could result in some debate!

Centre-point and recompose for me, with AF only on the AF button (not on shutter release halfway press). I just find it the easiest for the way I work, and it results in a better chance of me getting the picture I want.

Maybe its a hang up from my MF days: I do use AF but dont trust it (!) so always use the centre AF point and recompose. 95% of the time the other AF points are redundant as far as I'm concerned and its generally too fiddly to change the AF point quickly.

AF Button on K10;
AF / AE-L button on K-x.

Shutter half-press disabled on both.

Centre point only, then recompose on both.

Always use AF button for focus-on-demand
Shutter half-press disabled.
For most stuff I'll use Centre point only (unless I'm doing close work or portraits and then I'll select a specific focus point to eliminate the slight error on recompose).

Works for me

AF button + centre point and recompose for me too.

Although after reading Mike's comments about moving the AF point I might give it a try. It always seemed like a bit of a hassle before, but if it will even slightly reduce the number of slightly mis-focussed shots I'm willing to give it a try!

I think that's a good point regarding recomposing with wider-angle lenses.

A good response.

Thanks to all who voted.

Regards

for speed I use centre spot focusing and recompose but for some portrait I will use select and for low light I use manual focusing

I never use Auto as I like to be in control same for the programs I will all ways use Manual if possible.

I found on holiday I use AV but made sure I kept my eye on the shutter speed.

I hate going under 800 ISO in fact i don't really like going under 560 ISO

But I find this all work's for my kind of photography/style

James

Interesting difference! I never go over ISO 400, and try to stick to 200. Since I have started using Lightroom 3 beta 2 I now occasionally go up to 800. All quite a luxury for me after 25 years at 64 ASA...

Back on topic, I tried disabling the AF on half-press but kept forgetting I had done it and panicking that the SDM on my 50-135mm had died again.

One thing I did notice when taking the falcon picture was that the centre point wasn't quite accurate. When I pointed the lens at the bird's body it focused on the trees behind, but when I pointed it at the feet I got accurate focus. That might go a little way do explaining some of my duff shots!

Best wishes, Kris.

I nearly always use camera selected multi-point, and half-shutter press. I tend to move the camera and keep pressing the shutter halfway until one of the points loks where I want it. However, I have to say this does not always seem to work....but it generally seems to, and is easier to use at wide angles than just the centre point. It's not as fiddly as it sounds, usually only taking a secod or two. I started doing this with my previous slr, which had less focus points, but it still seems to work on the K7. It usually doesn't take long to get the focus where I want it, and it's easier to recompose if the focus has locked on one of the outside points.

For moving subjects I use the centre point and half shutter press.

For landscapes/maximumum dof I use manual focus and hyperfocal focussing, which relies on some guesswork using zooms unless you refer to a table. When I had a Sigma 10-20 on my previous camera I got to know the best setting for maximum dof, but of course it's a lot easier at extreme wide angles when infinity has to be in focus.

Like Womble I also try not to go over ISO 400.

I tried the user selected multipoint focusing thingy, but it just didn't seem to get it right. So I switched to centre point auto on half press (an hold) Then re-compose and it works better for me. Sometimes I use the AEL button first to get the light right then pick my focal point, then compose. If I want to disable the auto focus I use the MF/AF switch on the side

And I rarely (if ever) go over ISO200. Not because of resolution or noise but because I haven't needed to.

Regards
PaulM

Now I've bought a KatzEye screen I almost always use manual - otherwise centre point and re-compose if necessary.