Unit Ten : Getting More Advanced with the Camera
Once you’ve decided to use auto mode, making sure you’re on the best autofocus mode and using the right focus points means the difference between missing focus and a sharp photo where you want it to be sharp.Focusing Motors
Getting back to the gear side of things, aside from the camera body’s focusing capabilities the lens also plays an essential role. There are a number of different motor types that each have their advantages, whether in cost and size or speed and silence. While it’s important to consider the performance of a lens before making a purchase, it’s more important to understand the limitations of the gear you currently have. For example, a stepping motor will generally be quick to focus but may seem to “jump” as opposed to a silent wave/ultrasonic motor which tend to be smoother and nearly silent (but also expensive and need a larger lens housing).
When buying a new lens its focusing motor can be nearly as important as cost, but for the most part it’s better to learn how to work within (and overcome) any limitations of the gear you already have. Slower motors may require a bit more pre-planning if shooting faster action, and louder motors may be more difficult to use if shooting close up video with on-camera audio or a mic that’s close enough to pick up the sound.
Putting it All Together
Knowing when to use different autofocus modes, or to focus manually, can have a major impact on achieving better focus during a shoot. Having the experience with your gear to know what works best with your workflow can be the key to nailing focus in otherwise challenging situations. While it’s likely you won’t switch constantly through modes as you shoot, knowing the modes and which methods benefit your style can lead to working faster, more accurately, and overall can give you more confidence in the techniques you’re using.
Focus Points
While fairly self-explanitory, it’s still worth covering how to use focus points to your advantage. Depending on the camera, you can shift where in the frame it will grab focus through either moving the point with a toggle/joystick, buttons, or by tapping on the back LCD screen. Setting this will let you frame your subject how you prefer without needing to move the camera around just to get focus. This works great with more mobile subjects where you may not have time to reframe a shot once the camera is focused. It’s also useful in pre-focusing, where you can compose your shot and then wait for your subject to move into frame.
Focus and Recompose
Again, the term is self-explanatory. Using this method involves focusing the camera and then framing your composition before firing the shutter. It can be useful for relatively static subjects where you may be moving around more, or for rapidly changing scenes where you don’t have time to change focusing points between shots.
Auto + Manual Focus
This method tends to be used for static scenes where perfection is desired. Sometimes the autofocus gets close, but the exact point you’d like to focus doesn’t have enough contrast for the focus to be perfect. Or you get focus and then the subject moves slightly closer or farther. Either way, it can sometimes be easier to let the autofocus get “close enough” and then tweak the focus manually to get it perfect. The downside to this method is the fact that it’s much slower, but it does allow for more precision.