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	Username   Password FM Forum Rules Nikon SLRs, primes, and zooms lenses reviews FM Forums | Nikon-mount SLRs | Join Upload & Sell    end    Archive 2011 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button?

euronail Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #1 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? Being in the back of the warehouse, taking pictures of products for so long, I have not used this function on my D2X. Would you please give me some advices on how to use this function properly? What is your setup? I know it is one of the most important functions Nikon offers. Dec 19, 2011 at 06:13 AM

Zebrabot Offline • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #2 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? you press the button, the camera focuses. you can disable the default sensible behavior of the of the camera focusing and metering to just metering when you half press the shutter button. Maybe a guru here can tell us if there's a way to disable the metering too, so you have to press the a focus button, then a metering button then take the photo or something else like that, after keying in some Contra bonus lives stuff on the directional buttons. Anyways, I tried it for a while just to see what all the frothing fanatics here were talking about and how they love it so much and found it really pointless, and obnoxious. There's quite like nothing like pressing two buttons to take 1 photo. Dec 19, 2011 at 11:58 PM

euronail Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #3 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? Any advices? Dec 19, 2011 at 11:58 PM

Tommy_D Offline • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #4 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? Read this: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/988384/0#9379631 Then read this to see how to set it up as you want: http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/dslr/D2X_en_print.pdf Dec 20, 2011 at 12:36 AM

jbledsoe Offline • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #5 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? I love posts like this, well... really some of the replies Learn how to use it and you'll love it. It does take some practice before using it becomes second nature but it will and you'll likely never go back. There's lots of uses but I'd say the most common is focus, recompose, shoot, repeat... Combine this with selective metering and meter lock for even more fun Dec 20, 2011 at 05:05 AM

euronail Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #6 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? I appreciate if you can tell us what your specific setup for D2X. Thanks Dec 20, 2011 at 06:08 AM

ChiShutter Offline • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #7 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? Zebrabot wrote: Anyways, I tried it for a while just to see what all the frothing fanatics here were talking about and how they love it so much and found it really pointless, and obnoxious. There's quite like nothing like pressing two buttons to take 1 photo. Your snark is entertaining, but I find the AF-ON button invaluable. There's nothing I hated more than finding perfect focus only to lose it again the moment I touched the shutter release button again. Especially in situations where I'd had to hunt for focus in the first place, the last thing I need is the camera and lens hunting for focus repeatedly once I've already gotten it dialed in. I primarily do portraits, and I use AF-ON in conjunction with continuous tracking. I focus on the eyes and hold AF-ON while recomposing. Then I can release AF-ON and fire away without worrying about ensuring perfect focus again and again with each capture. Dec 20, 2011 at 07:07 AM

Zebrabot Offline • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #8 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? ChiShutter wrote: Zebrabot wrote: Anyways, I tried it for a while just to see what all the frothing fanatics here were talking about and how they love it so much and found it really pointless, and obnoxious. There's quite like nothing like pressing two buttons to take 1 photo. Your snark is entertaining, but I find the AF-ON button invaluable. There's nothing I hated more than finding perfect focus only to lose it again the moment I touched the shutter release button again. Especially in situations where I'd had to hunt for focus in the first place, the last thing I need is the camera and lens hunting for focus repeatedly once I've already gotten it dialed in. I primarily do portraits, and I use AF-ON in conjunction with continuous tracking. I focus on the eyes and hold AF-ON while recomposing. Then I can release AF-ON and fire away without worrying about ensuring perfect focus again and again with each capture. I don't take people photos, so maybe I just don't get this, but how the heck are you 'hunting" or losing focus of a person in a portrait setting? Then you mention getting perfect focus and firing away. Your subject is moving to fast for a correct AF lock or they're suddenly not moving at all and you can take a bunch of photos? Anyways, I did notice that I never hesistate to set the C-S-M switch to M and just start to focus manually when the AF is just going to waste time and be annoying, like when shooting though a window or with junk in the way, like a fence. If the AF can't cut it, I turn it off, like matrix metering. When it's wrong, it's very very wrong. Dec 20, 2011 at 09:09 AM

mfletch Offline • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #9 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? It was awkward at first for me, but once I got comfortable deciding when and on what the camera focused, I haven't switched back. I tap the AF button to lock focus, and the plane of focus doesn't change again until I change it. If I need to track a moving subject, I just hold the AF button down. So there's no changing AF modes for moving/stationary subjects. For those who want auto-everything, it seems a bit antiquated, but I'm a little backward. I prefer manual exposure over Auto/Program also. Go figure. Dec 20, 2011 at 10:47 PM

euronail Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #10 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? Hmmm....I just tried a few shots with this technique using my D2X and 50mm 1.8G. Under the same light condition, same object, if you move focus, the exposure will change too. I took 2 shots: 1. Press AF-ON, re frame and shoot 2. Press AF-ON and shoot The 2 exposures look completely different. Any explanation? Dec 21, 2011 at 06:15 AM

jbledsoe Offline • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #11 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? yes they look different and that's because AF has nothing to do with metering. when you move you change the scene and thus metering changes. If you want the metering to stay the same then you may want to lock that too. I say "may" because it's completely subjective depending on what you are trying to get and your setup. I'm sure you've had times where the metering was just not right for the scene and you're in a hurry. If you have a primary color in the direction you are going to shoot (nice green grass or blue sky work well, or a red or orange ski jacket when out in the snow) meter off that color either with spot (or if matrix then make sure the color mostly fills the frame), lock it. This should get your metering really close for the scene in the same lighted direction. Focus on your subject with back button, release it, recompose, and shoot. This is harder on matrix, but easy with spot. Shooting people, metering off the face works well for many subjects. for example you're shooting outdoors in snow and instead of compensating, just spot meter off a tree trunk or rocks or blue sky, lock it, recompose and shoot. You'll likely find your snow is white every time and much faster than compensating. Works the same for largely black on the frame, it stays black. again the idea is to combine meter lock with back button focus and you'll likely come to love it. Edited on Dec 21, 2011 at 07:55 AM · View previous versions Dec 21, 2011 at 06:43 AM

jbledsoe Offline • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #12 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? euronail wrote: I appreciate if you can tell us what your specific setup for D2X. Thanks a5 off (AF activation) c2 AE lock hold (AE-L/AF-L) c3 16s (auto meter off delay) time expiring or power off/on will release the AE lock in C2. 16 seconds is just a time I like, yours may vary but I find default too quick for my shooting style. f1 playback, zoom, medium (this gives 100% zoom to quickly check focus of focus point) f4 same as AE-L/AF-L (I do this on all mine because on newer bodies I remap AE-L/AF-L to horizon/level so the function button is consistent on all for this menu. In other menu I might map this to bracket burst) f5 HS crop (I do this because it's quick to change back and forth and really handy!) The combinations you use is entirely dependent on your taste and uses. This is what I use in my A menu, B-D have other combinations depending on the intended use in each menu. (f1 and f5 have nothing to do with your questions, I just like them) The best advise I can give is try different settings and shoot enough to see if you like it. Oh and download the PDF manual so you can read it easier Dec 21, 2011 at 07:33 AM

ChiShutter Offline • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #13 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? Zebrabot wrote: ChiShutter wrote: Zebrabot wrote: Anyways, I tried it for a while just to see what all the frothing fanatics here were talking about and how they love it so much and found it really pointless, and obnoxious. There's quite like nothing like pressing two buttons to take 1 photo. Your snark is entertaining, but I find the AF-ON button invaluable. There's nothing I hated more than finding perfect focus only to lose it again the moment I touched the shutter release button again. Especially in situations where I'd had to hunt for focus in the first place, the last thing I need is the camera and lens hunting for focus repeatedly once I've already gotten it dialed in. I primarily do portraits, and I use AF-ON in conjunction with continuous tracking. I focus on the eyes and hold AF-ON while recomposing. Then I can release AF-ON and fire away without worrying about ensuring perfect focus again and again with each capture. I don't take people photos, so maybe I just don't get this, but how the heck are you 'hunting" or losing focus of a person in a portrait setting? Then you mention getting perfect focus and firing away. Your subject is moving to fast for a correct AF lock or they're suddenly not moving at all and you can take a bunch of photos? Anyways, I did notice that I never hesistate to set the C-S-M switch to M and just start to focus manually when the AF is just going to waste time and be annoying, like when shooting though a window or with junk in the way, like a fence. If the AF can't cut it, I turn it off, like matrix metering. When it's wrong, it's very very wrong. For moving subjects I suppose it's the same. For the first shot of each burst, I suppose it's the same. But if both my subject and I are stationary, I like the ability to only focus once and shoot several times. I hated it wanting to reacquire focus with each shot with the default setup. Dec 21, 2011 at 08:33 AM

wbunnell Offline • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #14 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? I have used back button focus with the AF-ON button all the time even before I switched to Nikon recently. I love it. I like the ability to have more control using this method. I shoot a lot of sports and find it helpful at times when I need to prefocus on a spot and know my camera is not going to waste time trying to reacquire focus when its time to shoot. For example in baseball pre focusing on a base and waiting for the runner to come into the frame. Without this method the camera might try to verify focus when I hit the shutter button and I could miss the shot. Of course I could always manual focus for this method why do that if I dont have to? Dec 21, 2011 at 11:12 PM

euronail Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #15 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? jbledsoe wrote: yes they look different and that's because AF has nothing to do with metering. when you move you change the scene and thus metering changes. If you want the metering to stay the same then you may want to lock that too. I say "may" because it's completely subjective depending on what you are trying to get and your setup. I'm sure you've had times where the metering was just not right for the scene and you're in a hurry. If you have a primary color in the direction you are going to shoot (nice green grass or blue sky work well, or a red or orange ski jacket when out in the snow) meter off that color either with spot (or if matrix then make sure the color mostly fills the frame), lock it. This should get your metering really close for the scene in the same lighted direction. Focus on your subject with back button, release it, recompose, and shoot. This is harder on matrix, but easy with spot. Shooting people, metering off the face works well for many subjects. for example you're shooting outdoors in snow and instead of compensating, just spot meter off a tree trunk or rocks or blue sky, lock it, recompose and shoot. You'll likely find your snow is white every time and much faster than compensating. Works the same for largely black on the frame, it stays black. again the idea is to combine meter lock with back button focus and you'll likely come to love it. Would you elaborate more about this technique "combine meter lock with back button focus"? Which button do you hold, release......? Thanks, Dec 23, 2011 at 06:02 AM

jbledsoe Offline • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #16 · Nikon D2X - How do you use your AF ON button? Just give it a try, you'll immediately see how each work. Looking through the viewfinder while doing this will show whether AE lock is on/off. This is the beauty of digital, you can experiment and get immediate feedback. Generally you would meter to taste, lock it, focus with your back botton and shoot (or back button focus on static subject, release (so your subject in focus stays in focus), recompose and shoot. Obviously as part of your metering you are going to pick the aperture, speed, and iso that's desirable. The combinations are many depending on what you are shooting and your objective (sports, model, landscape, wildlife, architecture, ...) Oh, toss in a flash or three and it gets even more interesting Dec 24, 2011 at 12:12 AM

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