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Archive 2015 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

ajamils
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

I've been practicing using BBF with D750 (my first DSLR) and I have some confusion about the focus confirmation. Since BBF is used with AF-C, I don't get the beep when the camera locks focus, which is fine but what I'm confused is that when I press the shutter button the focus confirmation arrows shows either back or front focus. I rarely get a perfect circle (perfect focus). I believe this is causing me to get a lot of OOF pictures.

Am I doing something wrong? Also when D750 is set to use BBF,do you set shutter button to exposure lock?

Mar 18, 2015 at 08:23 PM

Steve Perry
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

Keep in mind that if you focus and recompose, you're not going to see the focus confirmation dot stay solid. It will only show solid when it's over the area that perfectly sharp. As soon as you recompose, the area you focused on will remain sharp (as long as you take your finger off the button), but the camera may not show the confirmation dot anymore since the AF point may no longer be on an area that's perfectly sharp.

For action, I usually don't watch the dot and just trust the camera is getting it right (which it usually is).

As for exposure lock, it's up to you. All depends on what you shoot. Sometimes exposure lock is handy, other times you want the camera to change exposure as the subject moves through the frame into different light (like sunlight to shade).

For more check out my video:

Mar 18, 2015 at 09:25 PM

Taoguy
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

There is no one on this board better than Steve at explaining & teaching and his videos are to the point. Check out his video and then subscribe to his site. He does a great job sharing his knowledge. We are lucky to have him in the Nikon world.

Gerard

Mar 18, 2015 at 09:34 PM

ajamils
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

Steve,

Thank you for the excellent explanation. I just watched your video as well and it did clear some of the confusions.

One more question, when shooting action (especially BIF) is it better to use group AF mode or 3D?

Mar 18, 2015 at 09:49 PM

Steve Perry
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

ajamils wrote:
Steve,

Thank you for the excellent explanation. I just watched your video as well and it did clear some of the confusions.

One more question, when shooting action (especially BIF) is it better to use group AF mode or 3D?

Glad it helped

There are a TON of great people here who do BIF shots that can help with this too. For me, I go in this order:

1. Single point
2. Dynamic 9
3. Dynamic 21
4. Group

I've had very mixed results with 3D, so I personally don't use it for wildlife. I think it tracks with colors and when your critters are the same color as your background it can get messy

Basically, the easier the shot is to get, the less AF points I want to use. If I can track with single shot, that gives me the best chance of keeping the AF zone where I want it. If I go to d9 or d21, I risk the camera losing the main AF lock and locking on to an area of the animal outside my ideal plane of focus. However, if the bird is erratic, I'll switch to d9 first and then d21. All depends on how difficult the bird is to track.

I haven't used too much group AF, but here's what it seems like to me so far. I hope to play with it more this season. It basically treats a group of sensors as a single sensor and tends to focus on whatever is closest. If that's the eye, cool, if it's the tip of the beak (or worse the wing) then not so cool. However, it also seems better at getting a lock when single point fails (like when it's lower contrast, dark, etc) so it does have its uses.

Hope that helps. Like I say, others will likely chime in with other techniques, try 'em all and use the ones that work for you.

BTW, here are a few BIFs - ALL on single point - but all are large, slow(ish) birds:

Mar 18, 2015 at 10:06 PM

ajamils
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

Beautiful pictures!!!

I've got the Tamron 150-600 coming so I will give your suggestion a try on my next outing and see how I fare. Thanks for all the help.

Mar 18, 2015 at 10:20 PM

Steve Perry
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

Happy to help.

BTW - I forgot to mention, make sure in your Custom Functions you have Focus Tracking With Lock On turned OFF. It's not what it sounds like. Basically, it's how long the camera should delay before requiring focus lock if it loses focus lock. The idea is that if your camera loses focus temporarily (like if you were tracking a running back and another player ran between him and the camera) the camera will delay requiring a focus lock for a moment to see if the subject reappears. It might work OK for sports (I don't know), but I do know it just seems to cause frustration for most wildlife shooters.

Mar 18, 2015 at 10:31 PM

lexdiamonnyc
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

D750 is a heck of a 'first dslr'!!

Mar 18, 2015 at 10:38 PM

Mark K
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

thanks Steve

Mar 19, 2015 at 09:07 AM

cohenfive
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

Listen to Steve, he's the man..and is 'spot' on regarding this topic. My short experience with the d750 is that the focus is so accurate, you are almost always going to get a good shot if you rely on the af system to work its magic.

Mar 19, 2015 at 11:23 AM

henry albert
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

Steve Perry wrote:
Glad it helped

Basically, the easier the shot is to get, the less AF points I want to use. If I can track with single shot, that gives me the best chance...Show more →

Dang, those egrets are fine.

Think you're right about the "closest object" focus bias. I've mostly gone back to single point.

Mar 19, 2015 at 01:35 PM

doonie15
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

Thanks for the video Steve. I've switched my bodies over to BBF a couple of times but always ended up switching back. After watching your video I'm going to actually try to stick with it for a while this time. I think I just need to really give it a chance cuz it seems to make perfect sense. Beautiful shots !!

Mar 19, 2015 at 02:50 PM

Neddie Seagoon
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

So, let me get this straight, if I switch to BBF I can get pictures as good as Steve's?

Those are beautiful, you show off!

Mar 19, 2015 at 03:11 PM

cohenfive
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

So what is 'bbf' anyway?

Mar 19, 2015 at 08:42 PM

Gollan
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

cohenfive wrote:
So what is 'bbf' anyway?

Back-button focus. The camera is set up to initiate focus using one of the buttons on the back instead of using the shutter half-press. Tony Northrup has a YouTube video that explains it.

Mar 19, 2015 at 09:16 PM

cohenfive
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

Thanks..

Mar 19, 2015 at 09:38 PM

cohenfive
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

Thanks..

Mar 19, 2015 at 09:38 PM

DaveOls
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

I thought BBF was " Better by Far "

Mar 20, 2015 at 08:40 AM

ajamils
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · D750 BBF and focus confirmation

Neddie Seagoon wrote:
So, let me get this straight, if I switch to BBF I can get pictures as good as Steve's?

Those are beautiful, you show off!

That's what I'm hoping for but after my first outing, I've come to the conclusion that I need A LOT of practice. The biggest issue I found when shooting BIF was keeping the focus point on the bird and tracking it (especially when zoomed in)

Here are some from yesterday

Mar 23, 2015 at 07:35 PM


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