Steve Perry wrote:
One thing I won't do however is have AF on any of those buttons with an area mode. WIth Back Button AF, you're in AF-C, so if you have focus + area mode set you lose the ability to focus and recompose.
Nope, not on the D5 at least. If focus is set to AF-on only and another button is set to area plus AF-on, when the button is released the camera reverts to the previous focus mode but the shutter release doesn't activate it.
I'm currently set w/ 3d and matrix metering as the main selections. I have the sub selector set to single w/ AF-on, I have the preview and Fn1 buttons set to the other metering modes, and Fn2 set to virtual horizon.
I'll change the main selections as suited, but the buttons stay the same... otherwise I would confuse myself. Set this way my thumb always activates AF, and it also chooses which mode to activate.
Steve Perry wrote:
One thing I won't do however is have AF on any of those buttons with an area mode. WIth Back Button AF, you're in AF-C, so if you have focus + area mode set you lose the ability to focus and recompose. I keep my AF on the back button and just switch between area modes as needed.
I'm confused about this point you made. I have my sub selector and Pv set to AF-On/Area mode. My Af-On button uses whatever is set with the AF/M button. My shutter button is deselected so I can focus recompose with all 3 of those buttons because the shutter never triggers. If you leave the shutter to have AF then it does lose you that ability as you need to keep the other button held down and fire the shutter to not have it switch to the Shutter button's AF mode.
Am I missing something, or are you using AF on shutter also?
arbitrage wrote:
I'm confused about this point you made. I have my sub selector and Pv set to AF-On/Area mode. My Af-On button uses whatever is set with the AF/M button. My shutter button is deselected so I can focus recompose with all 3 of those buttons because the shutter never triggers. If you leave the shutter to have AF then it does lose you that ability as you need to keep the other button held down and fire the shutter to not have it switch to the Shutter button's AF mode.
Am I missing something, or are you using AF on shutter also?...Show more →
So am I !
To the point where "I don't think that's correct" and I've just picked up the camera and checked again.
Re edited!!!...( oops....confusing my terminology there)........In single point mode you focus and recompose in the same way......then shoot with the shutter button.
There is nothing to stop you from doing that in any of the modes I configured.... nothing has changed there!
Moving AF with the joystick changes the point in all the modes when you go to them. If you put the point to let's say the left edge, if you choose another mode it's on the left edge. (all except auto area mode)
With my reading glasses scenario, (and I need all the strengths) the last thing I want to do fish out my glasses and access the menus and hunt around during shooting take them off again and use the VF..........just pressing the AF/M button with a heavy lens on for example leaving the lens unsupported is a pain!
..... The great thing about this configuration is I never need to go into the menus.....never ever!
Now I am confused, new to the forum The idea of deselecting the shutter button focus function and using the aF button to focus is that you affectively get AFC and AFS together.
To recompose you simply focus on your subject with the AF button then lift your finger off the AF button and recompose, then press the shutter - done - when you take your finger off the AF button focus is locked.
the only problem I have had with other cameras is that any software which shows the focus point will still show it at the point where shutter was pressed but you should see clearly where focus was achieved with the AF button pressed. Have not proved that on the D5 yet because the Focus Point plugin for LR does not work for the D5.
DRJ1 wrote:
the only problem I have had with other cameras is that any software which shows the focus point will still show it at the point where shutter was pressed but you should see clearly where focus was achieved with the AF button pressed. Have not proved that on the D5 yet because the Focus Point plugin for LR does not work for the D5.
No camera will show/report the focus point where focus was set on the subject w/ focus/recompose.
The only way to do that is to use a dynamic mode so that the active point tracks as the image is recomposed... worked fine with earlier cameras, I don't think I would recommend it w/ the D5/D500.
BBF allows focus and recompose while in AF-C. Shutter button focus allows focus and recompose in AF-S.
You can leave the shutter button active to use yet another AF mode in addition to the other back buttons (afon, sub selector etc) but you then lose both methods of focus recompose.
On the D500 that is fine as you really shouldn't have any need for focus and recompose with the generous AF spread. On the D5 you may still want that ability so my choice would be the shutter button without AF and the back buttons to use AF with different Area modes.
sk66 wrote:
No camera will show/report the focus point where focus was set on the subject w/ focus/recompose.
The only way to do that is to use a dynamic mode so that the active point tracks as the image is recomposed... worked fine with earlier cameras, I don't think I would recommend it w/ the D5/D500.
We are all getting confused with our terminology a little, like I did with the focus /recompose blunder I made in the last post (now corrected) mixing it up with moving the focus point!
You say "dynamic mode" did you mean 3D mode?
Terminology continues to be more complicated than ever!!
daves cliches wrote:
You say "dynamic mode" did you mean 3D mode?
Well, I guess it depends on which camera. Previously any of the dynamic modes (d9-d51/3d/auto) would correctly show the active in-use focus point. W/ the D5/D500 it's currently only correctly displayed in 3d and auto.
"Dynamic" means the focus/active focus point moves w/in the focus area.
p.23 #10 · UPDATE - Nikon D5/D500 Dynamic AF Issue
sk66 wrote:
Nope, not on the D5 at least. If focus is set to AF-on only and another button is set to area plus AF-on, when the button is released the camera reverts to the previous focus mode but the shutter release doesn't activate it.
I'm currently set w/ 3d and matrix metering as the main selections. I have the sub selector set to single w/ AF-on, I have the preview and Fn1 buttons set to the other metering modes, and Fn2 set to virtual horizon.
I'll change the main selections as suited, but the buttons stay the same... otherwise I would confuse myself. Set this way my thumb always activates AF, and it also chooses which mode to activate....Show more →
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arbitrage wrote:
I'm confused about this point you made. I have my sub selector and Pv set to AF-On/Area mode. My Af-On button uses whatever is set with the AF/M button. My shutter button is deselected so I can focus recompose with all 3 of those buttons because the shutter never triggers. If you leave the shutter to have AF then it does lose you that ability as you need to keep the other button held down and fire the shutter to not have it switch to the Shutter button's AF mode.
Am I missing something, or are you using AF on shutter also?...Show more →
---------------------------------------------
daves cliches wrote:
So am I !
To the point where "I don't think that's correct" and I've just picked up the camera and checked again.
Re edited!!!...( oops....confusing my terminology there)........In single point mode you focus and recompose in the same way......then shoot with the shutter button.
There is nothing to stop you from doing that in any of the modes I configured.... nothing has changed there!
Moving AF with the joystick changes the point in all the modes when you go to them. If you put the point to let's say the left edge, if you choose another mode it's on the left edge. (all except auto area mode)
With my reading glasses scenario, (and I need all the strengths) the last thing I want to do fish out my glasses and access the menus and hunt around during shooting take them off again and use the VF..........just pressing the AF/M button with a heavy lens on for example leaving the lens unsupported is a pain!
..... The great thing about this configuration is I never need to go into the menus.....never ever!
DRJ1 wrote:
Now I am confused, new to the forum The idea of deselecting the shutter button focus function and using the aF button to focus is that you affectively get AFC and AFS together.
To recompose you simply focus on your subject with the AF button then lift your finger off the AF button and recompose, then press the shutter - done - when you take your finger off the AF button focus is locked.
the only problem I have had with other cameras is that any software which shows the focus point will still show it at the point where shutter was pressed but you should see clearly where focus was achieved with the AF button pressed. Have not proved that on the D5 yet because the Focus Point plugin for LR does not work for the D5....Show more →
My apologies to everyone, my brain was on vacation this morning and my fingers decided to answer a post. Sorry about that. Yes, you can recompose and still shoot, I reread the post and even I'm not sure what the heck I was thinking. Brain fart of epic proportions, just too much rattling around in my head at the moment I suppose.
p.23 #13 · UPDATE - Nikon D5/D500 Dynamic AF Issue
Dear Steve:
I am in the process of reading your book. After switching 5 Nikon and two Canon bodies to Back Button AF I was looking forward, deeper into the book, to a mode where the AF box would chase my (human) subject all around round the VF-as advertised.
However "...there's very little point to using Dynamic AF if when the subject slips off the main AF point that point simply locks onto whatever looks good under it..." revert me to single box AF (and BB focus & recompose).
I mostly use two D5 bodies with a 3rd D4s (only wide group shots tho). My work is, extreme low stage light where my Flamnco dancers head/faces are often at the top of the frame-past AF box coverage.
So must frame for the topmost AF box and waste pixels above them.
The D500 offers almost full VF coverage (especially in portrait mode) of AF boxes. But I lose low light Hi ISO performance with the smaller DX sensor. So, after all this, my head is hurting and I feel like a single AF box Luddite.
p.23 #14 · UPDATE - Nikon D5/D500 Dynamic AF Issue
SoundHound wrote:
Dear Steve:
I am in the process of reading your book. After switching 5 Nikon and two Canon bodies to Back Button AF I was looking forward, deeper into the book, to a mode where the AF box would chase my (human) subject all around round the VF-as advertised.
However "...there's very little point to using Dynamic AF if when the subject slips off the main AF point that point simply locks onto whatever looks good under it..." revert me to single box AF (and BB focus & recompose).
I mostly use two D5 bodies with a 3rd D4s (only wide group shots tho). My work is, extreme low stage light where my Flamnco dancers head/faces are often at the top of the frame-past AF box coverage.
So must frame for the topmost AF box and waste pixels above them.
The D500 offers almost full VF coverage (especially in portrait mode) of AF boxes. But I lose low light Hi ISO performance with the smaller DX sensor. So, after all this, my head is hurting and I feel like a single AF box Luddite. ...Show more →
Thanks for the book purchase
Yeah, that's a tough situation. It sounds like 3D is actually what you need, but as you say, the AF area itself is limiting. Still, I think 3D AF would be worth a shot for what you're doing. While it won't track outside the AF field (of course), I think it would be superior to single point.
p.23 #15 · UPDATE - Nikon D5/D500 Dynamic AF Issue
I was trying 3d last week on pretty stationary backlit Wood Ducks... it refused to hold focus on the head/eye even though that's where I had the focus point, it continually jumped to the chest/side where there was better contrast but an entirely different color (the head was quite dark in shadow so there might not have been good color for the metering system).
p.23 #16 · UPDATE - Nikon D5/D500 Dynamic AF Issue
sk66 wrote:
I was trying 3d last week on pretty stationary backlit Wood Ducks... it refused to hold focus on the head/eye even though that's where I had the focus point, it continually jumped to the chest/side where there was better contrast but an entirely different color (the head was quite dark in shadow so there might not have been good color for the metering system).
i find the same thing happening and hate it. why is the focus point jumping all over the place?
im down to single point and group as my go to focus areas. i find 3d useless with all the jumping around. please correct me if im wrong. this is with my D5.
p.23 #17 · UPDATE - Nikon D5/D500 Dynamic AF Issue
Likewise as to single point and group.
Apr 09, 2017 at 01:50 PM
T-O Shooter Offline • • [X]
p.23 #18 · UPDATE - Nikon D5/D500 Dynamic AF Issue
sk66 wrote:
I was trying 3d last week on pretty stationary backlit Wood Ducks... it refused to hold focus on the head/eye even though that's where I had the focus point, it continually jumped to the chest/side where there was better contrast but an entirely different color (the head was quite dark in shadow so there might not have been good color for the metering system).
I was shooting some snow geese yesterday with the D500 and 200-400VRII I generally shoot BIF, rarely stationary, but these weren't moving. Group, 25 pt, single point, and the AF was like it had ADHD. All over the place and just wouldn't settle down.
I wanted about 600mm so I put the 500 f4VR with 1.4III on the D4s and that ended AF issues. If Nikon doesn't soon release a firmware upgrade for the D500, it's going to be gone.
p.23 #19 · UPDATE - Nikon D5/D500 Dynamic AF Issue
T-O Shooter wrote:
I was shooting some snow geese yesterday with the D500 and 200-400VRII I generally shoot BIF, rarely stationary, but these weren't moving. Group, 25 pt, single point, and the AF was like it had ADHD. All over the place and just wouldn't settle down.
It could be the lens. The 200-400/4 has quite jittery AF at mid to long distances. By using a DX camera one ends up naturally using the lens for subjects at longer distances that using FX. Also the image is magnified when viewed so any AF problems too get magnified by 1.5X.
I would expect less jittery behavior using a prime lens on the D500, especially f/2.8. I have not used the 500mm but I would try that out with the D500 and see if the AF still jitters on a similar subject.
Notice that with the 200-400/4, only the central region's 45 cross type points act as cross type. This could lead to uncertainty in focus with off center compositions.
In my experience the Multi-CAM 20k really is a module which favours fast lenses.
p.23 #20 · UPDATE - Nikon D5/D500 Dynamic AF Issue
sk66 wrote:
I was trying 3d last week on pretty stationary backlit Wood Ducks... it refused to hold focus on the head/eye even though that's where I had the focus point, it continually jumped to the chest/side where there was better contrast but an entirely different color (the head was quite dark in shadow so there might not have been good color for the metering system).
Yeah, 3D works better for some subjects than others. It's can be good at keeping on a "whole" subject, but exactly where it sticks is another matter. For full length shots of people doing things, it's actually quite good sometimes, for wildlife I tend get frustrated with it.
