Nikon's focus lock feature...

JohnN

JohnN

Messages
6,336
Name
John
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi,

I'm sorry I forget the correct term, but as I understand it Nikon cameras have a feature whereby it will only take a picture when the subject is in focus - something the Canon range lack (as far as I am aware) but I think they should steal as its a great idea!

As a Canon user myself I have to know, is that feature really as good as it sounds?

Cheers

John
 
This is automatically turned on with Olympus and panasonic cameras too. I hate it, first thing I turned off when getting the Panasonic. Not so bad when you're trusting the AF, but when you're in manual getting the camera to agree with you on what you're foucssing on doesn't work.
 
On Nikon, when in manual focus mode, the feature shuts off, so doesn't cause any problems.
 
On Nikon cameras this is only active in AF-S (single auto-focus) mode. If you switch to AF-C (continuous AF) then the shutter will release whether the object is in focus, or not.

There is an AF-A mode where the camera switches between AF-A and AF-C depending on what the target is doing.
 
Bristolian said:
On Nikon cameras this is only active in AF-S (single auto-focus) mode. If you switch to AF-C (continuous AF) then the shutter will release whether the object is in focus, or not.

There is an AF-A mode where the camera switches between AF-A and AF-C depending on what the target is doing.
Click to expand...

unless you go to the menus and alter it as i did to focus [d700]
 
on a d300 you can select afs and afc to fire if only in focus or out of focus or both together

oh yeah and in afc i set it to fire if its in or out of focus,
and afs i set it for focus only.can be a pain sometimes.
but in all honesty i use the rear af button 100% of the time and just leave it in afc mode.
 
Last edited:
JohnN said:
... as I understand it Nikon cameras have a feature whereby it will only take a picture when the subject is in focus - something the Canon range lack (as far as I am aware) ...
Click to expand...
I'm confused, or maybe I just don't understand.

In one-shot AF mode, my Canons always refuse to take a picture unless focus has been achieved. Is that not what you want?
 
Hmn, mine doesn't - perhaps I'm missing a setting.

As I understood it the other camera's here would let you press the shutter button and as soon as focus is achieved it takes the shot - which is handy for sports/toddler running round like a loony.

But if theres a way to get my camera to do that I'd be stoked - I even considered jumping ship just for that feature.
 
my 400d will refuse to take a picture if object is not in focus. this annoys me sometimes as i need to switch to manual focus everytime i take a picture of a white wall for custom wb
 
Hmn, odd - by way of a test I just took a couple of out of focus pictures.

That was in AV, single shot with AF on (I did try other modes such as MF, CA even full auto) and it would happily take them if I just held down the shutter button, it was the same on my 550D.

Although you're right the manual does suggest it will not take the image.
 
Last edited:
Hmn.. funnily enough I didn't get an answer as far as I can tell, on the Nikons that feature as good as it sounds?

I get that its not great on Olympus and Panasonic and try as I might I can't get that feature on my 7D.
 
I really don't think its broken, everything works fine.
 
Focus is fine - press focus (on the back in my case) and it snaps to sharp straight away, if it didn't it would have gone away a long time ago.

I think some confusion has crept in here - I was talking about something on the Nikon where you manually focus, hold down the shutter button and when something comes into focus the it takes the picture.
 
I have that 'feature' switched off - I'd rather have a slightly oof picture than no picture at all!! How dare the camera tell me when I can take a shot! :)
 
JohnN said:
... I was talking about something on the Nikon where you manually focus, hold down the shutter button and when something comes into focus the it takes the picture.
Click to expand...


From http://www.pbase.com/dlcmh/af_ae_config
Those who like this feature say that it makes AF at macro distances quicker, by prefocusing on a subject at the desired approximate distance, say, one's finger held 6 inches away from a macro lens, then moving closer to bug on a flower, for instance, and the shutter will fire when the lens comes to, well, 6 inches away from the bug – virtually solves the problem of AF-hunting which happens all too often when focusing at macro distances
Click to expand...
It can also be useful when focusing on moving objects coming towards you. I hardly ever use it but when I do I'm glad to have that option.
 
Called catch-in focus on Pentax.

Basically it works with manual focus lenses or ones with manual/af switch.

I use it for macro, set the lens to maximum magnification and then move the camera back/forward, keep the button pressed and when you get focus confirmation the shutter fires.
 
Last edited:
My D700 and D300 both have a setting called "Shutter release priority" where you can control whether or not it will fire and AFAIK it works in both AF-S and AF-C.

You can choose either release priority (ie it just shoots no matter what), focus priority (it won't shoot unless it's bang in focus), or a combination mode where it does it's best.

If shooting moving action the combination mode works best, shooting focus priority results in a very low frame rate and release shutter priority tends to result in a lot of OOF shots.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top