Help with shooting without AF

Jdevaney89

Jdevaney89

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I was trying to shoot some water droplets earlier and i had to go onto manual mode as the camera wouldnt focus on the droplets, anyone know how i could make the camera focus without having to go into manual mode?
 
If the droplets are ones you have created, ie a controlled drip from a plastic bag of water with hole in it, then you'll know the line in which the drops will fall.

Decide where in that line you want to focus and hold something fairly small (eg the tip of a pencil, end of a skewer etc) at that point.

Use the auto focus to focus on the point of the pencil etc then switch the AF off.

The lens is then focussed at the right place. Only thing is you have to be careful not to move the focus by accident.

Dave
 
Jdevaney89 said:
I was trying to shoot some water droplets earlier and i had to go onto manual mode as the camera wouldnt focus on the droplets, anyone know how i could make the camera focus without having to go into manual mode?
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Are you talking about manual on the lens? I'm going to assume so. One way is to put something right where the drop will fall and focus on that, then lock focus and you are ready.
 
Rather than switching AF on and off, how about switching to Back Button Focus, then you'll not need to bother with that antiquated AF switch nonsense.
 
Yeah i think i understand now, i need to focus with the af onto something, i.e. a knife, where the droplet hits the water, then flick it onto manual mode and shoot that way..
 
Jdevaney89 said:
Yeah i think i understand now, i need to focus with the af onto something, i.e. a knife, where the droplet hits the water, then flick it onto manual mode and shoot that way..
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No, focus manually (with or without Liveview) and get away from AF completely....the region covered by the AF sensor is probably too large for the accuracy you need.

Bob
 
Jdevaney89 said:
Back button focus?
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Where you re-locate the AF to a button on the rear of the camera. so you can happily focus with the AF and then take as many shots as you want without having to switch AF off or boither that the shutter button will attempt to refocus.

There'll be instructions in your user manual. Nikon shooters constantly tell me they don't need it, and then offer answers about switching AF on and off :bonk: :bonk: :bonk:
 
Jdevaney89 said:
Back button focus?
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When you assign a separate button (usually on the back, hence the name) to activate the autofocus, rather than a half press of the shutter release button. This way you can set the focus and recompose without having to hold the shutter release button halfway in.

Some Canon cameras have an AF ON button on the back for this purpose (and you need to change the function of the shutter release to remove AF), others require you to change the function of another button. I'm not sure that the Nikon equivalent is, or whether it's possible for the camera that you have.

There are plenty of articles explaining the benefits. Here's one that gives some examples of when it would be useful.
 
Phil V said:
There'll be instructions in your user manual. Nikon shooters constantly tell me they don't need it, and then offer answers about switching AF on and off :bonk: :bonk: :bonk:
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:thinking: no we don't. We've been doing it for years. :thinking:


Number45 said:
Some Canon cameras have an AF ON button on the back for this purpose (and you need to change the function of the shutter release to remove AF), others require you to change the function of another button. I'm not sure that the Nikon equivalent is, or whether it's possible for the camera that you have.
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All thr higher level bodies from Nikon have an AF on button as well. I'm not sure its on the D40x though
 
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boyfalldown said:
:thinking: no we don't. We've been doing it for years. :thinking:




All thr higher level bodies from Nikon have an AF on button as well. I'm not sure its on the D40x though
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You might have Hugh, but there's plenty who don't :thumbs:

I'm sure you're a Canon shooter in exile anyway - such a nice bloke and all;)
 
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