Nikon trap focus.

Cockney

I asked Admin for a user title
Messages
9,468
Name
Brian
Edit My Images
Yes
I really miss this function.
On my old Nikon film cameras with the multifunction back I used it a lot and got some great wildlife shots.
Does any manufacturer still provide it?
Brian.
 
I don’t know if it’s what you’re trying to achieve but you can do a bit of a hacked trap focus by switching focus to manual and pre focussing where you expect your subject to appear, menu set release priority to in focus. Then lock a remote cable with the shutter constantly pressed. The camera will then only take an image when something walks into focus.
 
I don’t know if it’s what you’re trying to achieve but you can do a bit of a hacked trap focus by switching focus to manual and pre focussing where you expect your subject to appear, menu set release priority to in focus. Then lock a remote cable with the shutter constantly pressed. The camera will then only take an image when something walks into focus.
Good plan. I will try that, thanks.
Brian
 
I don’t know if it’s what you’re trying to achieve but you can do a bit of a hacked trap focus by switching focus to manual and pre focussing where you expect your subject to appear, menu set release priority to in focus. Then lock a remote cable with the shutter constantly pressed. The camera will then only take an image when something walks into focus.

Just had a quick look and this may not work on my Lumix G80. Release priority does not seem to be an option in mf. Only in the af options.
I will have a menu trawl.
Brian
 
Just had a quick look and this may not work on my Lumix G80. Release priority does not seem to be an option in mf. Only in the af options.
I will have a menu trawl.
Brian

Ahh. Title said Nikon. Assumed you were using Nikon rather than Panasonic.
 
Sorry. I said Nikon because as far as I was aware it as a Nikon exclusive. Back then anyway.
I believe it is exclusive to Nikon. When Nikon broke it (around the time of the D800/D7000) they said it was never intended to work that way to begin with. I guess enough people complained long/loud enough...
 
Last edited:
Just had a quick look and this may not work on my Lumix G80. Release priority does not seem to be an option in mf. Only in the af options.
I will have a menu trawl.
Brian
Try this...
Use BBF.
Set manual focus, then switch back to af.
When you press the shutter it will only fire if something is in focus.
 
Try this...
Use BBF.
Set manual focus, then switch back to af.
When you press the shutter it will only fire if something is in focus.
Wont have it Im afraid Bob. Even on BBF in MF it fires immediately the button is depressed. I've tried every combination.
 
Wont have it Im afraid Bob. Even on BBF in MF it fires immediately the button is depressed. I've tried every combination.

Which Nikon are you using, i had the same thing i think it was the D7200, BBF overrides focus priority, could be a way around it but never got it sorted.
 
Which Nikon are you using, i had the same thing i think it was the D7200, BBF overrides focus priority, could be a way around it but never got it sorted.

I realised I made an error in my description of the set up earlier in this thread. To get it working on Nikon, you need the body itself to still be set to auto focus (AF-S) but the lens set to manual focus. Leaving the body in manual focus will always fire the shutter at first press as it doesn't require any kind of priority/confirmation.
 
I realised I made an error in my description of the set up earlier in this thread. To get it working on Nikon, you need the body itself to still be set to auto focus (AF-S) but the lens set to manual focus. Leaving the body in manual focus will always fire the shutter at first press as it doesn't require any kind of priority/confirmation.
I don't think that matters... if it is switched to MF either on the lens or body, the camera knows... and if it is a manual focus lens, the camera knows.
On older Nikons you just needed the release priority set to "focus" and focus disabled on the shutter release (BBF)... worked in both S/C.

Around the time of the D800/D7000 they broke trap focus... but they (kind of) restored it for some models with a firmware update (i.e. D800). For these cameras everything had to be set to "single" (AF-S, single shot, single point), with the AF-S release priority set to "focus" and focus removed from the shutter release.

On newer Nikons it's the same as with older bodies and can work in AF-C/CH; but in the "AF-On Only" setting you have to go one level deeper and disable "out of focus release."
(from memory, exact wording may be slightly different)

Another peculiarity is that this behavior requires phase detection autofocus... any camera that is operating in contrast detection autofocus mode can't determine focus w/o first activating/shifting the focus. That may be a factor in finding a way to get other makes/models to do something similar.
 
Back
Top