Autofocus mode whaa...?

[snapsniper]

Now I certainly know I'll be dating myself here, but I grew up with a Pentax 'Spotmatic' manual everything, except it had spot metering. As my eyeballs continue to age however, I've found more & more uses for centre-weighted autofocus.

Since I aquired this absolutely wonderful 10D however, I now find it necessary to confess that I have been consistently unable to get excited about any of the other focusing modes. Anyone care to venture, for my benefit, how they have employed this remarkable technology to improve their shooting? I'm old but not slow - I get most things - but not this, somehow.

Thanks in advance
-chris

BTW just in the last couple of months I've been shooting with a 24-70 2.8 and a 70-200 2.8 IS and - damn!

[Penguin_101_1]

I am pretty sure that the 10D is close to my Elan so I will try.
The One Shot mode is mostly for still subjects for focusing. The AI Focus is for when the subject moves, it sees the movement and focuses to adjust it. The AI Servo tracks moving subjects and does not lock focusing. It is good for cars and other moving things.

[CyberDyneSystems]

What you need to do is get your 10D to focus with a single focus point in the center.. as opposed to using any one of the seven semmingly at random,. (thus ensuring that you never get in focus what you think should be.)

[snapsniper]

Well, yeah! It's that 'seemingly at random' thing that I'm trying to understand the purpose of. I get the centre point business - that's all I ever use, be it AI or servo. I'm trying to understand why anyone would use anything else.

[Penguin_101_1]

:oops: I thought you ment something else. I use diffrent points all of the time when I have off center objects I switch to the diffrent points.

[KennyG]

The only sensible use I know of for multiple points is when photographing birds in flight, because the focus can't lock onto the background and must pick a bird. Apart from that I can't see the point, and for myself I never use more than one.

However, being able to use one non-centre point is a big advantage. For full length portraits, using the topmost point on the head is a good example. I use a similar technique when I photograph the girls on a motor race grid. Works well and keeps the important bits in focus.

[snapsniper]

Thanks for the responses you guys. KennyG: not that I'm a glass-half-empty kinda guy or anything, but wouldn't it almost always pick the wrong bird? And Penguin: isn't it easier (and more accurate) just to point the centre box at the off-centre object you want in focus, trigger the focus and then recompose?

Just trying to understand...

[CyberDyneSystems]

Snap,

It's true it can mess up a lot,. and I NEVER let it decide on foucs point.. they should just be set to manual focus point slecetion by default...


However.. there "bird" thing Kenny speaks of can and does work.
With all AF points active and a bird flying in an otherwise empty sky it can work quite wekll in fact,. where you may have trouble keeping the single center dot on the bird.

But this is not the 10D's strong point. The 1D (and even 20D) do this trick a lot better ... the 1D have 45 of those focus points... FOURTY FIVE!

[Penguin_101_1]

Penguin: isn't it easier (and more accurate) just to point the centre box at the off-centre object you want in focus, trigger the focus and then recompose?

Just trying to understand...
It really isn't every easy to do that when you are doing long exp. like I like to do. That caused too much camera movement unless they are really long.

[MrChad]

I use the multi point but I manual set the points 99% of the time. >50% of the time I use the center point via the custom function that lests you jump to it right away on the Elan.

But for some auto racing I let the camera pick the part of the car closest to me. I don't always want my subjects in focus in the center of the frame all the time. I love the rear wheel on the Elan/and D series digitals. I wish the Rebel had the wheel, it should for the price you pay.