Stupid question

[Sniper]

Many people is complaining about that the D60 only have three autofocus points. Why is it better to have 45? I guess that it will be more accurate with more points, but why? If you wanna focus on a face for an example, it should be enough with one point (if that point worked well).

I don't have a SLR (yet) so I am full of stupid questions. :)

-------------------------------------
Sniper
http://www.pbase.com/sniper/

[richardshipp]

The 45 point eye-controlled focus is designed mostly for sports. You can follow the subject with your eye can keep your subject in focus while firing. Not being a sports photographer, I find it useless on my EOS-3.

[Pekka]

45-point system is great when you need to shoot a moving object (even someone walking towards you). The multiple point focusing system (computer) is "trained" in detecting shapes and movement direction so it is very good in following the subject. Also, more focus points come handy when subject is off centre (mostly is).

Of course manual focus can achieve same thing, with practice. Problem with D30 and D60 is that they have a reduced viewfinder (in size, view area and field of view) which means you can't really rely it to be absolutely accurate.

[DVWarrior]

Before AF cameras and lenses you only had the one option...manual focus...camera manufacturers were aware of the problems and the more you paid for your SLR the better choice of focus screen you could choose from. The split screen with lazer matte finnish was the choice of the day...when you were out of focus your subject was split into two halfs...very clever for it's day...late 70-80s. Today most of us have no choice but to rely on AF as the viewfinders are not built for manual focusing...very sad considering how much you pay for the camera...Pro video and film still relies on manual focus but techniques like pull focus can't be done electronically...yet.
Press photographers sometimes rely on a large depth of field, large ISO setting and wide lenses to capture a scoop, setting the focus to infinity...when you don't have the time nor the possibility of the camera focusing on the wrong subject this technique can get you out of a hole.

[Thomas]

Many people is complaining about that the D60 only have three autofocus points.


Hi Sniper,

Do not worry about just three autofocus points available.
Such functions as AE Lock and FE Lock (very useful in ensuring the desired exposure using E TTL) for a D60 work only together with the central point. I use the central autofocus point most of the time.
A combination of autoexposure compensation (AE) and the AE Lock or FE Lock, if you use a flash, can give you very good results.

Regards,

Thomas