Got a Nikon? Share your thoughts and photos here or ask a question!

I think there is another setting that works in conjunction with this to set the center button press to select the center AF point. I find the AF selection joystick to be terrible on the Nikons and this atleast allows me to always reset to center when I need to pick an AF point quickly.

I mustve picked up on someones comments here on POTN as I started using this a while go. Any kind of portait situation, simply focus using the center AF and then reframe the shot and see the AF point nicely track the face. I was using it more because the joystick was such a PITA compared to the 5D2.

Also, realize that the 3D tracking is a combination of distance tracking (and hence needs lenses that report such information) as well as color. If you have a whole bunch of similarly colored outfits, it gets confused real quick. Hence the usefulness of the settings Banks, if one doesn't work out for a given situation, you switch banks to a more conservative setting.

Thalagyrt wrote in post #10950865
Nick, it's the 51 point 3D tracking you want to try. I use that whenever I focus+recompose or whenever I'm tracking a moving subject. I'm amazed you hadn't tried it before... Everyone's so set on minimizing their area down to 9 points or so that they forget about one of the best features of this AF system!

Permagrin wrote in post #10950905
I've never used that dynamic AF thing...other than playing at the beginning. When all the AF points started moving everywhere it freaked me out. I don't have anything pressing right now though so maybe I'll play with that after I see the settings.

Thalagyrt wrote in post #10950950
The big advantage with that mode is locking on with a center cluster cross point, then you can still track nicely out to the edge points - less hunting.

nicksan wrote in post #10951099
So I've been reading up on the 3D tracking thing and it looks like I've been missing out on a pretty big feature on the D700. Better late than never I suppose...

wow!! same with Ms. permie here haha when I press the button and the AF point moves around a lot, I can't begin to understand how will I be able to focus on my subject. even if my subject is a still object, the AF points are all over.:o

joove wrote in post #10951581
I think there is another setting that works in conjunction with this to set the center button press to select the center AF point. I find the AF selection joystick to be terrible on the Nikons and this atleast allows me to always reset to center when I need to pick an AF point quickly.

I mustve picked up on someones comments here on POTN as I started using this a while go. Any kind of portait situation, simply focus using the center AF and then reframe the shot and see the AF point nicely track the face. I was using it more because the joystick was such a PITA compared to the 5D2.

Also, realize that the 3D tracking is a combination of distance tracking (and hence needs lenses that report such information) as well as color. If you have a whole bunch of similarly colored outfits, it gets confused real quick. Hence the usefulness of the settings Banks, if one doesn't work out for a given situation, you switch banks to a more conservative setting.

ahhh that's a whole new way of looking at the focus and recompose technique. Nice one...

I just played around with the 51 point dynamic AF and it's a mixed bag. It's "jumpy" to say the least. I start out with the center AF point, then move the camera and expected the 51 point dynamic AF to follow but it jumps all over the place. I'll have to play around with it some more.

nicksan wrote in post #10952439
I just played around with the 51 point dynamic AF and it's a mixed bag. It's "jumpy" to say the least. I start out with the center AF point, then move the camera and expected the 51 point dynamic AF to follow but it jumps all over the place. I'll have to play around with it some more.

yeah the 3D just jumps over the place, even with a steady subject.

I am seriously thinking of selling my 50mm f/1.4D for the 35mm f/2D... should I? I will only be adding around $60 at most.

does the canon system like 1d mark IV or 7d work like the nikon 3d tracking?

It appears that some STILL cannot understand that posting items for sale is only allowed in marketplace.

So for those I repeat what I posted earlier in big red letters!!!


This thread will get closed next time someone posts something for sale here!!!! This is the LAST warning........

tommykjensen wrote in post #10937887
This thread CANNOT be used to sell gear.

You must post your ad in marketplace.


This is not an invitation for off topic discussion in this thread. If you have a comment send it in PM.

Permagrin wrote in post #10949762
oh and this is what the blog says about that
[COLOR=SeaGreen][I]
a4: Focus tracking with Lock on:

A very important parameter that rarely gets the attention, so very frequent source of too slow AF complaints.

There are 4 options in the camera : Long, normal (default), short and off. This option controls the amount of time the camera waits before refocusing if the subject is out of focus.

Great tip, thanks!

nicksan wrote in post #10950685
I think I need to revisit the manual.

You and me both. I've already read it three times, but I think another couple of times is in order.

joove wrote in post #10951581
I think there is another setting that works in conjunction with this to set the center button press to select the center AF point. I find the AF selection joystick to be terrible on the Nikons and this atleast allows me to always reset to center when I need to pick an AF point quickly.

Another great tip, thanks

tommykjensen wrote in post #10954295
It appears that some STILL cannot understand that posting items for sale is only allowed in marketplace.

Tommy, it would be a real shame to lose the only thread where we can chat about this stuff without polluting other threads. Perhaps you could issue a temporary ban to the user(s) who violate rules, rather than punish everyone.

tommykjensen wrote in post #10954295
It appears that some STILL cannot understand that posting items for sale is only allowed in marketplace.

So for those I repeat what I posted earlier in big red letters!!!


This thread will get closed next time someone posts something for sale here!!!! This is the LAST warning........

Tommy - I'm assuming the posts get deleted by mods because I don't see anything but the concerning thing is that the thread moves pretty fast so the suspect might not have seen any warnings. If it's one person, well, perhaps they need a poking or something.

Mr. Clean wrote in post #10955075
Tommy - I'm assuming the posts get deleted by mods because I don't see anything but the concerning thing is that the thread moves pretty fast so the suspect might not have seen any warnings. If it's one person, well, perhaps they need a poking or something.

And I am assuming that both You and Tim did NOT read my message!!! I said if you have comments send them in PM.

No further comments on this subject in this thread !!!!!

D700 - Rob & Ann's focus-recompose AF settings

As promised here are full details of the AF settings we use on our D700's. I think we got the bulk of this from someone on DWF back in Oct 2008 when we bought our first D700 - so I'm not claiming any special knowledge here, just a bunch of settings that have seemed to work well for us over the past 20 months or so.

Caveats...
This is our setup for focus-recompose shooting. We've mostly been shooting weddings and some portraits, though that will change in the future as we're cutting back on weddings - and I'm very interested to see what other people's setups are for D700 AF.

We mostly use f2.8 lenses. While we have a Sigma f1.4 lens, we don't have enough real life shooting hours with it to say whether these settings also work well with f1.4 lenses (I'm presuming here that f1.4 is always going to test any AF system harder than f2.8 ).


D700 Camera Switches/Dials...
CSM Switch (front of camera) - set to C for continuous
Release Mode Dial (top left) to S for single frame
AF Area Mode Switch (right of rear LCD) to middle setting (Dynamic-area AF)
Metering Selector (outer ring right of viewfinder) to middle setting (Matrix)

D700 Camera Menus...
Active D-Lighting OFF (just mentioning it, not sure it has any bearing)
a1 AF-C priority - FOCUS
a2 AF-S priority - FOCUS
a3 Dynamic AF area - 51 points 3D + tracking
a4 Focus tracking with lock-on - OFF
a5 AF activation - Shutter/AF-ON
a6 AF point illumination - ON
a7 Focus point wrap-around - OFF
a8 AF point selection - AF51
a9 Built-in AF assist illuminator - OFF
a10 AF-ON for MB-D10 - AF-ON

Use...
Point the camera at the subject you want in focus, half-press shutter (or hold AF-ON) and then recompose - camera should attempt to track the subject's position.

You can select your starting focus point using the rear multi-selector. And pushing the centre button of this resets to centre point focus.

If you move the CSM switch to S, you can then do single-shot focus and the camera will not track.


I think that's it - but if I've missed something out, let me know and I'll edit this post.

Rob

tommykjensen wrote in post #10955083
And I am assuming that both You and Tim did NOT read my message!!! I said if you have comments send them in PM.

No further comments on this subject in this thread !!!!!

Oh I thought you meant for the people in question to do that, sorry. It's late here.

Hi guys

mantra wrote in post #10954266
does the canon system like 1d mark IV or 7d work like the nikon 3d tracking?

IIRC, the MKIV has a mode where you can select the AF point then the AF system will "follow" the subject using the rest of the points, so yes, similar. I don't think it takes color information however but don't quote me on that.

monk3y wrote in post #10952473
yeah the 3D just jumps over the place, even with a steady subject.

I am seriously thinking of selling my 50mm f/1.4D for the 35mm f/2D... should I? I will only be adding around $60 at most.

I will have to try this against humans!

Hmm...50 vs 35. It depends on what you need/want. The 35 f2 is a nice lens. Never had the 50 1.4 D so I don't know anything about it...