Those darn focus points...

This may be a topic discussed many times before, heck I may have even raised it already!

So I am setting up my latest EOS body and as usual it is out of the box with a myriad of focus points all set to auto. So the first thing I seem to always do is lock in on the centre point.

Why? Maybe its a tie over from my first film EOS only having three, maybe it was a frustration from loosing eye control I had on my last film EOS (what ever happened to eye control anyway?). I guess I want to control what the camera focuses on so rather than it choosing.

Anyway maybe its time for change? How do others deal with multiple focus points? The focus on subject, lock and compose has worked for me so long it is habit, am I missing out?

Select your point, otherwise you are at the mercy of the camera's algorithms for what it thinks you want focus on. So many posts have been logged where people used auto AF point selection and ultimately ended up with pics that didn't have their intended subject(s) in focus. Invariably the answer is to use a selected point, or with newer bodies spot AF (point inside a point) or expanded point, even zone is useful where you give a smaller area of AF points for the camera to use for auto AF selection, etc. There are so many options now that can be tailored to how you shoot, I don't see any need to allow all points for focusing.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #16990063
Select your point, otherwise you are at the mercy of the camera's algorithms for what it thinks you want focus on. So many posts have been logged where people used auto AF point selection and ultimately ended up with pics that didn't have their intended subject(s) in focus. Invariably the answer is to use a selected point, or with newer bodies spot AF (point inside a point) or expanded point.

That is what I had concluded too, it was just as you move up the range and things naturally get better we are getting more and more of the things, I figured there must be some sort of demand therefore they must be useful. Maybe not, maybe its in the basket with that dedicated direct print button...

Heya,

It depends on what you're shooting. For relatively large depth of field shots, it just doesn't matter much. It should focus fine. For super thin depth of field, even with the right points, it will still miss sometimes. I tend manually focus the super thin depth of field stuff. Then I'm not worried about which point and where it is, I can focus composed as I want it, and focus exactly as I want it.

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #16990069
Heya,

It depends on what you're shooting. For relatively large depth of field shots, it just doesn't matter much. It should focus fine. For super thin depth of field, even with the right points, it will still miss sometimes. I tend manually focus the super thin depth of field stuff. Then I'm not worried about which point and where it is, I can focus composed as I want it, and focus exactly as I want it.

Very best,

Even for large DOF shots, it is important. If you are doing a landscape, and want to focus on the hyperfocal part of your scene, you probably will have a high loss rate depending on the scenery, as the AF locks on something in the very near foreground, or along a tree row far away due to the high contrast between tree and sky. Just a clarification point to consider.

I use whichever focus point is best at the time. In good light I will select from all of them, in poor light I may restrict the selection to cross type only (still offers me over 40 points I believe). I have the selection on the joystick for quick and easy movement between points.

I use AI servo a lot, as I shoot things that tend to move whilst I shoot, so centre point has never held much appeal to me as I don't want to have the subject in the centre, and possibly have to crop off almost half the image to get a decent composition.

sandpiper wrote in post #16990084
I use whichever focus point is best at the time. In good light I will select from all of them, in poor light I may restrict the selection to cross type only (still offers me over 40 points I believe). I have the selection on the joystick for quick and easy movement between points.

I use AI servo a lot, as I shoot things that tend to move whilst I shoot, so centre point has never held much appeal to me as I don't want to have the subject in the centre, and possibly have to crop off almost half the image to get a decent composition.

But you are selecting the ones to use, and are not just opening all points up for the camera to use willy-nilly, correct? That is the question, do you let the camera select from one or more of all AF points, or you do take control?

Sounds like I will keep doing what I have been doing. I mainly shoot wide open with large aperture lenses to isolate subjects so makes sense.

Got these darn stupid lenses on my eyes (i.e. glasses) now as I get older that get in the way and its harder to see what is going on in the viewfinder too!

TeamSpeed wrote in post #16990089
But you are selecting the ones to use, and are not just opening all points up for the camera to use willy-nilly, correct? That is the question, do you let the camera select from one or more of all AF points, or you do take control?

Absolutely I select the point myself. The camera doesn't know what I want in focus.

With the newer Canon AF, I like that you do have more options on how to select AF points. I tend to default with Expand AF area on the 5dmkIII, but I can quickly hit a button to switch to single point AF if I need it. The camera is still willy nilly selecting spots in that specific area, but usually that whole area is what I want in focus anyway. Don't understand why even the professional models have the auto selection mode though!

With expanded point the camera is not at all willy-nillying (what a word!) which AF point to use. You select one point, but do allow the camera to use an adjacent point, should it be so that the point you selected is unable to find any useful contrast to focus on.

Don't confuse this with zone AF. Zone AF is (in One Shot AF mode only) identical to using all points, just across a smaller area. But even in that case, the camera's selection of AF point isn't at all random. It will pick a point with good contrast, and if there are many of them, then it will pick the point at the closest distance which still has good contrast.

Yes, maybe I should have said more of a *controlled* wily-nily selection of that area It does work well on many occasions, and with the interface customized the way I like, I can quickly switch to another mode quickly (if I need more control in a tight area, etc)

Due to the transluctent LCD in the viewfinder, you have full control of what the camera is doing in the multiple focus point modes as well. You just aren't in command, but you can easily see what happens and take actions if you don't like it.

Actually, I've tried using the all focus point mode in Servo AF, combined with iTR, on my 1DX. Once you learn how to use it and how to properly set up all the other AF-related things you can set on a 1DX and you have the kind of conditions iTR is good at, it's actually quite a bit more efficient in subject tracking than I originally expected/hoped it would be. But I can understand that a professional photographer, who perhaps every time he's out taking pictures is busy on a job, will not use this mode. I have the luxury of doing this just because I find it funny, so I can practice and test as much as I like. At least at my skill level, it takes that to fully figure out how to make the best of these modes.

Works for stuff like this, where the color of the subject is clearly different than the background, and I have big problems anticipating and properly following the person when they abruptly turn around the markers. Using a single point far too often results in perfectly focused spray in the background.

This is one of the main reasons I like using MF lenses, complete freedom over composition when focusing without touching any buttons, especially when aided by the EG-S screen.

Just echoing what others have said. I never use all focus points (allow the camera to chose). One focus point and then choose where to position it.