Center autofocus OR regular autofocus?

Which do u use and why? I am currently using the center autofocus but I keep shifting the camera back and forth to focus and then to compose the shot.

Most of the time I use center focusing point, but I change it as necessary if I care for composition.
I almost never use Auto focus selection.

Centerpoint focus, AI Servo, AV mode..have a nice day.

Center point, so you know what the camera is focusing on. Yes, it will involve re-composing.

I'm not sure abou the 20D but have a look in the manual if there is an option to make the * button focus. This makes things easier because you can get focus on something by pressing * and then let go. When you press the shutter it will not try and refocus but just take the picture. It takes some getting used to at first but its worth it. If you set focus to "AI Servo" then you can hold * for continuous focus or press and let go for one shot focus.

Do a search on this forum for " * focus" to read more.

Focus recompose sucks. Mostly. If you have a shallow DOF it sucks. Like f/4 and wider.

Do a search on focus recompose sucks. You'll see a lot of threads on it. Not everyone has the luxury of 45 point AF, but there are options.

Evandavies is talking about custom function 4 - have a fiddle with setting this to 1 instead of 0, see how that feels for you... use the star button on the back to focus instead.

I set the 8-way joystick on the back to choose a focus point and just use that - "regular" autofocus when it picks the AF points for you can be awful simply because the camera chooses what to focus on and not you. Major pain sometimes. Just flick the joystick on the back or press it in to choose the centre one and away you go.. you can change the focus point without even looking away from the camera with ease.

You have 9 AF points, might as well use 'em imho

I pick and choose my different focus points. But I use the wheel to change focus points. It just is easier for me.

JON

I use the center AF point for general purpose use. But if you have time to set up the shot, and the DOF is shallow, selecting a AF point that reduces your need to focus-recompose is the way to go.

http://visual-vacations.com …focus-recompose_sucks.htm

Automatic focus point selection has cost me far more shots than focus-lock-recompose (FLR) so I use FLR anyway. However as has been noted: DOF is a valid concern. If your DOF is shallow (for any reason, large aperture or close subject distance or both), you could potentially shift out of the zone of intended focus and thus end up with a soft shot. In this case use off-center focusing points. I FLR only when I think I can get away with it and the DOF will punish me if I guess wrong

The only camera I use AFPS on is my 1D, the rest are all center focus. There are two reasons for this - 45-point area AF is indeed better at picking up what I want to focus on (7 and 9 point AF tend to miss), but more important is the second reason - Cfn 18-2. If they implemented Cfn 18-2 on my 5D I would be in heaven.

For those who haven't worked with a 1-series, I set it to automatically select from all available focus points by default. If it picks the wrong subject, I then press a little button called the Assist button, which immediately selects a pre-configured focusing point called the Home Position (HP). My HP is the default center point but you can make it any point you want. To me, center is what I intended, so I left it as that.

CFN 18-0: Assist disabled
18-1: Switches back to HP and leaves it there till you manually switch back to 45pt
18-2: Switches back to HP as long as you hold down the Assist button. I use this, hold, shoot, release and the camera automatically goes back to 45pt AFPS.

I'd love this on my 5D, even though there are only 9 points, it would work pretty much the same - AFPS but instant override when I need it. I find that switching from auto to center point on any other camera takes so much time it can cost me the shot.. I NEED it to be instant.

I use whatever AF point is closest to the "focal" point in my composition at the time. I got stung by the "focus then recompose" problem before, so now I actively select the correct AF point for each shot. If there's no "focal" point, I'll just use the centre AF point.

I almost always use the centre point and recompose.

However, if I'm shooting portraits and I know I'll be taking similar shots for a while, I use the arrow buttons to use the focus point that is closest to the eye I want to focus.

By the way, 7 focus points is enough for me. Surely 45 points on the 1 series cameras is pointless?

If I am in snapshot mode, I use the center autofocus point and recompose. If it is photographic situation when I have time to work the subject, I compose the shot then pick the autofocus point that is over the point of focus I want in the shot. Sounds like more work, but it isn't bad at all using the wheel to cycle through the focus points.

The only time I use all of the focus points is when I am taking group shots and even then I put the camera in A-Dep mode which automatically uses all of the focus points.

I've configured both the 20D and the 5D so the joystick controls the AF point selection, and actively use it this way. Much more reliable and provides more consistent results than FLR.

99.99% of my shooting is with center focus point.You have better accurency(at least in the 400D) and is is faster in low light.

I second lightstream Cfn 18-2 all the way