Focus and Recompose.... or Choose a Focus Point?

Kristy wrote in post #8715414
Choose an outer focus point that lands where you desire.... and risk the fact that the sensor may not strong enough for acurate focusing... thus having an oof image..

I never knew that focus points came in different strengths. Is there a chart somewhere that says that a 5D is better than a 50D is better than a 450D?
Im not trying to be a jerk, just curious.

Thanks for the replies everyone.. and keep -em comming..
Even the funny ones!

I'm trying to justify my shooting style.. but I'm not telling what it is yet... lol...

@Roy.. some outer focus points do have better cross-type sensors, but to the best of my knowledge that is only available on the higher end Pro-Series... and the new body.. what is it called again...? 7D?

focus and recompose i find to be much, much faster and more straightforward than any alternate method i can imagine.

center point.

OR you could just buy this new Hasselblad, which compensates for movement when you focus-recompose
http://www.dpreview.co​m …09/09092802hass​elblad.asp

I try to focus using one of the points, however sometimes thats tricky so i'll select the focus point closest to where i want to focus and go from there.

when using super shallow DOF sometimes this isn't an option so i'm limited to the focus points in the camera.

I haven't seen any responses that addressed the difference between one-shot and AI-Servo. Focus and recompose will be appropriate with static objects in one-shot mode. If I'm in AI-Servo (or AI Focus), the camera (xxD) will pick something else on which to focus if I recompose and it moves the active sensor off the target.

When shooting models, Focus and Recompose ALWAYS! For sports/action AI Servo.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.mysmiley.ne​t

Well, as I spend most of the time with FD lenses on my 350D I use manual focus all the time, same as I have to on my T90 and F1 film cameras.

John

for walking around, center and recompose, but if I am shooting moving things than you can't really do that =)

yogestee wrote in post #8721115
Focus point either bang on the subject and if I can't get the focus point bang on I manually focus ignoring the focus point..

Ditto except to add that I always use the center focus point.

Our old cameras like the two Nikon F cameras I have only had focus aids in the center. There's absolutely no difference in the basic techniques employed using the center focus point only in my 20D as compared to using the focus aids in the various focus screens in the old Nikons.

SkipD wrote in post #8729793
Ditto except to add that I always use the center focus point.

Our old cameras like the two Nikon F cameras I have only had focus aids in the center. There's absolutely no difference in the basic techniques employed using the center focus point only in my 20D as compared to using the focus aids in the various focus screens in the old Nikons.

Skip,,my Nikons have no focus aids whatsoever.. I did away with the split screen focusing screens and replaced them with fine matte screens..

yogestee wrote in post #8732021
Skip,,my Nikons have no focus aids whatsoever.. I did away with the split screen focusing screens and replaced them with fine matte screens..

So did I, for the most part. I still have the original focusing screens with the focusing aids but seldom used them.

What I was really getting at, though, is that if one desired to use the focus aids in old film cameras they were always in the center of the viewfinder.

When using the focus-recompose technique, one has to be aware of the potential change in distance from the points of interest in the scene and the camera's film plane when changing the camera's angle. As long as the distance change is negligible, I've never had any problems with the focus-recompose technique. When working close in to a subject, the technique may not work well because of the geometry.

I would say I shoot:

85% Center point only then recompose if necessary
10% Manually Select other AF point
5% Enable all AF points and let camera try to lock on to correct one

95% of the time I manually choose the focus point since I shoot mostly close to wide open. I started with center point then recompose when I first started shooting but that was with slower glass. Now that my glass is less forgiving at the apertures I shoot, I try not to move the camera much.

Either MF or center and recompose. I only have one AF point to choose from!