5 Situations When Manual Focus is Better than Auto Focus

[casey4355]

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/5-situations-when-manual-focus-is-better-than-auto-focus

5 Situations When Manual Focus is Better than Auto Focus
by Darren Rowse


Digital Cameras present photographers with an ever increasing array of Automatic and Semi Automatic shooting modes. Most of these center around different ways of exposing your shots – however many cameras also give options for different focusing modes (auto, continuous focusing for moving subjects and manual). It’s no wonder then that many photographers never make use of their camera and lens’ ability to focus manually. In fact this week I spoke with one DSLR owner recently who hadn’t even noticed the manual/auto focus switch on the side of his lens.

When is Manual Focus Better than Auto Focus?
Let me start by saying there is no right or wrong time to use either manual or auto focusing – both can produce great results in almost all circumstances – however there are a few times when you might find it easier to switch to manual focusing:

1. Macro Work
When doing macro photography I almost exclusively switch to manual focusing.
The narrow depth of field in these shots mean that you need to be incredibly precise with focusing and being just a smidgeon out or having your camera choose to focus on the wrong part of your subject can completely ruin a shot.
To use it you’ll also probably want to use a tripod to eliminate any movement of the camera which can make focusing either in manual or auto mode frustrating.
Manual focusing puts the control completely in your hands when shooting in this very precise setting.


2. Low Light
Shooting in dimly lit environments can be difficult for some cameras and lenses when it comes to focusing.
You’ll know when your camera is struggling in Auto mode when every time you go to take a shot the lens will whirl from one end of it’s focusing options to the other and back again before deciding on where to focus.
This can really lengthen your shooting process and make taking quick candid shots quite frustrating.
Switch to manual mode and you can quickly find your focusing point and get the shot you’re after.


3. Portraits
When shooting portraits focus needs to be precise.
The majority of your shots of people will need to have their eyes in perfect focus (although in the example to the left it’s the lips) and so switching to manual focus will give you complete control to enable this to save you from having to line up the focusing points on your camera on the eyes, press halfway down and then frame your shot.
Manual focusing in portrait work helps to ensure the viewer of the image is drawn to the part of the face that you want them to notice.


4. Shooting Through Glass/Wire Fences
If you’ve ever shot through anything like a window or a mess/wire fence you’ll know how cameras will often get confused on where to focus your shot.
Whether it’s shooting out of a plane window, taking a shot of an image at a museum or photographing animals through fences at the zoo – you might find your camera is confused.
Manual focusing will avoid this completely and allow you to get things just right – focusing upon the subject behind that glass or fence. If you do this in conjunction with a large aperture (which decreases depth of field) and get in close to the fence or glass you might well eliminate it completely from being noticeable in your shot.


5. Action Photography
Shooting fast moving subjects (like racing cars, planes, bikes, running animals etc) can be a frustrating experience when shooting with auto focus.
Even the continuous focusing modes can get left behind or confusing if you’re not panning with your subject smoothly.
One way to overcome this is to switch to manual focusing and pre focus on a point that the subject will move through – and shooting at that point. You need to get your timing just right – but you’ll find that it’ll often give better results than relying upon auto focus modes (particularly if you shoot in continuous shooting/burst mode).
Homework
Shooting in manual focus mode is a skill that you need to learn and practice. While you will have more time to get it right when shooting still objects – it can become more difficult when shooting moving subjects – so practice.
This week set aside an hour or two with your camera to shoot only in manual focus mode. Practice on a variety of subjects including some moving ones. While your practice session might not produce great results the skill that you learn will be useful to have.Read more from our Digital Photography Techniques Category
Tagged with Focusing, Manual Focus


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[Agrivar]

+1

I love using my old Rokkor-x Minolta lens and MF. The newer lenses with Manual focus by wire ... is terrible.. the older lenses made for MF really feel so much better..

 

[wonglp]

6. Not much choice of fast & bright & affordable AF primes for m43, so must shoot MF lor
7. Oly VF2 (& Pany G/GH evf) so good and expensive so must make full use of it with MF
8. When nailing a shot with MF it's more satisfying than AF
9. THousands of manual lens out there to choose, dun get poison also cannot
10. When using m43 and manual focusing with EVF, some ppl think u use leica

 

[Mikefellh]

5 Situations When Manual Focus is Better than Auto Focus
by Darren Rowse

Is this YOUR text? As photographers we typically get upset when someone has stolen our photo, but we tend to forget about other items that are copyright like articles. It should have at least been in quotes or a quote box because there's no clear delineation between what you've written and the quoted text.

That being said, this all goes without saying about general photography and is not specific to FourThirds or Micro FourThirds. Is there a question about the text you marked in red specific to your camera?

 

[casey4355]

Is this YOUR text? As photographers we typically get upset when someone has stolen our photo, but we tend to forget about other items that are copyright like articles. It should have at least been in quotes or a quote box because there's no clear delineation between what you've written and the quoted text.

That being said, this all goes without saying about general photography and is not specific to FourThirds or Micro FourThirds. Is there a question about the text you marked in red specific to your camera?

my point is that most the professionals in action n sports photography (mostly likely non olympus brand) are using manual focus. the mentioned problems are common problems for all cameras.

 

[Mikefellh]

my point is that most the professionals in action n sports photography (mostly likely non olympus brand) are using manual focus. the mentioned problems are common problems for all cameras.

OR (more likely and the way I do it), they pre-autofocus.

What that means is you have the camera in manual focus mode, you point the camera where you think the action will be, and press the AFL button to perform an autofocus. In this way the camera still autofocuses, but only when the AFL button is pressed, not when the shutter-release is half pressed.

I also do this when doing portrait photography as I don't need to focus for every shot...only if the subject moves or if I move the camera.

BTW, I used to shoot auto racing with a FULLY MANUAL SLR, not only had to set the focus, but also the shutter and aperture for every shot...no A mode, no S mode, and certainly no P or AUTO modes! And I loved it!

Of course now with the E-3 I don't need to worry about it not focusing in time since it has the world's fastest autofocus!

 

[bousozoku]

I thought that all situations were better with manual focus.

Auto focus is for people who aim and hold the shutter release down continuously. :bsmilie:

 

[hope107fm]

Thank you casey4355 for the article.

 

[hope107fm]

OR (more likely and the way I do it), they pre-autofocus.

What that means is you have the camera in manual focus mode, you point the camera where you think the action will be, and press the AFL button to perform an autofocus. In this way the camera still autofocuses, but only when the AFL button is pressed, not when the shutter-release is half pressed.

I also do this when doing portrait photography as I don't need to focus for every shot...only if the subject moves or if I move the camera.

[/URL]

Thanks Mikefellh. I never knew manual focus could be done this way.

 

[Mikefellh]

Thanks Mikefellh. I never knew manual focus could be done this way.

It's dependent on the camera (some models are more basic), and the setting for the AFL/AEL button in the menus.