AF/AE Lock, Composition Techniques

[mrchua]

hi everyone, i was just wondering about the different techniques used in achieving ae/af lock and re-composition when taking a picture. i use a canon eos camera, and swopped my af/ae lock buttons around. so, when i take a picture, i usually press the ae button which now auto focuses for me, then depress the shutter which locks in the exposure and then captures the image.

is this a good/useful technique? if there are other techniques to share or for better or for worse, lets discuss about it.

i'm also wondering if i autofocus lock my subject, depress the shuttter halfway at exposure lock, and then recompose my frame, will the focus be due to my shifting of the frame?

if this subject matter has been discussed before.. please forgive me. thanks

 

[zzyzx]

i usually do locking when on tripod. focus my subject, AF lock, compose my frame, lock the ball head, shoot.

a locked focus will not go off unless you take a step towrads or away from the subject. the best body posture to adapt when framing your picture is like how you do panning shots.

 

[Churchwolf]

I have turned off my AF lock since it locks anyway when I half press the shutter. I have always been used to recomposing the shot with the shutter half pressed. The AE is a different story. On my Nikon D60 the AE does not lock with the half shutter press. That is to allow you to lock the focus, recompose the shot and still have accurate metering. This can be a problem when you are composing shots with difficult lighting, so I have mapped only AE lock to the lock button but still leave the focus up to the shutter.
That way I just select something near by with the right metering, focus on it, lock in the AE then go back and take my shot like normal using that exposure. That seems to do the trick.

 

[chalib]

Go manual, no need AE lock then... so just need to take care AF lock (half shutter button) and recompose, the focus point will not change as long as u din let go the shutter button and din turn focussing ring

 

[Churchwolf]

Go manual, no need AE lock then... so just need to take care AF lock (half shutter button) and recompose, the focus point will not change as long as u din let go the shutter button and din turn focussing ring

Sure. That does work, it's just that manual isn't always approriate when you need to shoot in rapidly changing conditions. If you are sitting in Aperture or Shutter priority modes then you need ready access to your AE lock.

 

[mrchua]

Go manual, no need AE lock then... so just need to take care AF lock (half shutter button) and recompose, the focus point will not change as long as u din let go the shutter button and din turn focussing ring

agreed. but i'm looking for a faster option.. manual focusing is good for still/very patient subjects. however, you're right.. manual focusing is something most overlook