Do you ever rely on multi-point AF?

How do you like your AF?


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synapseman

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Nowadays camera manufacturers like to jam in as many AF points as possible, at first it was 1, then 3, then now anywhere between 5 to 9. I think Canon had 35 AF points for its eye-controlled models?

Does anybody here actually use these multi-point AF modes, especially in automatic mode where the camera selects the active point for you? Are they reliable? I for one, hate these multi-point AF things because most of the time, they'd focus on the wrong thing. I'd rather AE-lock, then AF-lock and re-compose. I won't even bother about manually selecting AF points because it's just too troublesome re-setting the AF point from shot to shot.

What about Canon's eye-control system? Never used them before, but friends who did said great things about it. But I think it never caught on? Why?

Edit: One more point I forgot to add: Focus-tracking (of AF-C mode). I think they're rubbish. But does anybody have any positive experiences with this mode?
 

weird...i cant vote ?

anyway i was wondering abt this point too.

i think i normally use centre focus..then AF-lock
 

Canon has 45 AF points for its top range cameras like EOS 3 and 1v and 1Ds MII (1D MII also?). It could be useful if your subject moves wildly maybe you are tracking some animal.

Eye focus is excellent for the EOS 30 which has 7 AF points. Very convenient. On the EOS3 the accuracy is a bit dodgy.

But if you take pretty much static or slow moving objects, then to me, 1 AF point will do really.

Focus tracking is not rubbish! To me at least... :) Canon's one is very responsive and I've used it well for moving objects also.
 

only when doing product shots..
 

focus tracking (or AF-C) has been pretty useful for me .. esp when taking sports .. panning shots etc .. =)
 

David said:
Canon has 45 AF points for its top range cameras like EOS 3 and 1v and 1Ds MII (1D MII also?). It could be useful if your subject moves wildly maybe you are tracking some animal.

Eye focus is excellent for the EOS 30 which has 7 AF points. Very convenient. On the EOS3 the accuracy is a bit dodgy.

But if you take pretty much static or slow moving objects, then to me, 1 AF point will do really.

Focus tracking is not rubbish! To me at least... :) Canon's one is very responsive and I've used it well for moving objects also.
Hmmm I've tried the 45 AF points on EOS 3, af isn't v fast. The 1D MK II had better AF speed on multi-af (maybe pro body?), say 8 points, but once I use a lot more it slows down significantly and/or misses the point totally.
 

Expiredyoghurt said:
focus tracking (or AF-C) has been pretty useful for me .. esp when taking sports .. panning shots etc .. =)

I think how useful it is depends on the camera. I used to use AF-C all the time on my F100, but am using it a lot less now on my D70 is I find I'm getting a lot more OOF shots.
 

danster said:
I think how useful it is depends on the camera. I used to use AF-C all the time on my F100, but am using it a lot less now on my D70 is I find I'm getting a lot more OOF shots.

hmm ... i'm using a d70 ... just shopt my sch's college day cum national day cum sports day ... most of the pics using AF-C came out pretty fine ... but i only used AF-C for the running shots =P
 

the auto AF point selection can either be good or bad, depending on the subject and its background.

If allowed the camera to auto-select the focus point, then it will do it according to one algorithm, which mostly selects the contrasty points that are nearest. On the average, that gets average-good results.

However, suppose you really wanted this subject's face to be in perfect focus, and it was not at any of the focus points. The camera will give you average-bad results.

Suppose all of the wrong focus points are high in contrast, but the correct point is low in contrast. It will try to pick a wrong point.
 

David said:
Canon has 45 AF points for its top range cameras like EOS 3 and 1v and 1Ds MII (1D MII also?). It could be useful if your subject moves wildly maybe you are tracking some animal.

Eye focus is excellent for the EOS 30 which has 7 AF points. Very convenient. On the EOS3 the accuracy is a bit dodgy.

But if you take pretty much static or slow moving objects, then to me, 1 AF point will do really.

Focus tracking is not rubbish! To me at least... :) Canon's one is very responsive and I've used it well for moving objects also.
I agree with your view :)

For me, ECF is important when doing flash photography with my EX flashes. It DIRECTLY affect the exposure of the final picture. And I can honestly stand-by the accuracy of the E-TTL program. The AF-point-linked E-TTL is a wonderful tool for capturing sudden situation during event shoots. Can compose, AF and get correct flash output --all in one fluid movment :) Thanks Canon !

I guess ECF never really caught on becasue it increases eye fatuige and is TOTALLY not designed for eye-glass wearer ( spectcles and contact lenses ). I am blessed with perfect eyesight so might as well use ECF ....before I statrt to have to ewaear glasses ;)

DT
 

hardly use multi-point AF the camera will never know what i wanna focus on. But i do use AF-C for tracking althlets n fast moving stuff. But if time allows, my first choice is manual focus. :)
 

I usually put on Center AF point as default.
But depending on my composition, I'll change AF points frm time to time manually.
 

David said:
Canon has 45 AF points for its top range cameras like EOS 3 and 1v and 1Ds MII (1D MII also?). It could be useful if your subject moves wildly maybe you are tracking some animal.

Eye focus is excellent for the EOS 30 which has 7 AF points. Very convenient. On the EOS3 the accuracy is a bit dodgy.

But if you take pretty much static or slow moving objects, then to me, 1 AF point will do really.

Focus tracking is not rubbish! To me at least... :) Canon's one is very responsive and I've used it well for moving objects also.



Pardon wanna-learn-be
How do you do AF lock?
 

Expiredyoghurt said:
focus tracking (or AF-C) has been pretty useful for me .. esp when taking sports .. panning shots etc .. =)

How do you do focus tracking? Can it be done on all cameras?
 

I usually manually select the focus point. it's easier now with the "joy stick" controller on the 20D. but I do use multi-point when I ask others to take pics of me ;p
 

paradigm said:
Pardon wanna-learn-be
How do you do AF lock?

Aim centre AF spot on subject, semi-depress until AF indicator lights up. While keeping pressure on shutter release, re-compose.

Sometimes it's better to AE-lock a scene (if your camera has a separate AE-lock button), then move frame to AF lock a subject.
 

paradigm said:
How do you do focus tracking? Can it be done on all cameras?

Not all cameras. Usually the more expensive/prosumer/pro models will have a "Continuous AF mode" or "Predictive AF mode".

Maybe I'm not using the predictive focusing modes right, but they don't seem to be as effective as the brochure suggests. Maybe it's the nature of the video-AF system employed by prosumer cams, that's why. I still much prefer the trap-focusing technique, where you get a zone in focus, and wait for your subject to move into this zone.
 

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