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10/04/2006 02:18:00 PM · #1 |
I love shooting candinds, my "rainy" shots
    
and more here give a recent sample [pardon a subtle plug :)].
As you all know candids game is a lottery: you win some, but you lose most because either you missed the moment or the shot is out-of-focus. What do you usually use for candids: continuous AF or single-shot AF (assuming your camera allows for this choice)? The latter presumably gives you a more precise focus but takes longer to acquire and sometimes just doesn't allow you to fire up at the moment you want. I usually just keep AF-S which I normally use in all other cases, but now I am thinking I probably should modify my routine when I am shooting candids. Opinions?
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10/04/2006 02:37:31 PM · #2 |
| I haven't thought about your question, but I will try both methods out and let you know what I think. On a related note, I absolutely adore your rainy candids. Beautiful colour and great eye to capture such engaging compositions. |
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10/04/2006 02:39:25 PM · #3 |
I use AF-S most of the time; AF-C drives me crazy, as it makes no sense to always keep the subject exactly under one of the AF points (well, maybe in sports you can't get away from this). Also, sometimes I pre-compose a shot and wait for an interesting person, or a car, or a biker, to appear in the frame; in such cases I pre-focus, and then switch to manual focus in order not to misfocus. This is how I got this shot, for instance:
Some of my candid shots can be seen here and here.
Message edited by author 2006-10-04 14:40:42. |
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10/04/2006 02:49:03 PM · #4 |
i am set to AF-C but only when the AFbutton is pressed
i feel this is the best of both worlds
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10/04/2006 03:00:17 PM · #5 |
I use AF-C when capturing sports. However, if you use AF-C for candids (such as in your examples), you risk someone (or something) moving into/out of the frame--in which case the focus point could choose that subject. For example, a dog walking into/out of the frame, a background movement when in a crowd setting, etc.
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10/04/2006 03:16:37 PM · #6 |
My camera is almost always on AF-C. I have used AF-S on odd occasions.
For candids/street shots, I use nothing but AF-C.
I use the AF button to focus, so pressing the shutter release doesn't change the focus. I can pick a point or part of the scene to focus and use that or press and hold the AF button when things are moving. When in doubt, I check the focus light.
And if I am shooting something close, that stays still, I sometimes use manual focus.
I was using AF-C with the D70 too. Although there's no seperate focus button or an option to control how the camera reacts to something crossing in front, I still found it more productive. |
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10/04/2006 03:39:26 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by xion:
My camera is almost always on AF-C. I have used AF-S on odd occasions.
For candids/street shots, I use nothing but AF-C.
I use the AF button to focus, so pressing the shutter release doesn't change the focus. I can pick a point or part of the scene to focus and use that or press and hold the AF button when things are moving. When in doubt, I check the focus light.
And if I am shooting something close, that stays still, I sometimes use manual focus.
I was using AF-C with the D70 too. Although there's no seperate focus button or an option to control how the camera reacts to something crossing in front, I still found it more productive. |
can you elaborate on the difference between 70 and d200 in this respect? How can you control the focussing differently from d70?
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10/04/2006 03:58:08 PM · #8 |
On the D200, there's a button called AF-ON, which can be used to focus.
You can set the camera to use both the shutter-release button and AF-ON button, just the shutter release button or just the AF-ON button for focussing. I use the AF-ON button, with my thumb, for focussing. Pressing the shutter release button doesn't activate focus. I can press the AF-ON button and release, or hold it for moving objects. I can measure light seperately with the shutter release.
Also, from the menu, you can set the camera's reaction time to objects that suddenly appear in front. You can set a longer reaction time if you don't want the camera to react to something that crosses in front while you have your focus fixed on something behind it. Also, you can set priority to either speed or focus.
I am bad at explaining these things .. hope you get the idea though. |
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10/04/2006 04:04:34 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by xion:
I use the AF button to focus, so pressing the shutter release doesn't change the focus. |
You make me jealous. I long for this feature on my D50. On D50 you can assign auto-focus operation to the AF-L button (and remove it from the shutter release button), but the camera refuses to take a shot unless there is an in-focus object under the active AF point. On the D70 (and, probably, D200) this mode of operation is shutter-priority (the camera takes a picture regardless whether it thinks that it's focused), but on the D50 this feature is focus-priority.
I guess if you off-load AF to the AF-L button, it makes sense to use the AF-C mode. A good point. |
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