Yesterday our friend Melissa Jill wrote a blog post about using back button focus to achieve the sharpest possible images. Because she shoots with Canon equipment, she posted a link to a thread on Open Source Photo that talked about back button focus for Nikon equipment. What’s kinda of funny about that thread is that...
I recently learned that the word “slapdash” is a synonym for the word random. After laughing about it for a while, the thought occurred to me that it would make a fabulous title for an ongoing blog series about completely random things. One of the goals of our blog, along with sharing our work and...
Tell us what made YOU happy this week!
Okay that’s it! BOTH of these movies are going on our Post-It List of Movies to See (conveniently located on our our coffee table for easy reference). “Adam” especially looks good. We don’t have TV (meaning we have a television, just not cable or even local channels) (we love this freedom from TV incidentally)… Ummm…. What was I talking about? Right – we don’t have TV, thus we never seen movie previews, thus we rely on personal recommendations and movie trailers for any and pretty much all movies we ever seen.
But that wasn’t your question was it? What little, seemingly insignificant thing made me happy this week? The gas station I get my coffee at most work day mornings stopped serving my English Toffee cappuccinos (go ahead and ::gasp:: in astonishment if you must – I did. Right in the middle of Circle K). However, this lack of normal allowed me to discover that the new flavor – Pumpkin Spice cappuccino – was also quite delightful. I am sipping it now and that makes me happy. So I guess not all change is bad.
Hmmm… Maybe I should start my own blog instead of emoting all over your comments section ;-)
Feels very strange to be home, showered, well fed and loading cards from our wedding today by 8:30pm. Thanks for... http://t.co/CpyQxahq Photos by Ryan & Denise Photography
http://t.co/ZPnBnVH8
See More: http://t.co/Ex4tgSB2 http://t.co/ih7NLzt7 Somebody appears to have lost a fight with a rather large snake :-) http://t.co/jSJWyMcP http://t.co/ZlbUL4N8 Hmmmm. Wonder if changing your business name is as annoying as changing your home address? Guess we'll find out... http://t.co/qFebijS0 Hmmmm. Wonder if changing your business name is as annoying as changing your home address? Guess we'll find out... http://t.co/Uao73U3d Hmmmmm. Wonder what will prove to me MORE annoying . . . changing our home address or changing our business name?... http://t.co/h2sQbTYa
Thank you so much for this post! I recently bought a D700 and I have been curious about how to use back-button focus. One question though… our cameras still have the ability to press the AF-ON button and then let go of it when shooting a stationary subject correct? In the past I have just constantly held it down (on my D60) and it sure would be nice to let go of it with stationary portraits! Thanks again :)
Hi Caitlyn! Glad you found the post helpful! To answer your question: Yes you can release the AF-ON button after setting your focus for stationary portraits. (Thanks for asking! We also reworded this in the post to make sure it’s clear for other readers.)
LOVE that you guys are Nikon. I always feel like I’m the only one… : (
Us too! Yay for Nikon users!
Hi, I was wondering if anyone can tell me how to do this on my trusty old D80? Thanks in advance!
Hi Julie :-) On the D80 it’s, 1) custom settings, 2) 18 AE-L/AF-L, 3) set to AF-ON.
That will disable the AF abilities of the shutter and enable you to use the AE-L/AF-L button on the back. Hope this helps!
Just curious about a few of things…
1.) What would the advantage be for stationary subjects versus Having the camera on S-focusing, and Pointing the center point at the subject, then recomposing while keeping the shutter button depressed half-way, and then fully tripping the shutter?
2.)What is the advantage of photographing moving subjects using the back button versus depressing the shutter button (in C mode) half way, therefore tracking focus until you press the shutter all the way down to take the photograph?
3.) This question may not be able to be easily understood, as I may not explain it well, but here goes…Does recomposing in an arc (ie. focusing o down at a child’s eyes with the center focus, and then swinging the camera down more to include the child’s feet) keep the eyes in focus, since the sensor has moved slightly in relation to the focus point?
Thanks for the post, I am getting a bit more curious to try : )
I really want to try this but am not sure my camera supports this function….and I’m still too scared to mess around in the custom settings without guidance. Any idea how I can set my d5000 this way?
Hi Abby! We’ve never had or used a D5000 so I’m basing this off of what I’ve read in another forum, but this is where you should be able to find this in the menu: 1. Custom Settings Menu, 2. Setting F2, 3. Set the AEL/AFL button to “AF-ON”. Hope this helps!
I’m really curious about how this BBF works with moving subjects. If I’m at my kid’s soccer game and want to do this, do you continuously press the AF-ON button and then take the shot or ??? Not sure of the steps or if BBF is an advantageous with moving subjects. Thanks for any help!
I set my camera to do this, and it works, but only if I continue holding the AF-ON button down when I press the shutter. If I let it go, the shutter will not release. Any ideas?
Hi, this was SOOOO helpful. Before I wanted to do this but didn’t get it. I’m also having the same problems as Kelly. But it’s a start. I’ll use my manual from here. I just did a wedding, SOO wish I had grasped this concept before. Thanks again.
same issues as above. If I release the AF-ON button as suggested, recompose and then press the shutter button it will not take a picture. What control is it that I need to change
If you’re shutter won’t fire when you release the AF-On and recompose, try changing the focus priority selection (Custom Settings Menu under Autofocus). If it’s set to only shoot when your in perfect focus that’s probably what’s holding you up. Hope that helps!
Denise, you said that on the D80 you would go into the setting and basically set it to use the AE-L/AF-L button. Is this because the D80 does not have an AF-ON button? Because my camera is the new Nikon 3100 and it does not have the AF-ON button so I thought that I could not use this back button focus feature.
So, you are saying that I would use it exactly the same except I would use the AE-L/AF-L button instead of the AF-ON?
Hi Sandy. I’m not familiar with the 3100, but you can probably use the AE-L/AF-L button (like on the D80). You’ll have to try it and see. Sorry I can’t be more help on that particular model!
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Thank you for this! I’ve been wanting to try this out but couldn’t make sense of it in my manual (or field guide). This was a perfect, simple explanation.
This is amazingly helpful, you have no idea how helpful!
Thank you!!! Incredibly helpful!!
I did everything above, but when i push the AE button, nothing happens. When i push the shutter, it focuses. Maybe i missed something?
Hi Beth – on some models you may have to disable the focus function on your shutter. You can email us with the model of your camera and we’ll do our best to walk you through it. (studio@simplyknotphotos.com)
I know this is an older post, I’ve had it bookmarked for awhile and just upgraded from a D5000 to a D700. The other “commenters” are correct, you have to hold down the AF-ON button when recomposing once you focus. The instructions say to release it- are we missing something? Thanks for this great post/instructions.
Hi Nicole – you do NOT have to hold down the AF-ON button when you recompose the shot. If you do, it isn’t really locking in your focus as your camera will continue to try to focus as long as the button is held down. If you are finding that your shots are not coming out clear when you do release it, you may have to be extra careful about not changing the distance to your subject when you recompose. (See #2 under the bolded “Note” area of the post). There is a bit of a learning curve here so it may take a little bit of practice.
I figured out why I couldn’t release the AF-ON button while recomposing. In the custom menu—-autofocus—-AF-S or AF-C priority(depending on which you use) has to be on “release”. If this setting is on “focus” the shutter won’t release when you recompose without holding the AF-ON button (it detects the center point is out of focus and will not take the photo). With it set on “release” I can put what I want to focus in the center, push AF-ON to focus, RELEASE the AF-ON button, recompose, then shoot. Yipee.
What a great way of explaining BBF, I have been using BBF for a couple of months now and absolutely love it.
[...] for setting up your back-button AF:For Nikon Users- Instructions provided by Simply Knot PhotographyStep 1: Go into your custom settings menu Step 2: Select A (autofocus) Step 3: Select A5 (AF [...]
Hi Denise– Hoping you have time for yet another BBF question! I have been BBF for a while now, but have been holding AF-ON down the entire time until I release the shutter. Now, re-reading your post I’m noticing NOT to do that (in S mode). Curious, though, when I focus, let AF-ON go and then take the pic I notice that sometimes my LCD will show where the focus fell—but it really didn’t (it’s just where I recomposed to and the LCD highlighted focal point obviously isn’t in focus), when other times my LCD won’t show me where the focus fell at all. When I used to hold DOWN the AF-on, it showed me my focal point all the time. Does that make sense? Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Confusing, I know. ;)
[...] Here is a post I found for Nikon users. [...]
[...] doing some search online, I found this webpage. It has some great [...]
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