You got to be kidding? This autofocus!!

Ok Here is a real life question: What would be the best AF settings for a small (about 35 graduates) well light indoor graduation ceremony using a Nikon D200 with a 18-55 VR zoom lens?
 
Firstly use S-AF mode (switch down the front near the lens)

If you're going to use a wide aperture and get some shallow DOF, use just the center point. If you're going to capture scenes with a great DOF either use the center point, focus on something that you'd like to be in focus (hold the button till the little red lights flash in the VF indicating it's locked) and then recompose with your finger still half down on the shutter and take the pic, OR use either all focus points or a small group of focus points. Less need to recompose with the second way, but means you have to change them.

Do a bit of practice before hand and figure out if you're a "center point" guy or a "all points" guy. I'm personally a center point guy 80% of the time.
 
Some of the best photographers out there agrees with you Akiva 😉

"
Anyway since so many people are asking about the equipment...
I prefer to travel light when shooting a wedding. I'm constantly amazed at the sheer quantity of equipment that photographers take to a wedding. I often wonder how they can work for 8-10 hours, and stay reasonably fresh with so much kit on board. Magnum photographer Steve McCurry said pretty much the same thing when asked why he shot with smaller, lighter prosumer grade cameras and a couple of lenses. I also think that the less I look like a photographer, the less intrusive I will appear on the day.
Currently I utilise two Canon 5DMKII camera bodies and three Canon prime lenses - 24 f1.4LII, 35 f1.4L, 50 f1.2L. I also have the available 85 f1.2LII just for the speeches if I can't get close enough to the subject.
The 5DMKII's are fitted with EG-S focusing screens, and I currently use manual focus for a great many of the images I make. People will probably be scratching their heads over this, but by utilising manual focus, I'm able to slow the picture taking process down, and this in turn forces me to think about the image in greater detail. I believe this process of slowing down is fundamental to my success as a wedding photographer. Chatting with George Weir last week, he utilises other methods within his M.O. to slow himself down when shooting. It's so easy to let the camera do the work, and blast away without thinking about the image. I was brought up on manual focus, and was shooting photojournalism on a 20 year old Hasselblad 500CM, manually focusing and metering, some 15 years ago. The EG-S screens have given me a choice which wasn't available to DSLR users previously, and I'm enjoying my time with them immensely."


... quoted from http://jeffascough.bigfolioblog.com/weblog/post/107638
 
I have never had a problem with auto-focus, except on some early digital P&S cameras that wouldn't auto-focus on anything in low light. I have a D200 and it auto-focuses beautifully. Mine has been set up for years, so I can't remember how I set it, but the key is this: You want AF-S (single auto focus, not continuous, i.e., when you press the shutter half-way down, it focuses and locks, until you release the shutter button.). You want a single small rectangle in the center of the frame to cover the auto-focus point. (I can't remember how to set that on the D200, but it's not hard.) To focus, you point the camera at your subject, let the little green rectangle cover the point you want to focus on, half-way press the shutter button, voila you are focused, all the time, every time.

I really don't understand the fuss about this issue.

/T
 
Trius said:
Liar!!!! 😛
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CAUGHT! And the TC-16AF still operates on it. The DX-1 still works- I repaired it...

This F3AF is one of the first few hundred made. It is
1) Nikon's First AF SLR;
2) The ugliest Nikon ever made.

In prefer the N8008s though. Especially with the Monochrome Digital Back on it.
 
Willy Elder said:
Personally screwed by Canon? 25 years ago? It was a conspiracy to ruin your camera collection?

Did your old cameras stop working? Did the lenses implode?

This is a bizarre statement.
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At least Canon had the sense to make a clear cutover from old tech to new tech, and all the EF lenses made since then work beautifully on any Canon body.

Meanwhile, pick up a Nikon DSLR and then go through the big matrix posted in various places trying to figure out which lens won't autofocus, which lens won't meter, which lens won't mount without banging into the mirror, etc etc. Yay.

edit: Also, I don't see why AF is so confusing. You pick the focus point, you make sure your subject is under it, half-press, reframe and fire. Sure, you have to read the manual (heaven forbid) to use the fancier AF tracking functions and such, but c'mon, this isn't rocket science or anything. My gear will autofocus exactly like I want it to in an instant, and I can spend more time on the image content that way. If anybody thinks AF is for lazy people, I hope you're not using meters or roll film or any other lazy technology like that...
 
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My first AF camera was a Nikon D70-S and I enjoyed using it for a while until I started noticing a fair amount of out-of-focus pictures, mostly front focused, whenever I used moderately large apertures. Anything above f4 was ok due to depth of field but f2.8 and f4 (especially w/ the 500mm telephoto) were always problematic. Low light focusing was also problematic.

Since I also disliked other aspects of the camera, I decided to ditch it and go back to the type of cameras that had worked well for me in the past. I sold the DSLR and got me a Nikon F3 from a member here; I liked the F3 so much that soon I found myself with a 'blad 501 CM and a Leica M4.

My wife's Canon 10D had similar problems, so I recently got her an F3 as well. Now we can both focus accurately and as fast as the DSLRs would have accomplished imprecise focusing.

Results might have been different with more expensive DSLRs but I wasn't about to spend a lot of money to find out. AF might work for others but in my experience it's not worth the hassle of trying more expensive bodies, different settings, the need for larger batteries and frequent recharging, and lack of confidence in results.

YMMV.
 
But Wait - There's More!

But Wait - There's More!

hunghang said:
You mean you don't need 50+ focus points, eye controlled focus, face & smile detection, servo mode, Artificial Intelligence servo tracking, predictive focus, and be told that you have achieved focus with beeps and flashes? Don't forget Custom Function 4-1 🙂

I actually have some of these functions on my EOS cameras.

C'mon..... you are falling behind in tech here Akiva 🙂 I am sure your Leica M does this without you knowing!!!
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I saw reference today to a new camera that also has "Blink Recognition". Apparently it's an enhancement of the "Face Recognition" and "Smile Recognition" that now detects "Eye Blink" and takes a second shot automatically. I think it was in all seriousness too!
Next generation software will probably advise if people need to clean their teeth when being photographed. That's not quite serious - yet.
 
My old Yashica 230AF had a Trap Focus mode which I never used. I'm guessing you would tightly frame and pre focus on a birds nest and then set trap focus. A bird returning to the nest into the pre focussed zone would trip the shutter. I guess this type of tech has been around a long while just getting refined and renamed.

Bob
 
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