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Learning to use the D300 autofocus system

M

Mitch Alland

Guest
In his excellent review of the D300 Thomas Hogan states that "The Autofocus Area Mode Selector is going to confuse more folk on the D300 than it did on the D2 series and D200" and that "the lack of clear documentation is going to keep you from learning it quickly". I agree: the autofocus section of the D300 manual is not at all clear on either Focus Mode or AF-Area Mode and how to use them in the various ocmbinations. Does someone who has learnt how to use the various combinations of autofocus settings on the D300 — Hogan says that there is none that fits all situations — want to elaborate a bit?

BTW, the Hogan review is here:

http://www.bythom.com/nikond300review.htm

—Mitch/Windhoek
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10268776@N00/
 
H

harmsr

Workshop Member
Mitch,

There are so many different combinations, give us a situation that you want to shoot and I'll let you know how I set my camera.

Best,

Ray
 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I have been just doing a lot of single point half press or use the AF button than recompose just like i do with the M8 only manual. Old dog still old tricks. :ROTFL:
 
M

Mitch Alland

Guest
harmsr said:
...There are so many different combinations, give us a situation that you want to shoot and I'll let you know how I set my camera...
Click to expand...
Thanks, Ray. Yes, there are a lot of possible combinations: there are three Focus Mode settings on the front of the camera and three AF-Area Mode settings on the back; and then there are four different focus point settings [(9 /21 / 51 / 51 (3D tracking)] that can be applied to the Dynamic Area AF Mode (or to some other modes as well?). Let's start with settings for the following types of situations:

1. Landscape or still life: my understanding is that one would use the "S" setting on the front (Single-servo AF) and "Single Point AF" on the back and then use the Multi-Selector to move focus point to the object to be focused on.

2. Street photography with person approaching — someone is coming towards you and want camera to track sugject: my inclination would be to use the "C" setting on the front and the "Dynamic Area AF" on the back, but how many focus points should one use — 51 with Dynamic Tracking? Or is there a better way?

3. Street photography with photagrapher passing subject, or subjects, on the side: same settings as situation 2?

4. Portait with focus on eyes: subject is sitting across table from photographer at 1.0–1.5m and in conversation both photographer and subject may be moving body forward and backwards and side to side. What are the best settings for this.

Another question: when would one use "Auto Area AF" with either S or C?

—Mitch/Windhoek
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10268776@N00/
 
Last edited:
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
BTW how do you control shooting with AF. Mine won't shoot until in focus, i want to turn that sucker off. This is in S mode
 
TRSmith

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
I haven't seen the menu setup for the D300 autofocus, but if it's similar to the D2Xs, it will be something like this:

In Single Servo AF mode, the camera finds focus once the shutter release is depressed part way, if the subject was in motion when the shutter was halfway depressed, it will follow focus that subject but it will not release the shutter until focus is achieved.

In Continuous Servo AF mode, the camera looks for focus the moment the shutter release is depressed part way and will continue to look for focus as long as the shutter is held part way. If a subject moves after focus was established the focus still follows the subject. However, a picture is always taken immediately when the shutter is depressed all the way even if focus has not been established.

(above paraphrased from Thom Hogan's guide)

I have moved the focus activation component from the shutter release to the AF/ON button and use my thumb to control the focussing. That leave the shutter release free to activate the capture and to implement the VR on lenses like the 70-200VR. Effectively separating the two functions. Continuous Servo is my personal favorite setting for focus.

There are further refinements one can make with the various autofocus area modes, which might also be worth looking into depending on your preferred style of shooting or the event/subject at hand. You can of course, set up various sets of these variables and save them to individual shooting menus or styles so you can switch all the various components at once, i.e. a custom settings group for portraits and one for track and field.

The variables for focussing are deep and initially pretty confusing. After I settled on my simple take on the ones that worked best for me, it all became second nature. But it's a daunting set of variables.

Good luck, hope this helps.
 
M

Mitch Alland

Guest
I'm beginning to understand that the overall autofocus system can be controlled as follows:

First, you set the Focus Mode, which is controlled by the focus-mode selector on the front of the camera that can be set to "S" for Single-servo AF, "C" for Continuous-servo AF, or "M" for Manual.

Second, you set the AF-Area Mode, which is controlled by the AF-Area mode selector on the back of the camera that can be set Single-point AF, Dynamic-area AF, or Auto-area Af.

Third, for Dynamic-area AF the number of focus points can be selected to be 9 points, 21 points, 51 points, or 51 points with 3D-tracking. The number of focus points is selected for the "a3: Dynamic AF Area" setting (page 269 of the manual) of the Custom Settings. There are the following custom settings sets possible:

a:Autofocus
b:Metering/Exposure
c:Timers/AE Lock
d:Shooting/Display
e:Bracketing/Flash
f:Controls

Each of the above custom setting sets has places for a range of settings: for example a:Autofocus has ten palces, a1–a10, with a1 being AF-C Priority Selection, which sets the behaviour of the shutter for Continuous-servo AF in terms giving the shutter focus or exposure priority; a2 does the same for AF-S Priority Selection; a3 selects the number of focus points; and so on for other focus setting through a10.

All of these custom settings a: through f: can be saved in one of four Custom Setting Banks (page 266 of manual), which are named "A" though "D", but which can be renamed by the user. Different combinations of settings can in each of the banks, allowing the user to switch instantly from one combination of settings for a particular type of photography to another by selecting the appropriate bank from the bank menu.

Obviously, this Custom Setting Bank system allows great flexibility in setting up and using the camera for various types of shooting. However, my understanding is that if one needs to change the Focus Mode settings from S to C and to change AF-Area Mode from, say, Single-point AF to Dynamic-area AF one has to change the relevant selectors on the front and back of the camera, as well as possibly changing the default Custom Bank, say from A to B, if one is also changing, say from 9 focus points to 51 focus points with 3D-tracking. It seems to me that having to change two selectors, one on the front and the other on the back of the camera, as well as changing a menu item from Custom Bank A to Custom Bank B could become rather cumbersome, just to change the autofocus setup to be used. Am I correct on this?

Assuming I have understood correctly how the autofocus system can be set up for the various combinations I still have no idea which settings are best to use for various type of photography: as Hogan says in his D300 review, one needs to do a lot of testing to figure out how to use the various combination of autofocus settings in the most practical and effective way, I suppose that his hefty eBook has a lot of the information I need, but I cannot wait four weeks for delivery of the CD, since this is the only way he sell the eBook. As I'm in Windhoek on business I don't have time to test this before I go off on ten days vacation in game parks next week. Therefore, it would be most helpful if someone could indicate what are the best settings for the four types of situations defined in my posting #5 above.

—Mitch/Windhoek
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10268776@N00/
 
Last edited:
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Taking a shot at this for you Mitch.

Mitch Alland said:
Thanks, Ray. Yes, there are a lot of possible combinations: there are three Focus Mode settings on the front of the camera and three AF-Area Mode settings on the back; and then there are four different focus point settings [(9 /21 / 51 / 51 (3D tracking)] that can be applied to the Dynamic Area AF Mode (or to some other modes as well?). Let's start with settings for the following types of situations:

1. Landscape or still life: my understanding is that one would use the "S" setting on the front (Single-servo AF) and "Single Point AF" on the back and then use the Multi-Selector to move focus point to the object to be focused on.

S mode and Single point. You can move your point around

2. Street photography with person approaching — someone is coming towards you and want camera to track sugject: my inclination would be to use the "C" setting on the front and the "Dynamic Area AF" on the back, but how many focus points should one use — 51 with Dynamic Tracking? Or is there a better way?

I would think C mode for follow focus than I would pick Dynamic -area AF mode. Some may say Auto -area since it detects the subject. But two people moving in different directions could lead to a miss. Mitch personally i try to keep this simple and avoid the auto everything stuff. i just don't trust auto everything but that is me

3. Street photography with photagrapher passing subject, or subjects, on the side: same settings as situation 2?

Yes i would say the same if you follow your subject. If you don't follow than S mode and Dynamic maybe better . BTW I have mine set for 9 points

4. Portait with focus on eyes: subject is sitting across table from photographer at 1.0–1.5m and in conversation both photographer and subject may be moving body forward and backwards and side to side. What are the best settings for this.

For me S and single point. I just move the Af point to the right for a vertical so it hits the eye area all the time

Another question: when would one use "Auto Area AF" with either S or C?


I would say S


Now more experienced Nikon shooters may say something different but I NEVR totally depend on camera to think for me and this is the bad part about AF, people feel it is the wonder drug . It is not, it can't think like you do and can't predict what you will do next. It's nice but dangerous IMHO to completely trust it. I don't care how good the system is, I trust myself more.
Click to expand...
 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
BTW when all else fails i will go single point in the middle and focus and compose. Just like I do with the M8 because in my head, I trust myself and the camera better in this mode than anything else. Not to say other will not work , i just know this always will if you know what i mean. I miss or screw up i don't get paid or worse lose a client forever.
 
H

harmsr

Workshop Member
Hi Mitch,

No time tonight, as I'm finishing something that must go out in the morning.

I'll spend some time tomorrow on the settings that I use and post them.

Best,

Ray
 
Lisa

Lisa

New member
BTW when all else fails i will go single point in the middle and focus and compose. Just like I do with the M8 because in my head, I trust myself and the camera better in this mode than anything else. Not to say other will not work , i just know this always will if you know what i mean.
Click to expand...
Hey, that's how I *always* use my D200. Like you said, I know what I want to focus on better than the camera does, and it's predictable. It works for me...

Lisa
 
J

jlm

Workshop Member
the moose site is a very useful treatment. he makes the point that a large part of what you pay for in the D3, D300, is the ability to focus on moving targets. I am also of the old school, but this new-fangled focusing merits close attention.
Moose basically sets his body to continuous, 9 fps, (if shutter held down), then uses 21 point AF, where the selected focus point (could be the center point) is surrounded by 20 others to track the moving (toward or away) subject. you are panning the sideways movement, of course, to keep the subject framed. there are a few tricks in the moose dialogs; definitely a good read
 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Yes it is a good read and makes sense of what he says. i may have to use the Dynamic a little more but I may not go as high as 21 points.
 
Jonathon Delacour

Jonathon Delacour

Subscriber Member
Although this might be slightly off-topic (in a discussion about focusing), I thought it might be useful to point to this D300 Custom Settings Spreadsheet at Nikonians.org. The author explains:
I’ve tried to be thoughtful about the settings I have chosen to illustrate these modes, but the ultimate purpose of the spreadsheet is to help you to learn the camera and to make it your own. Please take these settings only as a starting point to help you personalize the camera so that it reflects how you use it. They are there to get you started using some of the amazing capabilities of the D300.
​
I think that having a whole range of example settings can make it much easier to choose one's own.
 
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