Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Most modern digital SLR cameras are equipped with advanced autofocus systems that are often hard to understand. Whether you are shooting with an entry-level or professional DSLR, knowing how to use autofocus system effectively is essential to get sharp images. A badly-focused, blurry image can ruin a photograph and you cannot repair it in post-processing. Some professionals often end up converting their images to black and white, to hide their focusing problems. If you learn how to focus correctly, you do not have to resort to such measures and you can deliver much better results to your clients and family. Simply put, accurate focus translates to sharper images and that is something everyone is looking for in photographs today. I know some photographers will argue with me on this, saying that sometimes image blur yields a creative look, but it is one thing when you do it on purpose and another, when you consistently mess up just because you dont know how to focus well with your camera. Once you learn how to properly focus with your camera, you can then decide whether you want to blur something on purpose.
In this article, I will teach you everything I know about focus modes on modern DSLRs. Since autofocus functionality depends on what camera type and model you are using, I obviously cannot go over all available AF modes, so I will only go through a couple of examples. Since I am a Nikon user, I will put more focus on Nikon DSLRs. Please note that this article is for more advanced DSLR users, since I go through each mode in plenty of detail.
cheapest entry-level DSLRs are now equipped with rather complex autofocus systems. So, how do the modern camera autofocus systems work? Lets go over a few basics.
points, along with the layout vary not only by the manufacturer, but also by camera models. Take a look at these two types of autofocus systems with a different number of AF points and different layouts:
contrast. Remember, Passive Autofocus completely relies on light that passes through the lens. If the quality of that light is poor, so is autofocus performance. Talking about quality of light lens condition, its quality and maximum aperture are other important factors that affect AF performance. If you have an old lens with all kinds of physical problems such as mold, dirt, too much dust or back-focus/front-focus problems, your AF performance will surely suffer. In terms of lens maximum aperture, there is a reason why pro-level f/2.8 lenses focus much faster than f/5.6 consumer zoom lenses. All modern digital cameras focus while the lens aperture is wide open, so whenever you change the lens aperture to a higher number like f/16, the aperture actually gets changed only when you take a picture. Therefore, larger apertures are better than smaller apertures for better autofocus operation, with the exception of very fast f/1.4 prime lenses. Ideally, the lens aperture should be between f/2.0 and f/2.8 for best autofocus performance. Smaller apertures like f/5.6 mean less light passing through the lens, making autofocus operation more difficult and very large apertures like f/1.4 have a very shallow depth of field, which makes it difficult for AF systems to get accurate focus. Lastly, the overall quality and robustness of the AF system in a camera is an extremely important factor. For example, the top-of-the-line professional Canon 1D Mark III camera designed for sports and wildlife photographers was dreaded with autofocus problems when it was released and it took a while for Canon to release firmware updates to improve autofocus performance, which angered a lot of professional photographers. Many of them ended up switching to Nikon just because of this problem. The camera was packed with all kinds of autofocus features, but AF just did not work right under certain conditions. If you are looking for the best AF systems in modern DSLRs, especially if you shoot sports and wildlife, Nikon and Canon offer the most advanced and robust autofocus systems (other manufacturers are catching up pretty quickly though).
placing the focus at the predicted point. The nice thing about the Continuous mode, is that it will automatically readjust focus if you or the subject move. All you need to do is continue half-pressing the shutter button or holding the dedicated AF button (if you have one) on your camera and the autofocus system will automatically track any movement. Compared to Single Area AF, the Continuous mode is generally highly configurable (especially on highend DSLR models) and can do complicated tasks, such as tracking subjects with a single or multiple focus points.
Rotating the dial to C will switch to Continuous/AF-C mode, rotating the dial to S will switch to Single Area Focus/AF-S mode and M is for switching to manual focus.
3) AF-Area Modes
To make things more confusing, many DSLRs also have something called AF-Area Mode, which allows photographers to choose several options to use while operating in Single Area/Continuous modes like AF-S, AF-C, AFA and AF-F. Many of the entry-level/semi-professional DSLRs allow you to pick a certain AF-Area Mode within camera menu, while pro-level DSLRs like Nikon D300s/D700/D3s/D3x have a dedicated AF-Area Mode Selector on the back of the camera. So, what do these AF-Area Modes do? Lets go through them one by one.
The Dynamic AF-Area Mode works great for fast-moving subjects like birds, because it is not easy to keep focus on birds in flight. Higher-end DSLRs have the ability to control the number of surrounding focus points to activate for this type of shooting. For example, the Nikon D7000 allows choosing between 9 points, 21 points and 39 points in Dynamic AF-Area Mode. So if you only wanted to track a small portion of the scene, you would pick 9 points and if you wanted to track the entire frame, you could pick all 39 points to track your subject. Lastly, many of the modern DSLRs from Nikon have a 3D-Tracking Mode, where you initially pick the AF point and the camera will automatically activate as many focus points as needed to track subject movement. The cool thing about the 3DTracking mode, is that it uses a special scene-recognition system that actually reads colors and will track your subject automatically, letting you compose your shot while the subject moves. For example, if you are photographing a white bird among many black birds, the 3D-Tracking system will automatically focus on and track the white bird, even if you move your camera or if the bird moves, letting you compose your shot. If you compare 3D-Tracking to Dynamic AF-Area with a certain number of focus points selected, the 3D-Tracking method will use all available focus points on the camera to track your subject, while Dynamic AF-Area mode divides the focus points to zones, activating only the surrounding focus points (as many as you selected). For example, if you choose 9 focus points, subject tracking will only work within a zone of 9 total focus points that are surrounding the focus point you picked. If your subject moves away from all 9 focus points, the camera will not be able to focus on the subject anymore. In 3D-Tracking mode, the camera will continue tracking the subject (newly selected focus points will be displayed in the viewfinder), even if it significantly moves away from your initial focus point. I use the Dynamic AF-Area mode a lot when photographing birds and wildlife and typically shoot with a smaller number of focus points activated, between 9 and 21 focus points. I have some mixed feelings about the 3D-Tracking mode for photographing birds hand-held, since it does not seem to be as quick as the non-3D mode, especially when a smaller number of focus points is used.
DSLRs, but it is called Automatic AF point selection in One-Shot AF mode. I never use this mode, because I want to control where to focus, instead of letting the camera do it for me.
Nikon Focus Modes AF-Area Mode AF-S Mode AF-C Mode AF-A Mode
Note: Not all of the above focus modes may be available on your Nikon DSLR. The new AF-F and other AF-Area video modes are not included in the above chart. Camera acquires focus only once and on the selected single focus point only. Camera focuses on the selected single focus point only and will reacquire focus if the subject moves. Camera detects if subject is stationary or moving and will automatically select whether to use AFS or AF-C. Only one focus point is used in either case. Camera detects if subject is stationary or moving and will automatically select whether to use AFS or AF-C.
You choose an initial focus point and once the camera acquires focus on the subject, it will engage the surrounding focus
Nikon Focus Modes AF-Area Mode AF-S Mode AF-C Mode points to track subject movement. The number of surrounding focus points to use can be selected in camera menu. Disabled, works just like Single-Point AF Instead of using a particular number of surrounding focus points, the 3D-Tracking activates all available focus points and uses color recognition to track subjects. You pick the initial focus point and the camera will track the subject across the frame automatically, letting you recompose the shot without losing focus on the subject. Camera automatically picks a focus point on a moving subject and will track the subject in the frame. Camera detects if subject is stationary or moving and will automatically select whether to use AFS or AF-C. AF-A Mode
Auto-Area AF Mode
Camera detects if subject is stationary or moving and will automatically select whether to use AFS or AF-C.
It goes without saying that you should always focus on the closest eye of your subject, especially when standing close.
4.
Custom Settings->AF-C Priority Selection: Release+Focus Hopefully the above scenarios will be useful for you to understand when to use which Autofocus and AF-Area modes. Now might be a good time to go back and review the chart above and see how well you can understand it.
2.
Use the AF-Assist feature on your camera or speedlight. It is there for a reason use it every time you have problems focusing in low-light. To activate it, make sure that AF-Assist is turned on in your camera menu and the AF-S mode is selected.
3. 4.
Look for contrast and edges. Instead of trying to focus on plain, one-colored objects, look for contrasty objects that stand out from the background. Add some light/Turn on more lights. Sounds pretty basic, but if you are having problems focusing, what is simpler than adding a few more lights or turning more lights in the room? Lola and I were once photographing a corporate event and the ballroom was so dim, that we had a hard time getting good shots. We both switched to AF-S and were using our flashes for focusing, but high ceilings and lack of ambient light were making our images look very flat. Lola then approached an event coordinator and simply asked her to turn up the lights and our problems all went away and we came back with beautiful pictures!
5.
Watch your shutter speed. It might look like bad focus, but it might actually be camera shake that causes your images to look soft. Using a lens with Vibration Reduction technology certainly helps, but still make sure to keep your shutter speed relatively high. If you have to work with slow shutter speeds, work on your hand-holding technique.
6. 7.
Use a tripod. With a tripod, you can get very accurate focus in low-light, without worrying about moving your camera. Use Live View Contrast Detect. If you are using a tripod, try focusing in Live View mode using Contrast Detect. Thats how I focused on the moon during the last lunar eclipse, as described in my how to photograph a lunar eclipse article. Whenever I use a tripod, I always try to use contrast detect, because it gives me better and more accurate results. Even manually focusing is much easier in Live View mode, since you see a lot more on the larger LCD than inside the camera viewfinder.
8.
Use a bright flashlight. If your camera does not have a built-in AF-Assist lamp, use a bright flashlight and ask someone to point it at your subject while you try to focus. Switch to manual focus mode once focus is acquired, then ask your helper to turn off the flashlight and take a picture without you or your subject moving. For photographing landscapes at night, a laser pointer works quite well
9.
Use manual focus. Kind of goes against the title of this article, but you should still learn how to manually focus your lenses and not be afraid to do it. Sometimes manually focusing your lens is quicker than trying to use any of the autofocus methods. Many landscape, macro and architecture photographers shoot with manual focus lenses.
Whether you are using an entry-level DSLR like Nikon D3100 or a top of the line DSLR like Nikon D3x, there is a special button on the back of your camera labeled AE-L / AF-L that can be quite useful in many situations. After I wrote the Autofocus Modes article, I received several requests from our readers, asking me to explain what the AE-L / AF-L button does, when it should be used and how it can be combined with different autofocus modes. In this article, I will try to go through this button in depth and explain how I personally use it on my cameras.
1) AutoExposure-Lock / AutoFocus-Lock
The AE-L / AF-L button stands for AutoExposure-Lock and AutoFocus-Lock and its primary function is to lock camera exposure and/or focus. What does this exactly mean? If you are using any of the camera modes like Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or other scene modes, the button could be used to force the camera to use a certain value for shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance. Since in any of the automatic modes the camera uses its metering sensor to determine the optimal exposure, instead of having your camera re-evaluate the light every time you recompose, you could lock the exposure to a value you are comfortable with hence the term AutoExposure-Lock. There are many cases where using this feature is very helpful. One example is when you photograph panoramas. It is extremely important to use exactly the same exposure from frame to frame in panoramic photography. If one exposure differs from another, it is practically impossible for panoramic software to stitch images together in a consistent, continuous form. Another good example is if you are photographing a subject with a constantly changing background and you want to expose the subject exactly the same way from shot to shot. Basically, any time consistency of exposure is required and you do not want to switch to a full manual mode, the AE-L button can be very useful. What about AutoFocus-Lock (AF-L)? Similar to exposure lock, autofocus lock can be used to stop the camera from making the lens reacquire focus when you recompose. For example, if you are photographing indoors in dim environment, you will find that using the center focus point is going to give you the most accurate results. This is because the center focus point is always the most accurate, especially on entry-level DSLRs that only have one crosstype sensor. So if you want to use the center focus point to acquire focus, it does not always mean that you want to position your subject in the center. As soon as you recompose your shot and half-press the shutter button again, the camera will be forced to reacquire focus. If you shoot in AF-S or Single Area Focus Mode, you could continue half-pressing the shutter button without releasing it when recomposing your shot, which would not force the camera to reacquire focus. However, if the camera is set to AF-C or Continuous Focus Mode, then the camera will always continuously reacquire focus when you half-press the shutter button and recompose your shot. So if you do not want to deal with these situations, you could use the AutoFocus-Lock feature of the camera to lock the focus on your subject, then you could recompose the shot and take a picture. The focus will remain on your subject and will not change, as long as you continue to hold the button. Please note that you have to be careful when recomposing shots like this, because the focus plane that is parallel to camera sensor changes, which will often result in bad focus when using large apertures.
control the behavior of the AE-L / AF-L button. For example, the Nikon D3100 only has 5 options for this button: AF / AE lock, AE lock only, AF lock only, AE lock (hold) and AF-ON (see more on these below), while Nikon D300s has all of these, plus 12 more ways to control the buttons behavior. So the number of ways to customize the AE -L / AF-L button will depend on the camera model.
You should see some or all of the below: 1. AE/AF lock the default behavior of the AE-L/AF-L button. Will lock both camera exposure (shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance) and lens focus. The feature will only be active while you hold down the button. Once you release it, the lock will be released as well. 2. 3. 4. AE lock only will only lock the camera exposure, so focus will be reacquired if you recompose the shot. Also only works while you hold down the AE-L/AF-L button. AE lock (Reset on release) exposure will be locked once you press the AE-L/AF-L button and will stay locked until you take a picture, even if you release it. AE lock (Hold) exposure will be locked when the button is pressed and will stay locked even if you take multiple pictures. The lock will be automatically removed if the camera is inactive for a time period se t in the Auto meter-off delay menu setting, or can be also removed by pressing the AE-L/AF-L button again. 5. AF lock only only focus will be locked while the button is depressed. The lock is removed as soon as you release the button. Please note that when the AE-L / AF-L is depressed and the camera is set to any of the AE modes, you will see an AEL indicator in your viewfinder. If you set it to AF lock only, the indicator will not light up. You might also find many other options under Assign AE-L/AF-L button such as FV Lock, Live View, etc. I wont go over these, since these options depend on your camera and will also change the functionality of the AE-L / AF-L button. The only option I will mention, is AF-ON, because it is a very useful feature on entry-level DSLRs like Nikon D3100 and D5100. Since entry-level DSLRs do not have a dedicated autofocus AF-ON button, you can set the AE-L / AF-L button to acquire focus instead (which will de-activate focus acquisition when you half-press the shutter release). That way, you can acquire focus with the AE-L / AF-L button and take pictures with the shutter release. Then, you dont have to worry about locking your focus when you recompose, since half-pressing the shutter release button will do nothing.
So, which lock mode do I personally use and why? When I use an entry-level DSLR, I either choose AE/AF lock, so that both exposure and focus stay locked together, or I set the button to AF -ON and use manual mode to keep my exposure consistent. On higher end DSLRs with a dedicated AF-ON button, I always choose AE lock (Hold), so that only the exposure is locked the camera will not automatically reacquire focus when the AF-ON button is activated. I use this feature quite a bit when taking panoramic shots and I like the fact that the exposure stays locked while I take pictures. Once I am done, I either press the button again, or let the lock time out. Turning the camera off also releases the lock. Oh, and if you happen to change your camera mode from say Aperture Priority to Shutter Priority or to Program, the exposure values will stay locked.
So if I wanted to expose my son correctly without worrying about blowing out the background, I would switch to Spot Metering mode and position the focus point on his face. The camera would then meter off his face instead, exposing him properly and not paying attention to the background. If I take a picture and he is still underexposed, I would dial positive exposure compensation to further brighten him up or if he is overexposed, I would dial negative exposure compensation. Once my exposure looks good, I would press the AE-L / AF-L button on the camera (which is set to AE lock hold) to lock the exposure and continue taking pictures without worrying about setting the exposure again. If he constantly moves while I take pictures, I would pick Continuous Autofocus Mode (AF-C) to track his movement. Remember, all these tools are given to us to simplify our photography, so that we can concentrate more on capturing great images, rather than worrying about properly calculating the exposure. Once you learn how to use these different modes and features, you will be able to capture images the way you want to with ease. Hope you find the above article useful. Let me know if you have any questions!
Every modern DSLR has something called Metering Mode, also known as Camera Metering, Exposure Metering or simply Metering. Knowing how metering works and what each of the metering modes does is important in photography, because it helps photographers control their exposure with minimum effort and take better pictures in unusual lighting situations. In this understanding metering modes article, I will explain what metering is, how it works and how you can use it for your digital photography. When I got my first DSLR (Nikon D80), one of my frustrations was that some images would come out too bright or too dark. I had no idea how to fix it, until one day, when I learned about camera metering modes.
1) What is Metering?
Metering is how your camera determines what the correct shutter speed and aperture should be, depending on the amount of light that goes into the camera and the sensitivity of the sensor. Back in the old days of photography, cameras were not equipped with a light meter, which is a sensor that measures the amount and intensity of light. Photographers had to use hand-held light meters to determine the optimal exposure. Obviously, because the work was shot on film, they could not preview or see the results immediately, which is why they religiously relied on those light meters. Today, every DSLR has an integrated light meter that automatically measures the reflected light and determines the optimal exposure. The most common metering modes in digital cameras today are: 1. 2. 3. Matrix Metering (Nikon), also known as Evaluative Metering (Canon) Center-weighted Metering Spot Metering (Nikon), also known as Partial Metering (Canon) You can see the camera meter in action when you shoot in Manual Mode look inside the viewfinder and you will see bars going left or right, with a zero in the middle, as illustrated below.
2) Matrix Metering
Matrix Metering or Evaluative Metering mode is the default metering mode on most DSLRs. It works similarly to the above example by dividing the entire frame into multiple zones, which are then all analyzed on individual basis for
light and dark tones. One of the key factors (in addition to color, distance, subjects, highlights, etc) that affects matrix metering, is where the camera focus point is set to. After reading information from all individual zones, the metering system looks at where you focused within the frame and marks it more important than all other zones. There are many other variables used in the equation, which differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. Nikon, for example, also compares image data to a database of thousands of pictures for exposure calculation.
You should use this mode for most of your photography, since it will generally do a pretty good job in determining the correct exposure. I leave my camera metering mode on matrix metering for most of my photography needs, including landscape and portrait photography.
3) Center-weighted Metering
Using the whole frame for determining the correct exposure is not always desirable. What if you are trying to take a headshot of a person with the sun behind? This is where center-weighted metering comes in handy. Center-weighted Metering evaluates the light in the middle of the frame and its surroundings and ignores the corners. Compared to Matrix Metering, Center-weighted Metering does not look at the focus point you select and only evaluates the middle area of the image.
Use this mode when you want the camera to prioritize the middle of the frame, which works great for close-up portraits and relatively large subjects that are in the middle of the frame. For example, if you were taking a headshot of a person with the sun behind him/her, then this mode would expose the face of the person correctly, even though everything else would probably get heavily overexposed.
4) Spot Metering
Spot Metering only evaluates the light around your focus point and ignores everything else. It evaluates a single zone/cell and calculates exposure based on that single area, nothing else. I personally use this mode a lot for my bird photography, because the birds mostly occupy a small area of the frame and I need to make sure that I expose them properly, whether the background is bright or dark. Because the light is evaluated where I place my focus point, I could get an accurate exposure on the bird even when the bird is in the corner of the frame. Also, if you were taking a picture of a person with the sun behind but they occupied a small part of the frame, it is best to use the spot metering mode instead. When your subjects do not take much of the space, using Matrix or Center-weighted metering modes would most likely result in a silhouette, if the subject was back-lit. Spot metering works great for back-lit subjects like that.
Another good example of using spot metering is when photographing the Moon. Because the moon would take up a small portion of the frame and the sky is completely dark around it, it is best to use Spot metering that way, we are only looking at the light level coming from the moon and nothing else. Some DSLRs like the Canon 1D/1Ds are capable of multi-spot metering, which basically allows choosing multiple spots to measure light and come up with an average value for a good exposure.