YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → The Complete Autofocus Guide! Nikon Z6 Nikon Z7 Nikon Z5 Nikon Z50. Best Autofocus Settings.

The Complete Autofocus Guide! Nikon Z6 Nikon Z7 Nikon Z5 Nikon Z50. Best Autofocus Settings. — Transcript

by Ricci Talks · 12,911 words · 1,721 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00hey everybody in today's video we're
0:02going to be talking about autofocus
0:05[Music]
0:23so this is a video that I've been
0:26wanting to make for a long time now and
0:27there's been a couple of different
0:29versions that are made and I just wasn't
0:30quite happy with them so decided to put
0:34a lot of effort and kind of a lot more
0:36time into making this video to make it
0:38as good as it can be so therefore that
0:41becomes as useful to you guys as
0:44possible so this isn't a review of
0:47autofocus or anything like that this is
0:50showing you how to get the best out of
0:53your autofocus or how to kind of really
0:55understand how the auto focusing system
0:58in a Zed 6 Zed 7 or is ed 50 works you
1:03could also apply this to D 780 but
1:06there's a couple of differences here and
1:08there so fundamentally this is designed
1:10for Zed 6 z 7 and Zed 50 what I want to
1:15go through is we are going to talk about
1:17all the different focusing modes what's
1:19the difference between single point
1:21dynamic wide area small wide area large
1:24auto area face tracking I detect we're
1:27gonna go through all those different
1:28options I'm then going to show you
1:30example images pictures that I've taken
1:32myself using my z7 using my Zed 6 I'm
1:36going to talk to you about the different
1:37modes I used why I use those modes for
1:40those certain types of photography some
1:43of them would have been before firmware
1:453 some of them would have been after
1:46firmware 3 but I'm just going to talk
1:48you through why I make the decisions
1:50that I do and then we're going to talk
1:52through this auto focusing menu we're
1:53going to go through all the different
1:55settings how they affect your auto
1:58focusing system in this menu there's no
2:00right or wrong setting it depends on the
2:03type of photography that you do it
2:04depends on how you want your camera to
2:06work so I'm going to explain the
2:08settings to you and then go through
2:10different situations where you might
2:11want it to be set one way or the other
2:13so you're gonna have to have your own
2:14kind of decision as to what the setting
2:16needs to be but I will talk to you about
2:18different situations and scenarios so
2:21let's make a start
2:30so first of all when I want to talk
2:33about are the different modes so in your
2:35camera when you shoot in still images
2:37the options you have for different
2:39focusing modes are AFS AFC and manual
2:43focus so AFS first of all your camera
2:46will focus once if the subject moves or
2:49if you move generally it might be out of
2:51focus because the cameras not going to
2:53refocus it's not going to follow or
2:55track a moving subject generally
2:57speaking AFS is for landscape
3:00architecture interiors macro still life
3:04types tough situations where you are in
3:07control of the subject it's not going to
3:09move your camera is not going to move
3:10you might be on a tripod all that type
3:12of stuff when it comes to AF c AF c
3:16obviously stands for autofocus
3:18continuous that camera in this mode will
3:21continuously autofocus this is extremely
3:23useful almost a necessity for wildlife
3:27sports family kind of kids running
3:30around whatever it is if you're not in
3:32control of it if it's running around if
3:34it's moving if you want your camera to
3:36continuously focus you Jim really need
3:39to be in AF C there are a lot of
3:41photographers that will leave their
3:42camera in AF C all the time because
3:45effectively it will only autofocus if
3:48you're asking the camera to so if you're
3:50not pushing the half press on the
3:53shutter button or if you're not pushing
3:55the AF
3:55um button then AF continuous will just
3:58stop auto focusing so you do have to be
4:00still tell the camera to autofocus you
4:03then have manual focus and this is very
4:06self-explanatory you either turn the
4:08lens into manual focus or the camera
4:09into manual focus then you mande focus
4:11with the ring forward and back if you
4:13want to choose the focus yourself there
4:15is also another mode that's available to
4:16you but it's only available when you're
4:18in video and that would be called AF F
4:20so when you choose a F F you're in a
4:23situation where the camera will focus
4:25full time and that's what it stands for
4:28autofocus full time the camera is going
4:30to keep focusing no matter what you're
4:32doing if you doesn't matter if you're
4:34pushing a button or not you don't have
4:36to have any contact with a camera so
4:37right now I'm recording myself in AF F
4:40because I obviously can't go and hold
4:42the shutter button or icon
4:43and hold the air phone button but for
4:46stills these are your main options so I
4:49hope you understand the difference
4:50between AFS and AFC and manual focus
4:52because that's the easy bit
4:54so we're now going to go into some of
4:55the more harder detailed portions of the
4:58autofocus
5:06so you can see over in the corner here
5:08that I mean AFC and I'm going to talk
5:11you through the different autofocus area
5:13modes so first foremost we're in single
5:17point single point is really
5:19straightforward incredibly accurate it's
5:21a very small area you can obviously move
5:24that area around wherever you want that
5:26to be placed in this in the area in the
5:27scene and you can be extremely accurate
5:30with where you place it and then the
5:32autofocus would be extremely accurate
5:33with where it focuses there are a
5:35magnitude of situations where you might
5:37prefer to be in a single point but
5:39generally speaking it would be things
5:41like landscape architecture static
5:44wildlife possibly and I'll show you a
5:45couple of examples of why you might do
5:47that also macro close up again kind of
5:52those situations where you're in control
5:54of what's going on the cameras locked
5:56down you're either shooting handheld but
5:58nothing's kind of running around
5:59landscape stuff you're just in control
6:02of what's going on there's nothing
6:03really energetic or exciting going on
6:06it's groups of people one of the big
6:08questions I always get asked is you know
6:10what auto focusing mode do you use for
6:11groups of people you could just use
6:14single point remember you focus on
6:16somebody in the group and to make sure
6:18you get the whole group in focus that's
6:20not your auto focusing system that's
6:22your depth of field there's a very big
6:24difference between your auto focusing
6:26system and your depth of field from your
6:29aperture setting so keep that in mind
6:30so single point for me or my landscape
6:34stuff is shot using single point
6:43after single-point you'll get dynamic
6:47now dynamic is only available when
6:50you're in AFC so if you're following
6:52along on this video and you can't find
6:55dynamic it's probably because you're in
6:56AFS not in AFC so make sure you make
6:59sure that's correct so when it comes to
7:02the AF area dynamic we have a single
7:05point in the middle and then we have
7:06these wonderful dots around the outside
7:08this dynamic mode is very similar to the
7:10dynamic modes that you'd find in Nick on
7:12DSLRs so if we looked at D 850 for
7:15example you'd have d 9 d 25 D 72 d 153
7:21so similar to those in terms of its area
7:25this is similar to kind of the area that
7:28you would have experienced with d 25 on
7:30a d 500 or d 25 on a d 850 and how this
7:36system works is the square in the middle
7:38is still your main active point so
7:41wherever you place that that square in
7:44the middle is effectively going to be a
7:45movable single point almost the dots
7:49around the outside are there for
7:52assistance now what that means is if I
7:55was following a moving subject and that
7:57moving subject started to move out of
8:00that single point or if I was panning or
8:02tracking and that single point wasn't
8:05quite on the subject these dots around
8:08the outside are going to assist they're
8:10going to keep that subject in focus but
8:12only to a certain degree there's a
8:15length of time and there's also going to
8:18be a situation where as soon as that
8:20subject comes out of all those dots
8:21together the cameras just going to focus
8:23on something else it is entirely up to
8:26you to keep this area on the subject and
8:30realistically if it's over a longer
8:32period of time its overall about keeping
8:34that central square on the subject if
8:37there's something that comes between you
8:39and the subject or if you're just not
8:41panning fast enough or if you're not
8:43keeping this area on the subject as it's
8:46moving the camera is going to focus on
8:49something else it's either going to
8:50focus on what's behind the subject or
8:52it's going to focus on what's in front
8:53of the subject so this mode is really
8:55useful I
8:57do use it for a lot of my wildlife stuff
8:59and a lot of birds in flight but do keep
9:01in mind the effectiveness of this mode
9:04is all down to the effectiveness of how
9:06good you can track and pan and follow
9:08the subject if you can't keep up it's
9:11not the cameras fault I'll show you some
9:14examples shortly where I would use
9:16dynamic versus wide area or single point
9:19as well so keep this in mind for now
9:29so after dynamic we then have wide area
9:32small the easiest way for me to describe
9:35wide area small is like it's a larger
9:37single point however it does have if you
9:41could imagine use a bit of imagination
9:42here it does have multiple points inside
9:46that square so you can't see them but if
9:50you could imagine that you had
9:51individual single points in that square
9:53and they were all firing off trying to
9:56focus on whatever you want in that
9:57square key thing to keep in mind if the
10:01subject is in that square with something
10:05else you have no control over which one
10:08of those subjects it chooses wide area
10:11small works really well if you have a
10:13very standout subject in the shot it's
10:16not going to focus on something else but
10:18if you had an example of a bird in a
10:20tree there might be a twig that fits
10:22into this same square as the bird you
10:24have no control over what the cameras
10:27going to focus on because technically
10:29they're both within that same wide area
10:32okay and again the same as dynamic if
10:35the subject is outside of that box the
10:38camera is not going to focus on it it is
10:39all down to you it is all up to you to
10:42keep that area on the subject as it
10:44moves this area is not going to move
10:46itself I do use wide area small for
10:50birds in flight wildlife it is useful
10:53but as I say it relies on your ability
10:56to keep that on the subject as soon as
10:59that goes off the subject or something
11:00comes between you and your subject it's
11:04going to focus on something else that's
11:05what it's designed to do so I just want
11:07to talk about what I'm going to show you
11:09here so first of all you can see that
11:11I'm in wide area small and that wide
11:14area is small is covering the tripod in
11:17the foreground and then I've got a
11:18lighting stone in the background so you
11:20can see that the wide area small is put
11:22in focus to the foreground I can move it
11:24to the background but by physically
11:25moving the camera when I move to dynamic
11:28the square in the middle of dynamic is
11:30the main active point and you can see it
11:33shifts focus to the background if I move
11:35to wide area small because the whole box
11:37is the active area and because the edge
11:39of that tripod is just inside that wide
11:42area small area
11:43you can see it's put in focus back
11:45forwards this is a really good example
11:47of showing you the difference between
11:49dynamic and how the box in the middle is
11:52the main area and wide area small where
11:54even something on the very edge of wide
11:56area small is going to pull that focus
11:59to where it thinks it needs to focus in
12:02wide area small I can't tell the box to
12:04focus in the background without moving
12:06the camera
12:13so after wide-area small we then have
12:17wide area large and this is effectively
12:19a larger area as it says and again
12:21imagine that you've got individual
12:23little squares or individual little
12:25focusing points inside this square that
12:27are always looking for something to
12:28focus on that can be an advantage it can
12:31also be a disadvantage depend on what
12:33you're shooting so if you're in a
12:35situation where again you've got mixed
12:38environment in that inside that single
12:40square if you've got multiple things in
12:42that square you have no way of choosing
12:45which one of those things it's going to
12:47focus on if you had a subject here and a
12:49subject here you can't choose between
12:51those two if they're at different depths
12:53generally the camera is going to choose
12:55the one that's closest to it so keep in
12:58mind where especially when it comes to
13:01the wide area large because their area
13:03is so big it's very easy to have the
13:06subject in that box but then they become
13:08too small in the box and that's a very
13:10important point and I'll come on to that
13:13when I start showing you some examples
13:14as well so wide area large is great for
13:17larger subjects elephants trains cars
13:21airplanes because they effectively are
13:24larger they effectively fill the box if
13:27this was a small bird a woodland bird in
13:30flight I wouldn't be using wide area
13:32large because it's going to be a smaller
13:34subject in the entirety of the box when
13:37it comes to those larger subjects that's
13:39where this area is going to be more
13:40useful and again with wide area large
13:43the same as dynamic and wide area small
13:45it is up to you to keep that box on the
13:48subject the box will not move itself it
13:50will not follow with subject around the
13:52scene you have to move the camera you
13:54have to keep that box on the subject if
13:56you don't it's going to focus on
13:58something else so clearly you can see
14:01here the the box is covering both
14:03subjects but only one of them can be in
14:04focus at any one time and to get the box
14:06to stop focusing on the foreground
14:08subject I have to move the box away from
14:10that foreground subject as soon as I
14:12move the bat box back onto that
14:14foreground subject it comes back into
14:16focus again
14:18you
14:30right and then we have Auto area so when
14:33it comes to Auto area you have no
14:35control over where the camera focuses
14:38the camera is choosing exactly what it
14:40wants and in some cases that might not
14:43be what you want so again that's two
14:45kind of something to keep in mind if
14:48again your subject is in kind of a
14:50cluttered environment there's lots of
14:52things going on might be a bird in a
14:54tree you've got lots of twigs and lots
14:56of branches going around and then the
14:58bird is just a very small portion of
15:00that shot it's not going to be likely
15:03that your camera is just automatically
15:05going to choose the bird sitting in the
15:06tree doesn't quite work like that so
15:09what you need for auto area is a subject
15:13that is defined and kind of in its own
15:16frame without any distractions that the
15:19camera might pick up instead because the
15:21camera is just going to choose what it
15:22wants the key advantage to Auto area is
15:26that obviously it will move the point
15:28around the frame as the subject moves
15:30within the frame what I'm talking about
15:32here with Auto area is when I just ask
15:34the camera to focus it brings up his own
15:36little square so you'll see all these
15:38little squares pop up and I'll show you
15:40what that looks like so you can see all
15:42these little squares popping up and
15:43they're just choosing exactly what they
15:45want but I have no choice between this
15:47subject or this subject in the
15:49background they're just choosing exactly
15:50what they want to focus on as that
15:53subject moves those points will follow
15:54it around Auto area works really well
15:57for moving subjects as long as they're a
15:59defined subject so if you've got you
16:01know sports photography and you're
16:03following one particular subject and
16:05there's there's no kind of crossover if
16:08you do have a subject that kind of
16:09crosses over it might refocus on that
16:11new subject the problem with this is
16:14that you have no massive amount of
16:16control the camera just choosing what it
16:18wants
16:26in Auto area you will have subject
16:30tracking space tracking and eye tracking
16:32so when it comes to subject tracking
16:34there's a couple of different ways you
16:35can activate this now thanks to firmware
16:383.0 so the normal way that you would
16:42have done that is you would have pressed
16:43okay and it brings up this little white
16:45box so you can then put that little
16:47white box you can move it around place
16:50it on the subject and when you've placed
16:51it on the subject you press ok
16:53and it will then track and follow that
16:55subject in the frame key thing to keep
16:57in mind is that this is changed slightly
16:59since firmware 3.0 so there's now a new
17:02situation where you don't have to move
17:04it around you can effectively just place
17:06that in the middle move the camera
17:08physically place it on the subject press
17:10AF on and then it will follow that
17:12subject and then when you let go of AF
17:13on it will come back to the middle and
17:15I'll show you that I'll show you a quick
17:17video about how that works as well
17:32and then finally within Auto area you
17:35also have face tracking and eye tracking
17:38and in this mode again the camera is
17:41just gonna either if it sees a face it's
17:42gonna give you that face tracking
17:44straightaway and if it sees an eye it's
17:46going to give you that eye tracking
17:47straightaway
17:54the one mode that we haven't talked
17:56about you have to be in af-s to access
18:00that and this is called pin point and
18:03you'll notice that pin point is about
18:05four times smaller than a normal auto
18:08focusing single point a couple of things
18:11about pinpoint because loads of people
18:12get really confused by this
18:13so only if a little bit in a SS you
18:16cannot use in AF see it is extremely
18:19accurate it's very accurate auto
18:21focusing it is slow but that's why you
18:25can't use it in AF continuous when you
18:28are using pin point it will not use
18:30phase detection autofocus it will only
18:33use contrast detect auto focus pinpoint
18:38is not suitable for moving subjects
18:41anything that kind of is gonna move
18:43slightly this is for situations where
18:46everything is really locked down if
18:48you're on a tripod so we're talking
18:50about landscape we're talking about
18:51architecture we're talking about macro
18:53really small subjects in their
18:56environment where you need to be
18:57incredibly accurate with where the auto
19:00focusing sits those of you who do macro
19:02photography pinpoint allows you to
19:04choose individual diamonds in a piece of
19:06jewelry for example it is not for normal
19:10everyday photography it's slow but
19:13incredibly accurate so pin point has its
19:16place and it's very useful for a very
19:17select portion of photography but it's
19:20not for every day
19:28so one of the things that I've always
19:30seen people ask about is when they're in
19:32AFC they want the box to go green like
19:35it does when you're in AFS so in this
19:37situation here if I ask the camera to
19:39focus the box goes green and it shows me
19:41the dish locked and now obviously if I
19:44take that back out of focus and ask that
19:46to focus again the box goes green now if
19:49I change the camera to AFC and ask the
19:52camera to do the same thing the box will
19:54not go green and there's a lot of people
19:56that ask that why doesn't it go green
19:59why isn't it showing me that it locks
20:00because you're in AFC and the camera is
20:03continuously focusing you're in a
20:05situation where what would effectively
20:07happen is the box will always flicker
20:09from red to green and actually I would
20:13see that as being one of the most
20:14distracting things ever I actually have
20:16a really quick example of what that
20:18would look like if it was to go green so
20:20I'm going to run that and see show you
20:22what that would look like but you're in
20:23a situation where it's just going to be
20:25distracting so yes in AFC does not lock
20:28green that's not something I would want
20:30the camera to do because as I say I
20:32would feel like that would be
20:34distracting you might have a different
20:35opinion but personally I don't want the
20:37box to go green in AFC it only goes
20:39green when you're in AFS
20:49okay so for this next bit what I'd like
20:51to do is just talk you through some
20:53examples of shots that I've taken with
20:55my c6 with my c7 and I'm not too
20:59concerned by what they look like in
21:01terms of color and brightness and
21:02saturation on this screen that's not the
21:05point of this the point of this is
21:06obvious just to explain to you what
21:08focusing modes have used where the
21:10subject is placed why I've chosen the
21:12mode I've chosen so we can go through
21:14that type of stuff so we'll start with
21:17this shot first of all the reason we're
21:18going to start with this picture is this
21:20was taken using single point so this was
21:23taken by me whilst I'm shooting
21:24landscape photography and I'm in a
21:26situation where that will often happen
21:28where I'm shooting landscape photography
21:30there'll be some sort of wildlife event
21:32that happens and all of a sudden I go
21:34into the kind of this mad panic where I
21:36need to try and take a wildlife shuffle
21:37shot at the same time and that generally
21:40means that I'm not quite chosen the
21:41right settings but it's not the end of
21:43the world so I was shooting landscapes
21:45with my Zed 7 with mar 2014 into I am
21:49using 2470 for a bird shot but it does
21:52also show you how close this bird
21:54allowed me to get at 70 millimeters I'm
21:58at 4 hundredths of a second I'm at f/4
22:00and then I'm just using an ISO of 560
22:02ISO but the key thing about the auto
22:05focusing mode here is that this was
22:07taken using single point and the reason
22:09I'm in single point is because I'm going
22:11for a static shot so I want a static
22:15shot of that bird sat on this wire rail
22:17if I was going for a shot where he was
22:20in flight as he takes off and I want
22:22that shot of the kind of the wings
22:23moving as he's flying through the air
22:24I'd either be in dynamic or wide area
22:27small but I'm not going for that shot
22:28I've not got a long enough lens on it's
22:31just not the type of shot that I think
22:32I'm gonna try and get so I know that I'm
22:35only gonna go for that static shot if I
22:37get it I get it if I don't I don't it's
22:38not the end of the world so I'm in
22:40single point here and move the single
22:42point across to the side of my frame to
22:45give me the connecticut of space rule of
22:48thirds composition I focus on the
22:50subject with single point using back
22:52button focus I use AF on I push that the
22:55camera focuses I take the shot really
22:57nice and simple for some of the more
22:58detailed situations I would have been
23:01using either dynamic or wide area
23:02smaller so
23:03of the other modes and we'll come on to
23:05those next so this shot here I am using
23:08a Zed 7 with a 50 millimeter 1.8 again
23:10this kind of shows you how close I am to
23:13the subject I'm in a situation where is
23:15a lot of birds flying around there's a
23:16lot of things going on I'm at 2,000 and
23:18a second because I want that shot in
23:20flight
23:20I'm also f 1.8 so really pushing the
23:23auto focusing system here and then I'm
23:25at an ISO of 720 so the key thing here
23:28is that because I'm on the 50 millimeter
23:30lens the subject is quite small in the
23:32frame and I do have a crop of this image
23:34that I'm going to show you in a minute
23:35but because I want this subject in
23:37flight I am gonna go for dynamic a
23:39couple of reasons for that
23:40when it comes to the dynamic mode
23:41obviously we have the smaller square in
23:43the middle I can place that smaller
23:44square on the bird as he's flying if I'm
23:47not quite fast enough if I'm not quite
23:49fast enough and moving the camera to
23:51keep it on the subject those points
23:53around the outside are going to help me
23:54if I was in wide area small or wide area
23:58large because then the whole square or
24:00the whole point starts to look at the
24:03whole situation that bird might actually
24:05be too small in that wide area
24:08especially wide area large if we had
24:10that larger square this birds just going
24:13to be too small in that square and you
24:14guessed it it's going to focus on the
24:16vegetation in the background so for this
24:18shot I've shot it in dynamic and this is
24:21a crop of that image so I've cropped
24:23right in to make him bigger in the frame
24:26using the advantage that I have of
24:28megapixels because it's taken on a Zed 7
24:30but also using the advantage of that 50
24:32millimeter 1.8 because of how sharp that
24:3550 millimeter 1.8 is even when shooting
24:38at 1.8 gives me their lovely depth of
24:40field nice subject separation eyes beaks
24:43are all nice and sharp a little bit of
24:45movement in the wings but in terms of
24:46focus dynamic mode keeping that middle
24:49Square and the dynamic area on the
24:51subject means that I get a wonderfully
24:53in sharp InFocus picture this is also a
24:56situation where I would go to dynamic
24:58over wide area small and I often switch
25:01between both of those modes they're kind
25:03of a most two most used modes
25:05realistically but I won't try and
25:08explain to you why I chose dynamic
25:10versus choosing wide area small in this
25:12instance so with this shot there's a lot
25:14going on first of all we've kind of got
25:16the the reeds in
25:17in the foreground of the bird sat on
25:19we've also then got a lot of cobwebs
25:21kind of joining a lot of those reeds
25:23together we've got a bit of grass kind
25:25of growing up there's a lot of stuff
25:27that's in the way that the camera might
25:29just want to focus on instead so this is
25:32taken in dynamic it means that I can
25:34purposefully use the middle box of the
25:37dynamic area to choose exactly where I
25:39want the camera to focus so I can place
25:41that middle box in my viewfinder I can
25:44move it around and place it just on the
25:46neck in between kind of where that Reed
25:48is and also where the cobweb is as well
25:52if I was in wide area small even wide
25:55area small in that shape box it's
25:57generally gonna either choose this
25:58middle stem here or it's going to choose
26:01either the back side of the bird because
26:02I don't have a preference or all the
26:05control to tell wide-area small where it
26:08focuses anything in that inside that box
26:11is fair game
26:12okay so this is why I would use dynamic
26:15instead of wide area small for this
26:17particular shot don't get too concerned
26:19about how fast my shutter speed is my
26:22share speed is this fast because to the
26:24left hand side I was shooting
26:25kingfishers with my Zed seven this is
26:27just I noticed this guy at the corner
26:29Murray so I pan round and I took the
26:30shot and I just didn't have the chance
26:32to change my shutter speed so that's why
26:34my shutter speed is so high and then 5.6
26:36because I'm obviously using the 200 to
26:38500 and then iso 720 okay so for this
26:42shot this shot is taken with dynamic a
26:45couple of reasons why i've chose dynamic
26:46it could have realistically also been
26:48taken a wide area small but I'll talk
26:50about why I've chosen dynamic over wide
26:53area small so I'm using my Zed seven
26:57I've got the 500 millimeter 5.6 I'm at
27:00two and a half thousand of a second bird
27:01in flight I need to make sure my should
27:03have speed is fast enough
27:04MF 5.6 because the lens is left 5.6 and
27:08then I'm also shooting a 10 is over 180
27:10so I'm using dynamic again because it
27:14gives me that control of the square in
27:16the middle I can choose that smaller
27:17area the dots around the outside are
27:19there to help me but the main square
27:21again is just telling the camera where I
27:23want it to focus so I can place that
27:25middle square around the neck or kind of
27:27breast or head area of the
27:28of the bird in flight and as that birds
27:31flying I can then keep that area by
27:33panning and moving their area on the
27:35subject so as he's flying across I'm
27:36just moving the camera with him to keep
27:38him on the subject therefore the camera
27:40keeps it in focus if I was in wide area
27:42small I'd get generally the same result
27:45my only issue with wide area small is
27:47that if I was to put that over the full
27:49body of the bird what can happen is as
27:51the bird brings his wing down because
27:54effectively anything in the box is fair
27:57game remember it can focus anywhere
27:59inside that box as that wing comes down
28:01it might actually refocus further or
28:04closer to me on the edge of the wing
28:05meaning that I don't get that kind of
28:08eye and the head nice and sharp
28:09whereas in dynamic because I have the
28:12smaller square in the middle I can keep
28:14that smaller square exactly at the point
28:16of focus where I want it to be on the
28:18neck on the head of the subject
28:19obviously the effectiveness of this does
28:23depend on how good you are at panning
28:26and tracking and following a moving
28:27subject there is going to be the fact
28:31that if you just can't keep that smaller
28:34square in dynamic or if you can't keep
28:35the dynamic area on the move in subject
28:37the camera is going to do what it thinks
28:39is correct by just focusing on what
28:42you're pointing at instead so it can't
28:45entirely compensate for you not being
28:48able to kind of keep that point on the
28:50subject if that makes sense it's all
28:51down to you and how you manage and pan
28:54and track as you follow a subject in
28:56flight so for this show here I'm in a
28:58situation where I need to be incredibly
28:59accurate with my autofocus I don't want
29:01to be in a situation where either front
29:04focuses so it might focus on this patch
29:05of grass here or it chooses something
29:07else other than the bird and this is a
29:09another example of why I would use
29:11dynamic over wide area small so if I was
29:15in wide area small or large the same
29:17thing would happen you've got that big
29:19box area or wide area small you've got
29:21that box area around the subject the
29:23cameras then got free rein to choose
29:25whatever it wants inside that box and if
29:27the edge of the box or the bottom of the
29:29box comes down here as I mentioned it
29:31likes to focus on things that are closer
29:33to it it might focus towards the bottom
29:35here it's not going to see that bird and
29:38then refocus on that it doesn't know
29:40that this is the subject that I want
29:41whereas with dynamic I can put that
29:45smaller square on the bird itself the
29:48camera keeps that area in focus if he
29:50does take off if he does go into flight
29:52and then in a situation where I need to
29:54pan I need to follow that subject to
29:56keep it in focus but with this situation
29:58here this is a prime example of why I
30:00would use dynamic and why I would not
30:02use wide area large or wide area small
30:05for this particular situation I also
30:07wouldn't use auto area because in auto
30:09area the camera just is going to look at
30:10everything and it might go oh this is a
30:13really nice piece of grass I'm going to
30:14focus on this grass so in this situation
30:17I want to be as accurate as possible I'm
30:19going to tell the camera where I wanted
30:20to focus by using dynamic point moving
30:23across my frame putting it on the
30:25subject focusing it taking the shot
30:27using back button focus AF on I push the
30:29AF on button the camera focuses I take
30:31multiple frames and the camera just
30:33keeps that subject in focus and again if
30:35I move the camera if that dynamic mode
30:37moves it's obviously going to refocus on
30:39what its moved to or if the subject
30:41moves and I don't move with it
30:43the camera just going to refocus on
30:44what's there instead of the subject
30:46these shots that I'm going to take you
30:48through next are going to be shot with
30:50wide area small the reason I chose wide
30:52area small here is because these
30:54subjects are very erratic and there's
30:56not going to be a kind of distinct area
30:59that I want to always just focus on as
31:01long as the birds in focus in general
31:03bounine in my my apertures at F five
31:05point six then I'm happy with that so
31:07for this shot in particular wide area
31:09small I make sure the bird is inside
31:12that box the camera then it's then going
31:14to focus on what it wants inside that
31:16box so I make sure that bird sticks in
31:17my wide area small box and I've men got
31:20kind of the progression as I follow this
31:23bird for the next five to ten minutes of
31:24different shots so same thing same bird
31:28same subject same camera same lens
31:30this was taken 30 seconds away from each
31:32other wide area small I still keep that
31:35bird in the box and the camera does the
31:36rest for me when they're flying past me
31:38as they're kind of panning across again
31:40just wide area small there's nothing
31:42else realistically in the frame that the
31:45camera is going to be confused by
31:46because that bird is generally kind of a
31:48medium sized bird it's not a small
31:50woodland bird within in a situation
31:52where it feels a good chunk of that wide
31:55air
31:55small it means the cameras going to be
31:57really accurate with where it needs to
31:58focus so in this situation here I've
32:00only focused on one of them and I'm just
32:02lucky that the other bird is also in my
32:04depth of field I'm at F 5.6 and that's
32:06also the same case here I've just
32:08focused on one of the birds and I'm
32:09lucky that the one behind is also in my
32:11depth of field there's no magic or
32:13trickery going on here it's just look
32:14I'm using wide area small on this bird
32:17here and it's my depth of field that's
32:19covered this second bird remember your
32:21point of focus your focusing point
32:24controls where your cameras going to
32:27focus it does not control your depth of
32:29field
32:29I should have effectively either been
32:31shooting at F five point six I got away
32:33with that but maybe I could have been at
32:35f/8 to give me that larger depth of
32:37field to make sure I get both birds in
32:39focus but for this shot I got away with
32:41it it worked but I'm lucky I embrace the
32:43fact that this is a lucky shot that my
32:46settings might not have been quite right
32:47on a different location or a different
32:49situation so for this shot here I'm
32:52going back to dynamic and the reason for
32:54that is is a lot going on there's a lot
32:56of stuff around the subject that the
32:57camera might focus on instead and I
32:59definitely do not want that to happen so
33:01I need to be accurate again I'm using
33:03that small square in the dynamic mode
33:05placing that on the subject itself
33:07making sure that camera is not going to
33:09focus on these trees these branches
33:11around the outside if you can imagine I
33:13was in wide areas small that wide area
33:15small might cover quite a large area
33:17we're in a situation where the camera
33:19might go oh actually I want to focus on
33:21this branch I want to focus on this tree
33:22here so to be as accurate as possible in
33:26this difficult situation I'm in dynamic
33:28I used the smaller square in the middle
33:30of dynamic place that where I want focus
33:32it take the shot
33:32this is also taken on a Zed 7 500
33:36millimetres 3,200 of a second am
33:39handheld 500 millimeter lens at 7 it
33:43does mean that my ISO goes up to 5000
33:45but that's nothing for me doesn't really
33:46bother me at 5,000 ISO still works as a
33:48really nice shot so it's not in the
33:50world this shot was taken using wide
33:52area small and I'm in a situation where
33:55again I'm shooting landscapes at the
33:56same time as this picture so this is
33:58taken at sunset hence why my ISO is so
34:01high but I'm shooting kind of landscapes
34:03in one minute and then all of a sudden
34:05oh there's a heron sitting over there I
34:06want to go get that shot of that heron
34:08and I then choose to switch to my 500
34:11millimeter prime I generally carry it
34:13everywhere with me I go to the slowest
34:15shutter speed that I kind of dare really
34:17when shooting handheld with birds in
34:19flight Rihanna said 7 high-resolution
34:21cameras they need that fast assured
34:22speed
34:2314400 iso for this shot but in terms of
34:26autofocus I'm using wide area small and
34:29the reason for that again there's
34:30nothing kind of interacting with the
34:32subject that the camera is going to be
34:34confused by we're in a situation where
34:36it's very clear I can put that wide area
34:38small box on the subject cameras gonna
34:41focus is going to take the shot now it
34:43is a static shot so I could have gone to
34:44single point or dynamic but I don't know
34:47when he's going to take off if I was in
34:49a single point when he wants to fly away
34:51I want to follow that on a track that
34:53subject it just so happens that he never
34:55did but I was ready for it in wide area
34:57small in case he did okay so for these
35:00next few shots I'm going to talk you
35:01through some of my Kingfisher shots I
35:02mentioned I really like shooting
35:03kingfishers I happily spend all my time
35:06effort and money shooting kingfishers if
35:08I could this one here really nice and
35:10same but it's just a static shot but
35:11he's sat on a perch he could take off at
35:13any point so the key thing here is is
35:16that yes I want to be accurate with my
35:18autofocus making sure the eyes in focus
35:20making sure that I get nice kind of
35:22sharpness and detail but I also want to
35:25be ready for when he does take off and
35:27there's a couple of different situations
35:28or scenarios where I'll use different
35:31modes so there's a couple of different
35:33examples here but for this one this was
35:34actually taken in dynamic and it does
35:36mean that I can place that middle square
35:38on the subjects face on his eye make
35:41sure it's nice and sharp but I'm also
35:43ready for when he does take off and
35:44that's kind of reflected in my shutter
35:46speed and my aperture settings so make
35:48sure that my show speed is fast enough
35:49so that when he does fly off I can pan I
35:51can go with him all I need to do is I
35:54just need to make sure that that dynamic
35:56mode sticks to that subject by panning
35:59and moving the camera it's obviously not
36:00going to move itself when I've got a
36:02subject in flight like this this will be
36:04a situation where again I mean I'm using
36:06faster shutter speeds here and I just
36:09want to make sure that kind of the area
36:11that I'm panning across or the area that
36:12I'm following the subject in is clear of
36:14other stuff so there's no other kind of
36:16trees or anything else so the camera is
36:17going to be confused by eventually that
36:20bird might kind of fly out of view
36:22I may have lost him but for now as he's
36:24kind of flying across my frame I'm just
36:26panning keeping making sure that that
36:28dynamic area is on that subject where I
36:30want it to be where I wanted to focus
36:33well you'll also might be able to see
36:34that even at 4,000 of a second I'm still
36:37getting motion blur in the tips of the
36:38wings because of that's how fast
36:40Kingfisher's move their wings especially
36:42when they're using a Zed 7 this is one
36:45of my favorite shots that I've taken
36:47here kingfish's taken with a Zed 7 500
36:50millimeter lens I'm at four thousand of
36:51a second F 5.6 and in 3600 I so I have
36:56the whole progression of the bird kind
36:58of flying towards me and I've got the
36:59whole movement of the wings up and then
37:00down again and this is my kind of
37:03favorite because it's just as those
37:04wings tips touch together and I think it
37:07really kind of adds to the shot
37:08obviously again making sure the subjects
37:11in focus now because of the angle that
37:13the subject is flying at me from this is
37:16actually taken using wide area small and
37:18again I just need to make sure that box
37:20just stays around the subject there's
37:23nothing else inside that box area for
37:25the camera to be confused by so it's
37:27just relying on that box to kind of make
37:29sure I keep that box on the subject as
37:31he's flying past eventually a little
37:33obviously fly out and my frame or it
37:34flies too close because I'm on a 500
37:36millimeter lens but this is kind of one
37:38of my favorite shots this was taken
37:40using wide area small as I mentioned I
37:42do mix between the two also this is just
37:45a wild bird I am setting a hide but
37:47there's no planned fly path or there's
37:51nothing like that I've got no control
37:52over that whatsoever
37:54it's just I'm in a hide this is a wild
37:55bird it's a public hide as well so it's
37:58not like it's something that nobody
37:59could go and access and he's just going
38:01about his daily business and it just so
38:03happened that I was there right time
38:05right place right autofocusing mode
38:07right shutter speed and right camera
38:09right lens and kingfish is just
38:12something I've done for a long time I
38:13have shot King fishes with da 50s but
38:15this is something I'm just really happy
38:17with and all down to just being in wide
38:19area small I could have been in dynamic
38:22and I'd imagine that the result would
38:24have been the same it just comes down to
38:25which one you feel more comfortable with
38:27there's not going to be kind of a right
38:29mode for every situation I'm just trying
38:32to show you these different scenarios
38:33and why you might choose
38:35one mode over the other for different
38:37situations that you're shooting in
38:45okay so everything that I've shown you
38:47so far has all been taken before
38:51firmware 3.0 and you'll notice that I'd
38:55never really relied on auto area I was
38:57always really happy with kind of dynamic
38:59and wide area small and that's the way
39:01that I've generally been with my
39:03photography even when it comes to Nick
39:04on DSLRs I really really never never
39:07used 3d tracking because of the
39:09unpredictability of where the square
39:11might dart off to or what it would look
39:13at it's just never something I've been
39:14used to I've always just wanted to
39:17choose either 9 points or group or
39:19dynamic or wide area small just wanted
39:21to choose my own mode so these pictures
39:24I'm going to show you now these have all
39:26been taken since the firmware 3.0 update
39:29I am still going to do a separate
39:32firmware 3.0 video if I've already made
39:35that I'll add a button somewhere for
39:37that so I'm gonna quickly go over these
39:39you'll notice that I've not put the
39:40settings in or anything like that
39:42because I'm gonna go over that when I do
39:43a separate firmware 3 video but I just
39:45wanted to show you some situations where
39:47I would still use auto area or animal
39:51iaf or where I use dynamic wide area
39:53small now in a situation where firmware
39:563.0 exists so for this shot here this is
39:59actually taken using auto area the
40:02camera wasn't showing me that it found
40:05an eye it was just effectively bringing
40:09up those little red squares when it does
40:10in Auto area and focusing on the
40:12subjects head I'm fully aware it could
40:15have chosen anywhere else in the frame
40:16but it did a pretty good job when we
40:18look at the shot that eyes wonderfully
40:19sharp the details nice and sharp this
40:22would have been taken with his head 7
40:24and a 180 to 400 at 400 millimeters and
40:27it would have been in about f/4 so works
40:29really well but it did not specifically
40:31choose the eye
40:31hence the eye animal AF isn't really
40:34designed for deer as such as yet but in
40:37this instance it did not so for this
40:38shot again I'm just in Auto area and I'm
40:41just letting the camera choose what it
40:42once again it could have chosen anywhere
40:44in the frame but actually it brought up
40:46these little red squares they were going
40:48across the body and they were also being
40:50picked up on the head but it was not
40:51actively face tracking or eye tracking
40:53again with the 180 to 400 at 400
40:57millimeters
40:58so for this show here this is a very
41:01clear shot of where I would have changed
41:03my focusing mode if I'm in an auto area
41:05generally the camera always likes to
41:08choose what's going to be closest to it
41:10obviously unless it sees an eye or it
41:12sees a face but in this instance I
41:14didn't use animal if' and when I was in
41:17Auto area it was choosing these trees
41:19massing entirely what I'd expect that's
41:22a normal thing because it's just going
41:24to choose what's closest to it so what I
41:26did is I changed my mode back to dynamic
41:28put the dynamic on the subjects head
41:30through the trees focused it took the
41:32shot and I'm more than happy with the
41:34result that I got so it's just
41:36understanding your focusing system
41:38understanding those situations where
41:39you're gonna choose to choose it
41:40yourself or in certain situations where
41:43you let the camera choose it yourself
41:44just depends on the shot that you're
41:45trying to take so one of my biggest
41:48surprises was how good the auto area
41:52worked for birds in flight I've always
41:55relied on either dynamic or wide area
41:58small and then panning for a bird in
42:00flight but I decided to use some of the
42:02auto area stuff to see kind of what that
42:03gave me because it was new its firmware
42:05three so these are some shots of some
42:08snow buntings these are all taken in
42:10auto area as this bird here slides down
42:13the ice the camera just does the job of
42:19keeping it in focus I have not told it
42:21to keep the subject in focus the camera
42:23just does that for me again taking on a
42:25Zed 7 with the 180 to 400 when it comes
42:28to birds in flight snow buntings in
42:30flight again again cameras just chose
42:33this subject for me I've not used
42:34dynamic I've not used wide area small
42:36granted there's not a lot of the stuff
42:38that the camera might have focused on it
42:39could have grabbed something over here
42:41but this is what it's found this is what
42:42it's kept in focus so again as this kind
42:45of snow buntings in flight and again
42:50worked really well when you as you would
42:52expect it would with kind of a blue
42:53background so when the subject really
42:55stands out Auto area works really well
42:57this is a situation where the camera is
42:59just going to choose the point for me
43:00and it's going to find the subject in
43:02the frame I did not move my points down
43:04to here the camera was in Auto area it
43:06just chose the points for me found the
43:08subject focus the shot so as you can see
43:10as the subject moves around the frame
43:11the camera
43:12keeping that subject in focus I'm then
43:15just firing away making sure that
43:17there's some sort of composition going
43:18on doing a little bit of cropping
43:20afterwards as well and again when it
43:23comes to my squirrels the squirrels I
43:26took they were all kind of just taking
43:28news in Auto area and one of the things
43:30that I was really taken aback by how
43:33good the auto area and the animal eye
43:36tracking worked with squirrels obviously
43:38it's not officially meant to work with
43:40screws it's just dogs and cats but
43:41actually it works really well you can
43:43see here it's found the subjects eye
43:44I've not told it where to focus the
43:46cameras focus that and I took the shot
43:48and it's just really nice and sharp and
43:50worked really well actually
43:52even when the subject was small in the
43:54frame is still did a pretty good job of
43:55finding the subject it could have
43:56focused on a magnitude of other things
43:58in the frame but auto area still did a
44:00really good job this was a situation
44:02that really caught me off guard this is
44:03what really kind of changed my mindset
44:05as I mentioned I've always been a fan of
44:08dynamic and wide area small so that I'm
44:11in control of what's going on but in
44:13this situation here if you can imagine
44:15this just as an empty scene without that
44:17squirrel there he literally popped
44:19around that corner and in the time that
44:21it took me to go there's a squirrel
44:23literally coming around that corner and
44:25I pushed the FN button and the auto area
44:27literally just locked straight to the
44:29screw it it meant that I got a shot that
44:32I actually probably wouldn't have had
44:34otherwise
44:35and I'm not sure why chose the squirrel
44:40over focusing here in the middle part of
44:42the frame it just so happens that this
44:44shot would really took me off guard in
44:46it worked flawlessly really for that
44:49particular example if I was in dynamic
44:51or wide area large if a wide area small
44:54if I had it in the right place that'd
44:56have been great but I might not have had
44:57the points in the right place at the
44:59right time even here where the subject
45:01is blocked by a lot of foreground
45:02interest the auto area still chosen the
45:04right subject normally I would advise if
45:07you had a situation like this this would
45:09have been a situation where I would have
45:10gone absolutely you need to be in
45:12dynamic because if you're in wide area
45:14small it's going to choose this area
45:16here so if you weren't using auto area
45:19and you wanted to know what other mode
45:21you would use to take this shot I would
45:22use dynamic it just so happens that this
45:24shot was taken using auto area and it's
45:26chose the right subject there might have
45:27been a situation where it's focused down
45:30here as a remit that's one of the things
45:32to keep in mind with Auto area you don't
45:34have that control of where it's going to
45:36focus because it's choosing the point
45:37for you it can be a blessing and it can
45:40also be a downfall to some photographers
45:42as well so this is just a very quick
45:44example of why I would have changed my
45:47mode maybe away from auto area
45:48so in this particular shot here auto
45:50areas fascinated by this area here and
45:52that makes sense that's what I would
45:53have actually expected the camera to do
45:55so all I did was I just changed my point
45:58to dynamic and moved dynamic over to
45:59here focused on a top of the subjects
46:01and I get it's a nice little shot of his
46:02ears just as an example of why I might
46:05change the mode if it's not quite
46:06working for me so I hope you found this
46:09example section of this video useful
46:10what we're going to do now is going to
46:12move on to talking through the auto
46:13focus menu specifically and going
46:15through each individual settings so
46:17let's move over to that
46:25so as I mentioned we are now going to
46:28talk through the entirety of this
46:30autofocusing menu you can follow along
46:32if you want but I'm going to talk
46:33through what these options should be for
46:36my photography or for certain situations
46:37it doesn't necessarily mean that there's
46:40a right or wrong so it might not be the
46:43case that you have to have the exact
46:44same options set as me just depends on
46:46how you want your camera to work I'm
46:48going to explain lots of different use
46:50cases so that you then know which
46:53setting you need to set this to to give
46:56you the best output for the camera in
46:57the way that you're using your camera so
46:59as I mentioned there is no right or
47:01wrong so what we're going to look at
47:03first AFC priority selection and in here
47:07there's two options you have release and
47:09then focus so first of all what this
47:12menu does it says when you are in AFC
47:16what takes priority is it you pushing
47:20the shutter button the release button or
47:22is it having the camera in focus now
47:26there's a couple of different opinions
47:28about this online and what this should
47:29be set to personally I think and I do
47:33have this set in my camera to release so
47:36when it comes to having it set to
47:40release the camera is going to fire
47:42whenever you press the shutter burn it
47:44gives you that full controller whenever
47:46you push that Sherbourne and the cameras
47:47gonna fire and you're gonna get a shot
47:49it some of them might be out of focus
47:51some of them might be in focus that's
47:53not the point the point is I am firing
47:55it means I want to take the shot I'm
47:57pushing that shutter button take a
47:59picture if I set this to focus
48:01you're then in a situation where if the
48:03camera doesn't think it's quite in focus
48:06or can't quite see the subject you're
48:09going to be in a situation where the
48:11camera will lock up it won't allow you
48:13to shoot to me that's a problem granted
48:17the exact portion of the subject that I
48:20want in focus might not be in focus but
48:24at least I get the picture least I have
48:26something at least I might have
48:27something else that's in focus that
48:28makes it worthwhile it might be an
48:30accident I might be lucky I don't know I
48:31can't have the camera telling me when
48:34it's going to shoot and when it's not
48:35going to shoot so to me I always just
48:37set this to really
48:38it means I'm in control of when the
48:40cameras gonna fire granted obviously you
48:42only ever want shots that are in focus
48:44but I can't have that camera locking up
48:47because soon as it locks up you then go
48:48oh what's going on why is it my camera
48:50shooting and then you've been distracted
48:51and then you've lost the subject and you
48:53may have that that next two shots along
48:55may have been in focus so that's why I
48:57have that set to release a ffs Priority
49:00Selection same thing but generally when
49:02I'm in AFS I've really slowed myself
49:04down it doesn't really matter I'm not
49:06following a moving subject I'm not
49:08tracking a bird in flight or anything
49:09like that
49:10so I have this set to focus and that can
49:12be useful actually because one of the
49:14habits I have is setting all my filters
49:16up and then forgetting to actually focus
49:18the shot and the camera then reminds me
49:20by not allowing me to take a picture so
49:21I do have this set of focus so this next
49:25option is called focus tracking with
49:26lock-on and this is an option that gets
49:30incredibly confusing for some people and
49:33loads of people think they know what it
49:35does when in fact they don't and one of
49:38the key things to look at when it comes
49:40to this option is what it tells you when
49:42you go into this option so obviously
49:44says focus tracking with lock-on but the
49:46key part of this option is this port
49:48here where it says blocked shot AF
49:51response this is what you're changing
49:53you are changing what the camera does if
49:56the subject you're following becomes
49:59block ie
50:00it might be a new subject it might be
50:02something that you don't want the camera
50:03to focus on at all just depends on what
50:06you're doing and how you're using your
50:07camera so if I give you a couple of
50:09examples if I was following one specific
50:12subject and I only wanted that subject
50:15to be in focus but I knew that there
50:17might have been another subject that
50:18might cross the path so it might be for
50:20sports I'm following one player so I'm
50:22following one player and I know that I
50:24only want that player in focus I'm not
50:26concerned by another player cutting
50:27across their path that's where I can use
50:30delayed I might be four or five because
50:32in that instance the camera is not going
50:34to refocus because that's technically a
50:36blocked shot the camera is not going to
50:38refocus on that new subject it's going
50:40to stick to the original subject and
50:43when that subject is no longer blocked
50:45it's going to then keep that subject in
50:46focus so great if you know that you're
50:48just going to focus on one particular
50:49subject motorsport for example
50:52following a car around a corner you
50:54don't want to refocus on something else
50:56in the frame you might want this to be
50:58set to delayed or if it's only one car
51:00and you don't want the other car that's
51:01gonna overtake it to go in in front of
51:03that subject and the camera to refocus
51:05on that new subject if you don't want
51:07that to happen that's where you're going
51:08to be towards delayed when it comes to
51:10quick this is if you're just not really
51:12concerned about a particular subject so
51:15a really good example for me here would
51:17be if I was shooting an entire flock of
51:20birds and I want to just one of them in
51:23focus I didn't care which one it was
51:24there wasn't a specific one I was
51:26interested in I just wanted one of them
51:28in focus I've set this to quick because
51:30in that instance I might be following a
51:31bird in the flight and then another bird
51:34comes in between me and that bird and
51:36the camera just going to quickly refocus
51:38on a new subject I'm more than happy for
51:40that because one of them's in focus I
51:43don't get this just massive out-of-focus
51:44bird in the middle of my frame obviously
51:47if I was in a situation where I wanted
51:49one specific bird I didn't want a tree
51:51or anything outs or something that's
51:53going to come between me and my subject
51:54and I don't want the camera to refocus
51:56I'm gonna be it delayed but if
51:58something's gonna come between me and
51:59the subject and I want the camera to
52:00refocus on that something I'm gonna be
52:03set to quick that is what this option
52:06does if you have no idea what I've just
52:09said and none of that made sense to you
52:11and it doesn't affect your photography
52:12type leave it in three but if you can
52:15think of a situation where you would
52:16need delayed or quick based on what I've
52:18just explained that's where you would
52:19need to change it realistically I don't
52:21change this a lot I do not go out of my
52:23way to change this option if I know the
52:26type or generic kind of photography I'm
52:28going to do on that day I might change
52:30it in the morning but it's not something
52:32I regularly change throughout kind of
52:34every single hour for example based on
52:36what I'm doing it's something that I
52:37might do one or twice a day
52:38next option is auto area face and eye
52:41detection and first of all in this menu
52:43if you haven't got animal detection here
52:45go and update your firmware because
52:47you've not updated your camera's
52:49firmware to 3.0 or if you're watching
52:51this kind of a later point even higher
52:54firmware who knows
52:55so in here the obviously nice and simple
52:58it just allows you to turn the camera
52:59into a particular mode do you want face
53:03in eye detection do you want just face
53:05detection or
53:06do you want animal face in eye detection
53:08or if you're just not a fan of people or
53:11eyes or animals you could just turn
53:13everything off
53:14if you turn everything off in Auto area
53:16it's always just gonna then show you
53:17those small squares it's not going to
53:19show you
53:20eyes faces tracking that type of stuff
53:22so just depends on how you want your
53:24camera to be set up this next option is
53:26called focus points used the key thing
53:28to keep in mind here is this is the
53:30number of points that are selectable to
53:33you so if you could imagine that if we
53:35were using all points to get from one
53:37side to the other so if I was moving a
53:39single point from here to here to here
53:41to here to here there's a lots of
53:43different options and I can place the
53:44point exactly where I want if I choose
53:46every other point it's gonna skip every
53:49other point so that point then does not
53:51become selectable and you know that the
53:54subject is going to be smack bang in
53:56between two points that you can select
53:57so generally I always set this to all
54:00points because then it gives me the
54:01easiest most accurate move ability of my
54:04focusing points this one's nice and
54:06simple store points by orientation this
54:08one's for those of you that often switch
54:10between portrait or landscape
54:11orientation as you're shooting and what
54:14it does is it will move the focus in
54:16point in accordance to the orientation
54:18you're shooting in so say for example
54:19I'm shooting a landscape orientation I
54:22move my focusing point into that
54:24left-hand side of my frame if I was to
54:26move to portraiture that left hand that
54:29left hand side points now just going to
54:30be at the bottom of my frame that's
54:32going to be a problem because I'm then
54:34gonna have to move that point again if I
54:36have this set to yes or turned on that
54:39will reset based on the orientation so
54:41say for example it's over on that left
54:43hand side in landscape and moved to
54:44portraiture it will move from the bottom
54:46to the middle or to the place I last
54:49used it when I was last using that
54:50orientation so if I shooting in
54:52portraiture points in the middle it's
54:54gonna go in the middle go back to
54:55landscape goes back over to that left
54:57hand side again just depends on your
54:58type of photography AF activation this
55:00is a pretty important one so this
55:02determines how the camera activates its
55:05autofocus so out of the box this will be
55:07set to shutter /af on and you're in a
55:09situation where both the shutter button
55:12when you half press it will auto focus
55:15the camera and when you push the AF on
55:17button on the back of the
55:18we'll also autofocus the camera the AF
55:21on button on the back of the camera is
55:23obviously used to a back button focus so
55:25if you're in a situation where you do
55:28use back button focus and you use it
55:29properly you could go to AF on only what
55:33this then means is that your shutter
55:35burn will no longer activate your
55:37autofocus if you're not fully committed
55:40to back button focus or if you're not
55:42quite used to it I advise against this
55:44because you just will forget that you've
55:46turned your shutter burn off effectively
55:48I use back button focus a hell of a lot
55:50it is a very big key to autofocus
55:54success especially when it comes to
55:56wildlife sports continuous shooting when
55:59it comes to back button focus if you
56:01shoot in small bursts so you fire a
56:04burst off lift off fire a burst lift off
56:07every time you lift off you're in a
56:10situation where the shutter burn becomes
56:13deactivated so therefore your auto focus
56:15becomes deactivated so if I was to fire
56:17a small burst let go you're in a
56:19situation where the camera then stops
56:21auto focusing altogether the camera will
56:24learn about a subject how it's moving
56:27how erratic it is it's kind of where
56:29it's going to be around in the frame how
56:30it's tracked that subject so far but as
56:33soon as you let go of the auto focusing
56:34button by letting go of your shutter
56:37burn the camera forgets all of that
56:39that's now a new subject as far as your
56:40camera is concerned so the way that I
56:42shoot especially for wildlife in sport
56:44is I plant my thumb on AF on shoot
56:48bursts shoot a burst shoot a burst but
56:50I've never let go of their AF on button
56:52so therefore the cameras never stopped
56:54auto focusing that's what allows me to
56:56make sure that my subjects is nice and
56:58sharp and going to be in the frame and
57:00in focus every time I let go of that
57:03shutter button it stops focusing has to
57:06reacquire has to refocus has to refine
57:08the subject in that new location so for
57:11me I have this set to AF on only I do
57:14not have it set to shutter or AF on but
57:16that is not for people who have never
57:17used back button focus if they've only
57:20have used the shutter burn so this next
57:21option is limit AF area mode and you
57:24might say to yourself well I'm never
57:26going to use pinpoint I'm never going to
57:28use wide area large I'm never going to
57:29use auto area so you can uncheck these
57:32and they will then not appear in your
57:34camera's menu so you can quickly say for
57:36example if you knew that you were only
57:38going to use dynamic or wide area small
57:41you can quickly transfer between those
57:43two modes or if I untaped wide area
57:45small and ticked auto area I could then
57:48quickly transfer between dynamic and
57:49auto area and you would skip those two
57:51in the middle so this just allows you to
57:52customize the menu in the way that you
57:54want it to be in your camera next option
57:57is focus point wraparound and I would
57:59always have this set to wrap what this
58:01allows you to do is say for example your
58:03points over on that left-hand side and
58:04you needed to quickly be on the
58:05right-hand side you press left it will
58:07wrap around and appear on the right if
58:09you've got top to bottom in points right
58:11at the top and you need to be at the
58:12bottom so you move your point right to
58:14the top and you need to be at the bottom
58:16all of a sudden you press up it'll wrap
58:17around and appear at the bottom so it
58:19allows your pocus in points to wrap
58:21around from left to right top to bottom
58:22makes it easy if you to move them around
58:25on the frame effectively you then have
58:26focus point options you have manual
58:28focusing mode and then dynamic area AF
58:31assist I'd have both of these on manual
58:33focusing mode is an AF assist that's
58:35separate from focus peaking and things
58:37like that it makes sense to have that
58:39done and then dynamic AF area assist I
58:41don't even know why this is an option to
58:43be honest but if you turn this off it
58:45would turn the dots off around dynamic
58:47area I can't think of a reason why
58:50people might want to do that but I would
58:51always leave that on in general
58:53low-light AF I would always have on this
58:56is a mode that you can have turned on
58:58and it will only activate when it needs
58:59to activate what this allows the camera
59:01to do is it allows it to acquire focus
59:03much easier in really low light
59:05situations I mean really low light
59:07situations so for me this is something I
59:09would always have turned on there are a
59:11couple of caveats to it it doesn't work
59:12in AF C that type of thing but keep in
59:15mind you can turn it on it doesn't mean
59:16it's on all the time the camera will pop
59:18up a little alert to tell you when it's
59:20using low-light autofocus but I can't
59:22think of any reason why you would turn
59:23that off you then have your built in AF
59:25assist illuminator so this is a little
59:26green light that shines on the front of
59:28your camera you can tell that on or off
59:29if you need to just depends on how you
59:32want to use the camera if you want that
59:33green light to fire or not and then some
59:35of you depends on the lens you have
59:37attached on your camera so not all of
59:38you have this mode but if you've got say
59:40for example the 24 to 70 2.8 it has a
59:43third manual focusing ring
59:46this allows you to control what that
59:48ring does if it's active or if it's not
59:49active so some of you might not see this
59:52but it just depends on the lens that you
59:53have
59:59so I just want to talk about a couple of
1:00:01other settings that are really important
1:00:03to autofocus actually but they're not
1:00:05actually in the auto focusing menu so
1:00:07what we're gonna do is we're gonna go to
1:00:08shooting and display and we're gonna go
1:00:10to apply settings to Live View now a lot
1:00:13of you may have already heard about this
1:00:14setting I generally have this setting
1:00:17turned off apply settings to Live View
1:00:20is what it says it is it shows you your
1:00:22exposure through the rear screen or
1:00:25through the viewfinder and I get that
1:00:28that is one of the biggest parts of
1:00:29having a mirrorless camera everybody
1:00:31talks about oh you see what you get you
1:00:33know you can see the exposure as you
1:00:35take the shot but in this situation I do
1:00:37have it off because the exposure that
1:00:41your camera is taking can affect your
1:00:43auto focusing performance as the camera
1:00:46is trying to show you that a scene is
1:00:47brighter or darker the camera will then
1:00:50suffer in terms of auto focusing
1:00:52performance because it's trying to auto
1:00:55focus on the scene that the camera is
1:00:57showing you if that scene is really dark
1:00:59the camera is just not going to focus if
1:01:01that scene is really bright the camera
1:01:03is just not going to focus because
1:01:04there's no detail there's no contrast
1:01:05there so irregardless of what my camera
1:01:08settings are I want my camera to focus I
1:01:11know that I can control my shutter speed
1:01:13my aperture my ISO and I'm happy with
1:01:16the exposure that I get out of the
1:01:17camera I shoot raw so if I do need to
1:01:19change it a little bit later on I can do
1:01:20but I don't need the camera to show me
1:01:23the exposure in the back of the camera
1:01:24so I have this mode turned off and
1:01:26that's going to be really controversial
1:01:28to a lot of you and I get that but it
1:01:31does improve auto focus 100% it will
1:01:34improve your auto focus performance
1:01:35because the camera isn't always trying
1:01:37to deal with showing you the exposure as
1:01:39either being too bright or too dark or
1:01:41whatever is going on it just shows you
1:01:42the scene in front of you it doesn't
1:01:44have to deal with the exposing for the
1:01:46shutter speed aperture until it takes
1:01:48the shot it means it can literally focus
1:01:51on auto focus and it just makes your
1:01:53auto focus performance better also when
1:01:55it comes to auto focus in video what
1:01:57you're gonna need to do is you're going
1:01:58to need to scroll down to movie at the
1:01:59bottom and then you will see two options
1:02:02you'll see AF speed and AF tracking and
1:02:04sensitivity so these will affect how
1:02:07your video is going to pull focus or
1:02:09move focus from forward to back or
1:02:11follow a subject which recorded
1:02:12and generally speaking for all of my
1:02:15videos or the way that I have my camera
1:02:16setup is that I have my AF speed set to
1:02:19faster and I have my tracking
1:02:21sensitivity set to high so we've got
1:02:24plus five and also you have always a
1:02:27sign down here as well so plus five
1:02:29always and then for tracking sensitivity
1:02:32I have this set to one for high
1:02:34sensitivity that's generally how I
1:02:36record all of my videos that are on
1:02:37YouTube and how I transition from kind
1:02:39of front to back and all that type of
1:02:40stuff but obviously this has an effect
1:02:43on how your camera is going to pull
1:02:44focus and how it's going to look in a
1:02:46video so if you want it to be slower and
1:02:48smoother this is where you change that
1:02:50it just comes down to what you want the
1:02:53video auto focus in to look like it's
1:02:54down to your own interpretation of how
1:02:57quickly you want the video to move from
1:02:59point A to point B right well I do hope
1:03:02that you found this video useful I put a
1:03:04lot of effort into kind of putting this
1:03:05together and in making it as useful as
1:03:07possible I hope that it's helped some of
1:03:09you out there understanding the auto
1:03:10focusing system in kind of you said six
1:03:12years ed 7 years ed 50 if you do have
1:03:14any questions or if there's anything
1:03:16you're not sure about if you've got
1:03:17anything that's kind of specific to your
1:03:19photography you're not sure what mode
1:03:20you should use put them in the comments
1:03:22below try to reply to as many as I can
1:03:24thank you very much for watching as
1:03:27always if you've liked this video and
1:03:28you kind of appreciated the effort that
1:03:30I've put in please give it a like and if
1:03:32you've not subscribed to the channel
1:03:33already please do there's a lot of cool
1:03:35stuff on the way and I wouldn't want you
1:03:36to miss that so thank you very much for
1:03:38watching goodbye
1:03:47you

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of The Complete Autofocus Guide! Nikon Z6 Nikon Z7 Nikon Z5 Nikon Z50. Best Autofocus Settings. by Ricci Talks, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 12,911 words across 1,721 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.