swartfort Loc: Evansville, IN

Grandpa put up a post on how he almost exclusively uses Single Point Focus in his birding. There was a lot of discussion following up on how most people also found this AF option of most useful. www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-571945-1.html.

I thought I would share this here in a new post so that those who had already read and/or posted on his post might see this:

On my Nikon D7500 (so I would suppose most 7xxx series and the D750 and above, and probably the D500) in the Custom Setting Menu under autofocus, there is a menu item called "Focus tracking with lock-on". (a3 on the D7500) Per the description in the camera:

"Choose how long the camera waits before adjusting focus in response to sudden changes in the distance to the subject. Choose from "5 long" to "1 short" to delay refocusing when the subject is blocked by an object moving in front of the lens."

So what I have experienced is that it causes a slight lag in initial focus, but then as a subject moves, and the focal distance of the exact focus spot (eyes in my case) changes, the auto focus (BBF, AF-C) does not immediately change. I find that when I see a bird ready to fly, I mash the BBF, focus on the eye, and then even if I lose the exact head, the camera will pause, getting me a 3 to 4 frames before it starts to hunt. Then, if I can just keep the focus point on the body of the bird, with a DOF appropriate to the subject, I am getting more keepers than I am without this function on. I have mine set to 3 (mid point) but have experimented both ways. 5 was too long and I felt I was waiting for the AF system too long, and 1 or off was relatively the same.

I would be surprised if this setting option is not on even the lower series Nikons and also in the Canon lines. If you have any info regarding this, please let others know.

Hope this helps

grandpaw

I have mine set to the #2 setting. If you are looking for this you will find it under "Custom Settings", (pencil) then "Auto focus" then A3 "Focus tracking with lock-on" and you can choose from setting one to five. This is for Nikon cameras.

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

I too have it set on #2, BBF single point, joy stick for group AF.

Siemienczuk

Confirming this is the same for D7200. Default setting appears to be 3, called “normal” in the menu.

trinhqthuan Loc: gaithersburg

The same setting, a3, same phrase, is with D7100

tomcat

I use this all the time, but in shooting sports for the local high school. I use that function to keep the camera from focusing on the referees when they run in front of me when I am shooting a player.... I never heard of using this feature for what you are doing. This is a very interesting idea though.

swartfort Loc: Evansville, IN

Same exact theory except it is for when BIF or wildlife run behind habitat and come out the other side. Works really well. In fact, depending on the amount of cover in any given situation, I may adjust this to help me further. More woods/trees/cover, the longer I set the focus lock for.

martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida

You realize this only works for birds flying parallel with you. Personally I keep the tracking in the off position so the camera will continue to track focus at all times as many birds track toward you. It's all a personal preference and in conjunction with all of the other focusing mode selections. A lot depends on how well you keep the camera on target as well. This can only be accomplished with LOTS of practice....