Fred Harwood Loc: Sheffield, Mass.

Not sure if this room is the right one. A question for D7000 users.

I shoot nature mostly handheld, and find that my best focus setting is AF-A at the nine-point setting.

My walk-about lens is the Nik 70-400 and I generally have little time for evaluation.

Might anyone have better results with other settings?

picsman Loc: Scotland

Is your lens a 70-200 or a 80-400? If its the 80-400 that is a heavy lens to use fo a walk about, I would use a monopod with it. For nature photography if you are shooting wildlife that moves you should use the AF-C and set a high shutter speed with ISO at auto. This helps with shutter priority or manual settings if you want to also set the aperture. Also consider using group focus if your camera has that, I use a single focus point and 3D so the focal point moves as the animal moves creating different compositions.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Nikon has several focusing modes available for the D7000. Everyone has their favorite and many folks use different ones for different situations.
Your Nikon manual for the D7000 explains each and what they are good for (pages 95-98). You should spend some time reading about each. I believe it is all on two pages and is chalk full of useful tips.
I would then go out the the outside and try each out. Then grasshopper you will discover that SELF DISCOVERY beats any of our suggestions here.
If I am shooting a portrait, or non moving subject, I use AF-S, if I am shooting moving objects, I use AF-C mode.
http://download.nikonimglib.com/archive2/j0v3l00Dv39x01U97ft13W9kOV17/D7000_EU(En)06.pdf

CO

I don't use AF-A mode. I'd rather decide if I'm going to use AF-S or AF-C mode and not let the camera decide. The nine-point AF setting is good. Are you sure that's not the Nikon 70-300mm or 80-400mm lens? I have the 80-400mm AF-S lens. It's an all around excellent lens. It gets heavy when hand holding it for a while.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Set your camera up to use back button focus. Steve Perry has an excellent YouTube video on how and why.

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

I've been messing with Group for a while and just recently went "back" to 9-point. I'm staying there. When I started shooting sports I frequented the sports-centric sites and/or podcasts. At the time 9-point and AF-C was the recommended mode (this was maybe 12 years ago)...so with the "improvements" in bodies (mine being the Nikon brand) I drifted a bit, but now I'm back to good old steady-Eddie 9-point. YMMV.

Fred Harwood Loc: Sheffield, Mass.

Thanks, all, for suggestions and pointers. Yes, my lens is the 80-400mm, and my most-used lens, despite its weight. I'll be reviewing the manual, again, and experimenting, good things to do during COVID and old age.

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

[quote=Fred Harwood]Thanks, all, for suggestions and pointers. Yes, my lens is the 80-400mm, and my

You might try BBF with AFC also.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Nikon (like Canon and perhaps others) has three auto focus "modes": AF-S, AF-C and AF-A.

- AF-S is "single shot" auto focus mode, for use with stationary subjects (Canon calls it "One Shot"). In this mode, after AF achieves focus it stops and "locks". This can be great when everything is holding still (both the subject and the photographer). Once focus is achieved and is locked you can recompose if you wish, without concern that focus will "jump" to something else. Most cameras also will give you some form of "focus confirmation" in this mode. Once focus is achieved there may be a visual indication in the viewfinder (Canon lights up a green LED). There also may be an audible confirmation (such as a "beep"). In many cases the user can choose whether or not to enable that.

- AF-C is "continuous" auto focus mode, for use with moving subjects (Canon calls it "AI Servo"). In this mode the AF system doesn't stop and lock. AF continues to run to maintain focus on the subject, so long as the photographer maintains pressure on the button. Normally you cannot "focus and recompose" with this mode.... moving the AF point off the subject will cause the focus to re-focus onto whatever it's now covering (see Back Button Focusing, below). You also will never get focus confirmation with it, since it never stops and locks. In other words, since the AF continues to run and update itself, there's never anything to "confirm". (However, some cameras at least give you an indication when AF is working... but that's not confirmation that focus has been achieved... merely that it's working.)

- AF-A isn't actually an auto focus mode at all. This is automation where the camera is supposed to decide for you whether or not the subject is moving and then decide for you whether to use AF-S or AF-C (Canon calls this "AI Focus"). Frankly I haven't tested this mode on newer cameras and it might be better now... But in the past with older models I found it added some delay to focusing and sometimes didn't appear to choose the correct mode to use or failed to switch to a correct mode if a subject suddenly stopped or started moving. Ultimately I stopped using it, saw my percentage of in-focus keeper shots go way, way up, and in the years since have never, ever used this "mode" again on any camera. I don't know if the same is true of Nikon, but some of the most pro-oriented Canon models don't even have this "mode". They only have AI Servo (AF-C) and One Shot (AF-S).

Sports and wildlife photographers, as well as some others I'm sure, often like to use a technique called Back Button Focusing (BBF). This separates the auto focus function from the shutter release button so that AF is controlled by your thumb. The advantage to this is that you can start and stop AF any time you like. As a result, with BBF you can leave the camera in AF-C (or AI Servo) mode pretty much all the time, as your default mode. You now can do focus and recompose by "locking" focus yourself, simply by lifting pressure off the back button. I know how to set up BBF on most Canon cameras... but not on Nikon. Consult your manual or do an online search if you want to give it a try.

The key advantage to BBF is that it allows AF-C (AI Servo) to be used for everything... both for moving and for stationary subjects. But there's another big advantage to using the continuous form of autofocus. Many of today's zoom lenses are at least partially "varifocal". What this means is that they don't maintain focus when zoomed. When you change the lens' focal length, focus is no longer correct. "Parfocal" lenses are much more complex to build, more difficult to keep calibrated and tend to cost more. To see for yourself, sometime compare the cost of zoom cine lenses for video, which are mostly parfocal, with prices for similar still photography zooms... for example, a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM II photography lens costs about $1300... while a Canon CN-E 70-200mm T4.4 Cine lens for video costs $6900... There are multiple reasons for the difference in price, but one is that the cine lens is truly parfocal, while the photography lens is semi-parfocal.

Autofocus is the reason manufacturers are allowing more of their zooms to be varifocal. AF can almost instantly correct for the loss of focus when the lens is zoomed... HOWEVER, it will only do so automatically when in AF-C (AI Servo) focus mode. If you are instead using AF-S (One Shot), you first need to know if your lens is varifocal or not and, if it is you will need to consciously "unlock" focus and re-focus after making any change in focal length!

In other words, using continuous focus mode (AF-C or AI Servo) all the time, which is made possible by using BBF, will also automatically correct any loss of focus when you zoom, if your zoom lens lens is a varifocal design. (Note: Canon's 70-200s are largely parfocal... But may not fully maintain focus at closer distances. I have recently seen some Nikkor zooms referred to as "actively parfocal".... which sounds to me that they are varifocal but AF corrects for it.)

The second part of your question is about using multiple AF points. There are times that's useful, but personally my "rule of thumb" is to always use as few AF points as possible. Much of the time, I use a single point. It's then up to me to keep that point right where I want the camera and lens to focus. This is more work for me, but the result is a much higher percentage of well-focused shots, compared to when I let the camera choose what AF point(s) to use by enabling more multiple points.

When multiple points are enabled and the camera is allowed to pick among them, it almost always chooses a point that covering a "nearest" object. For example, imagine a bird flying past you from right to left. When I use a single point, I strive to keep it right on the bird's head so the focus on its face and eye will be sharpest. But when using multiple points there's good chance the camera will focus instead on the nearest wing tip, allowing the bird's face and body to go slightly out of focus. Depending upon the distance and focal length being used, this might be okay if the lens is stopped down a bit. But if it's a large aperture, long telephoto lens being used wide open and the subject is relatively close, a relatively narrow plane of focus (i.e., shallow depth of field or "DoF") can end up ruined by this "focus error". The error is my fault, not the camera's. It doesn't know any better than to choose the AF point that allows it to focus on whatever is closest.

However, there are times when you have to use more AF points.... For example it's very difficult to track a bird in flight (BIF) with a single AF point. When there isn't a distracting background, such as the bird flying against a clear sky or sky with distant clouds, multiple AF points can be the best choice. But it can be problem if shooting with a lot of trees or other foliage close behind the bird.

The fewer points you use, the more you are in control of where the camera focuses. The more points you enable, the more you are leaving it up to the camera to decide.

Auto focus systems are improving with each new model. Some now will lock onto moving subjects and do a good job ignoring surroundings. Some AF systems are even now able to "recognize" heads, faces or even eyes. But these systems are mostly only found in mirrorless camera that have far, far more "AF points" than DSLRs do. I'm sure a D7000 doesn't have "eye focus". Some DSLRs now have it, but only in Live View (using the rear LCD screen instead of the optical viewfinder).

There are a lot of other "tricks" to getting the best performance out of an AF system. Much of that is brand/model specific, and I'm not a Nikon D7000 user. So I will leave it to other people who are experienced with your camera to make their recommendations.

Personally I just try to use as few AF points as possible. My most frequently used DSLRs have 65 AF points... But most of the time I select and only use one of them. I also sometimes use "expansion" points.... where I still choose one as a starting point, but the camera can switch to use an adjacent point if it detects that I didn't keep the first point right on a fast, erratically moving subject. Another option I have is to set up a small (9 point) or large (15 to 20 point) "zone", which enables all the points and leaves it to the camera to pick which one(s) it will use, both as a starting point and to switch to when the subject moves. I mostly only use either type of zone in pretty specific situations (such as BIF) and this is more rarely than I use "expansion".

I also use continuous focus mode (like AF-C on your camera) virtually all the time, in combination with Back Button Focusing. That allows me to be ready to instantly photograph both stationary and moving subjects. The trickiest part of this is learning to shoot without focus confirmation... learning to trust my camera and myself with focus. (By the way, I also keep the audible "beep" enabled on my cameras... If I hear it while shooting moving subjects, the beep alerts me immediately that I'm using the wrong AF mode. Saves me from using the wrong mode and having a lot of mis-focused images! I hear many other peoples' cameras "beeping" while shooting sporting events... and can assure you many of their images will be mis-focused!)

That's what works for me. It's more work for me, but when I'm shooting familiar subjects I usually get 95% to 98% of my images well focused. When shooting unfamiliar, more erratic and faster moving subjects, my percentages certainly tend to drop a bit. But I'm sure everyone's do.

Hope this helps!

Fred Harwood Loc: Sheffield, Mass.

Thanks, Alan. I will experiment with the BBF, which I have yet to use. The rest I'm up to speed on.