OZMON wrote:
I watched a video on youtube about back button focusing, I have not tried it yet but it looks very promising,have any hoggers tried it and if so what are the results.
I've used BBF for nearly 20 years. I shoot sports and other action photography a lot, where it's particularly useful. But it works fine for almost any purpose.
Along with other things, BBF helps me achieve 95% or more shots in-focus most of the time. There's the occasional exception with extremely fast and erratic moving subjects, but on the whole I get far higher percentage of my shots acceptably within focus, thanks in large part to using BBF.
I don't know what Youtube video you watched, but one of the primary advantages of using BBF is that it allows you to use a continuous form of autofocus as your default mode (Canon AI Servo, Nikon AF-C, others ?). You normally can't do that, while the activation of AF is still linked to the shutter release button. There are situations and techniques (such as "focus and recompose") where using continuous focus without BBF would result in a lot of missed focus images.
However, with BBF you can pretty much leave the camera in a continuous focus mode all the time, using it for both moving and stationary subjects in a wide variety of situations. You don't have to pause to change focus modes if a subject starts or stops moving. In other words, you are "ready for almost anything", all the time.
BBF takes a little practice, but soon becomes second nature. It's more "work" for the photographer, who has to control when AF starts or stops.... but the results are so much better, it's worth it.
Another advantage of using BBF is that many lenses today are zooms and many modern AF zooms are "varifocal" designs that don't maintain focus when zoomed. That type of zoom is simpler and less costly to build, as well as more easily calibrated. With autofocus now the norm, manufacturers have made more and more varifocal designs. HOWEVER, if using a focus mode that's not continuous (Canon's One Shot, Nikon's AF-S, others ?), it's easy to get in trouble with varifocal zooms. With that mode with those lenses you MUST consciously make a point of re-focusing after any change in focal length with the zoom. But if you are using BBF and continuous focus (AI Servo/AF-C/etc.), the camera immediately and automatically corrects for the loss of focus during zooming. You don't even have to think about it.
All my cameras are set up for BBF all the time. The only time I ever switch a camera back to "standard" focusing mode using the shutter release "half-press" to start AF is if I'm lending a camera to someone who is unfamiliar with BBF and there isn't time to teach them to use it and for them to practice it.
The only down side to BBF is that there's no "Focus Confirmation". That's only possible with the non-continuous forms of AF, which achieve focus, then stop and lock, then give you the confirmation (such as lighting an LED, flashing an AF point or giving an audible "beep"). While it's possible use BBF with a non-continuous form of AF, it doesn't make a lot of sense to do so. And continuous AF never stops and "locks" after achieving focus... it just keeps updating focusing continuously... so there's nothing for Focus Confirmation to confirm. (Some cameras I use give you a visual indication that AF is running, but that's not the same as Focus Confirmation.)
Some people are very dependent on Focus Confirmation. They find it hard to shoot without that "reassurance". To use BBF and continuous focus, you have to learn to trust your camera and yourself. Once you do that, BBF becomes pretty comfortable.
By the way, I don't like the obnoxious Focus Confirmation "beep", but I leave it enabled anyway. When I hear it I'm alerted that my camera is in the non-continuous focus mode (which I still use occasionally for high precision focusing with stationary subjects, even with BBF). If I'm shooting moving subjects and my camera is beeping, I know immediately that it's in the wrong focus mode. I can switch it before taking a bunch of shots in the wrong mode and ending up with lots of mis-focused images. (Incidentally, I hear peoples' cameras beeping at them all the time at sporting events... and can guarantee you that a very high percentage of their images of moving subject will not be in focus. I'd also wager they'll blame the camera and lens, not themselves for using the wrong focus mode. They should have read the manual and learned how the camera works!)
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...I also use a shudder release cord.....
I'm all a-quiver to hear about that!