BobT wrote:
I see many folks use back-button focusing. So what's the big advantage of focusing in this manner? I seem quite content with my use of a center focus point and 1/2 press, and recompose, then shoot.
Try and sell me on the BB technique.
Thanks
I won't try and sell you on the technique, my story is free, gratis, zilch!
The setting: a trampoline in a backyard, about 50-60 feet away from the sundeck. Three kids, ages 8 - 13, running, jumping, fooling around on the trampoline. Grandma sitting in a comfortable chair on the sundeck, camera in hand.
So, Grandma (me) selects a focal length to make the depth of field reach from just before the nearest to just past the furthest edge of the trampoline, with an ISO and shutterspeed combination to stop motion. The kids like me to "catch" them mid-air as if they're just hanging there.
I then focus on the approximate centre of the trampoline and set the focus with the back button. I'll take a bunch of photos, making sure I get the antics of all three of them.
Then I change the setting to please myself: I like to "catch" the kids when they are the top of a jump or summersault, the moment they reach the top but are not yet going down. Even though their body stops at that point, their arms and legs often do not, and by increasing the shutter speed, I've been able to get some really good captures of perfectly still body with flailing arms and legs.
If I had to focus every time I was ready to take a photo in the given circumstance, I'd never get a nice photo.
OK, that's (one of) my story(s) about back button focus and I'm sticking to it.