See page 77 of the E-510 manual which discusses moving the focus button
off the shutter button to the AEL/AFL button on the back of the camera.
Once this change is made (I did the equivalent on my 5D a long time
ago) you must deliberately focus using the AFL (auto focus lock). I set
my camera such that only the center autofocus point is used. I focus
using only the center point and the AFL button and then recompose if
necessary. That's what would have captured your snake using autofocus.
But until you get used to it you're likely to lose a shot or two by
forgetting to focus before pressing the shutter button. But once you've
done this I don't think you'll go back. It's especially handy when
shooting moderately distant things at medium to small apertures when
there really isn't any need to refocus or when trying to take advantage
of hyperfocal or near hyperfocal focusing without switching into manual
mode where it's possible to bump the focus ring.
I have seen some pretty silly stuff on the net bemoaning loss of focus
from recomposition. That's possible but takes a pretty extreme case.
Don't recompose when shooting from 1 foot at f/1.4 for example. :-)
Chuck Norcutt
Jim Nichols wrote:
> In looking back at the snake photo that I posted yesterday, and
> examining the image while recalling the difficulty in getting the ZD
> 14-54, at 54mm, to grab a focus point, I am convinced that the manual
> focus 55mm gives me a better chance of getting the proper focus
> point. In this busy image, I think that the AF would never have
> found the snake's eye as the focus point.
>
> Anyone have experience in this area?
>
> Here is the photo once more:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Green+Snake+23a.tif.html
>
> Jim Nichols Tullahoma, TN USA
--
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