# Back Button Focus.



## stapo49 (Feb 16, 2020)

I was wondering how many people still use "back button focusing" or is it redundant given the focussing/sensor technology we have in cameras now?

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


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## weepete (Feb 17, 2020)

I still use it, I'm more comfortable with it now than with the shutter release on the front button.


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## Jeff15 (Feb 17, 2020)

No need on my camera.......


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## Space Face (Feb 17, 2020)

Converted to it a few years ago and have it set on all my cameras.  Use it all the time except for Macro and some long exposures with ND's.  Everything else is bbf.


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## stapo49 (Feb 17, 2020)

So for the guys using it are you finding you get a higher hit rate of images in focus with this technique and would you use it more for fast action than static subjects like portrait photography/landscapes? Alternatively is it generally good for most everything. Discounting your macro and long exposure "space face."


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## Space Face (Feb 17, 2020)

I think it does give a better success rate and the obvious advantage is for moving subjects you can keep the focus tracked.  I found I was missing more shots when I was having to half depress the 'fire' button then try to take the shot and that was a pain if the subject was moving or started to move as in wildlife, birds etc.

With the heavier gauge ND filters any AF is pretty useless as it just hunts, so the options are focus before puting the filters on or MF with the filters on.

As for macro say for live, animated subjects like insects etc, I don't even use MF as such I simply move the camera back and forth slightly to hit (or try to hit) the focus.

I have become so used to bbf now I'd never go back to the other method and it was surprising just how quickly I got used to it.  Maybe it's not for everybody but works for me and I'd always recommend folk just at least give it a try.


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## Original katomi (Feb 17, 2020)

If you are doing a head count. Iam in the never used it group lol


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## u8myufo (Feb 17, 2020)

Imho it makes no difference to keeper rate. However, it`s uses are having different choices of focus points at your command, and in the case of the D500, not sure on other brands, you can move from flight shots to a static subject, release the assigned button whilst in AF-C and it will lock focus for static subject.


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## DarkShadow (Feb 17, 2020)

I set all my DSLR's  up this way out of the box.Will never go back using the shutter button to focus. Has nothing to do with a keeper rate for me but the convenience of not having the shutter release coupled with AF and is the go to way for most of us wildlife shooters but works out in many other shooting  types as well.


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## Derrel (Feb 17, 2020)

Tried it, don't like it, now do not use it. It makes what is a 1 step process into a two-step process. Some cameras have a focus lock button on the back and if you have this control, then you will see very little need for back button focus.


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## tirediron (Feb 17, 2020)

Like Derrel I tried it, but it always seemed cumbersome to me.  On rare occasions when I'm tracking a fast moving target (car, cyclist) AF-C, I'll use back-button focusing to track it in, but that's it.


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## zulu42 (Feb 17, 2020)

I tried it and couldn't find any advantages for me. Including wildlife. Half button press tracks focus on moving subjects and full press to fire...I use my thumb to control shutter and select focus points.


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## JBPhotog (Feb 17, 2020)

BBAF is all I use for the last decade or so. I find it is far superior to shutter button focus and for obvious reasons so do a huge number of others, thus the existence of the "button". LOL


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## JBPhotog (Feb 17, 2020)

For those interested in setting up BBAF on Nikon bodies or wondering why and how, Steve Perry has a fantastic eBook; "Secrets To The Nikon Autofocus System".

It can be found here; Secrets To The Nikon Autofocus System – Backcountry Gallery Web Store


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## stapo49 (Feb 17, 2020)

Thanks for the comments guys. I was reading a couple of articles about it online and was interested to see what  folks on the forum thought of the technique or if they used it. It appears on this forum, like the responses to the articles, to polarise opinion.

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## zombiesniper (Feb 17, 2020)

Tried it and as I see it. It's just one more way to complicate things. 
One button does both focus and shoot. More simple = more better.


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## Vtec44 (Feb 17, 2020)

I use it.  It's particularly helpful when you're trying to track something that's moving while you're moving.


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## SquarePeg (Feb 17, 2020)

Tried it and couldn’t see the advantage.  Granted I didn’t give it much time.  Just didn’t like it.


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## JBPhotog (Feb 17, 2020)

There are numerous occasions when you will want to focus and recompose for framing, isolating the focus to BBAF lets you set the camera in AF-C yet have it function as if it is in AF-S. Switching between AF-C and AF-S is simple not required when you are using BBAF and frees up your shutter finger to select the sub-command dial or any of the Pv or Fn buttons on the front of the camera.

For example, let's say you set a focus point, recompose the camera and then decide you want to change the aperture. If you did this with shutter button AF you'd have to go through the focus and recompose steps again. Additionally the Pv and Fn buttons can have a large number of custom functions which you may want to select after you have focussed and composed, I do all the time.


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## zombiesniper (Feb 17, 2020)

JBPhotog said:


> For example, let's say you set a focus point, recompose the camera and then decide you want to change the aperture. If you did this with shutter button AF you'd have to go through the focus and recompose steps again



I could see this on some cameras, Mine has most controls available with a thumb wheel or joy stick accessible on the back of the camera without removing me eye from the eyepiece.

I think basically just use what works for you. Listen to how others like to shoot but it's up to you to find what works for you.
If there was only one way to do it....we'd only ever need one camera.


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## weepete (Feb 18, 2020)

I do find it useful for ballparking hyperfocal distance, focus re-compsing, pre-focus etc. For me it kinda replaces the AF-L and AE-L functions. Bear in mind that I shoot Canon, and therefore don't have focal point linked metering. 

For action shots it can help a bit, particularly with pre-focus. Likewise with ND filters, after I release the AF-ON button my focus is locked, so I don't then need to worry about switching the lens from AF to MF and back again.

It may be something I'll have to look at with my new camera, as I think now I can add EC in manual mode and that might be ultimatley more useful especially as I'm relying on the AF and tracking more for action shots.

I don't think it's a case of BBF makes it easier to get more action shots in focus, more just a case of if you like that seperation of focus and metering and if works for the way you shoot. Ultimatley it's just down to personal preference and it's something that has worked well for me in the past though it does take time to get used to.


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## Overread (Feb 18, 2020)

For me its great to be able to decouple the act of taking a photo with the act of focusing the lens. This means being able to shift between continuous AF and one-shot AF without having to change any settings. You can one-shot AF by just holding down the backbutton, focusing, and then releasing your finger. Meanwhile if you want it to keep going you just hold your finger down and it keeps going. Needless to say my camera basically lives in continuous AF - until its sort of dark and I want a flash focusing aid to help me. At which point I spend 10 mins trying to work out why the focusing aid won't fire only to then finally spend time going through the menu to find how to change the AF mode as focusing aids only work in true one-shot AF modes.


Another benefit is if you're using IS/VR. Anti shake systems take time to speed up and start countering shake. During the time that its spinning up to counter shake, most will induce their own blur on the photo. As a result if you point and shoot very fast it can be detrimental. However if you've decoupled focusing and shooting, you can hold down the shutter half way and the meter kicks in metering the scene and the anti-shake kicks in too. You've not started changing focus but the lens is now ready.

And there's another benefit. You can take a complex scene and take meter readings through the camera lens over various parts of the scene without the focus shifting around. This can be a great help because you can easily view the scene as a whole, meter different parts/areas of it, and return view to where you were. Whilst the focus might have shifted a little as a result of you moving the camera and lens around; its overall general position won't have shifted. Great if you're metering things at big distances from each other so that you're not having everything jumping around distracting you.


I think that its a mode many who shoot action and outside tend to focus on slightly more than those who perhaps shoot inside or who shoot in controlled conditions more often than not. Since when you're under controlled conditions you've often a more relaxed situation and its easier to go flicking AF/MF switches on the lens or changing focusing modes. It's also another mode and it does make a one action event into a two action event. However that's where practice comes in. For me its just intuitive for me to hold down the backbutton to start focusing. I've done it for so long I don't have to "think" about it any more, I just do it. For those new to it that extra step can result in missed shots because there's another step to get things going where once they had only one.



I liken it a bit to shifting between auto and semi or full manual modes. In full auto there's one step - point, meter, shoot all on one button. Add in semi manual and manual modes and there's two to three settings you're now responsible for. For people new to it this can really slow them down and make them miss shots. Once you're used to it its second nature and things speed up. Plus, of course, when you do get shots you get better results. 

Backbutton AF is slightly harder to draw the line on because even when all the process goes right you can still get AF missing shots; or slight errors in handling can result in missed shots etc...


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## Original katomi (Feb 18, 2020)

This post got my alleged brain working. I looked at how and what I photograph  a a bit of a shoving truth emerged.
Apx only 25% of my photos are taken with the shutter release button. I do a lot of images tethered to the laptop
And use that to control the camera otherwise I am using a remote  of some description. Most of the time I am using the m setting on the focus.
Looks like I have made a new sub group for your list lol


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## JBPhotog (Feb 18, 2020)

weepete said:


> I do find it useful for ballparking hyperfocal distance, focus re-compsing, pre-focus etc. For me it kinda replaces the AF-L and AE-L functions. Bear in mind that I shoot Canon, and therefore don't have focal point linked metering.
> 
> For action shots it can help a bit, particularly with pre-focus. Likewise with ND filters, after I release the AF-ON button my focus is locked, so I don't then need to worry about switching the lens from AF to MF and back again.
> 
> ...



I'd suggest BBAF does improve your hit rate for action as well as portraits. By separating the two functions you can control when to employ one or the other both.

With portrait work it is especially useful as the focus point is generally not exactly where you want it, the eye. With BBAF you focus on the eye recompose and then shoot as often as you want without having to keep the shutter button half pressed to lock the focus.

With action, say a bird flying perpendicular to you, you hit BBAF and start shooting. If a tree branch or another bird flies between you and your subject the lens will not refocus if you have released the BBAF but still have the shutter button pressed.


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## Braineack (Feb 18, 2020)

stapo49 said:


> I was wondering how many people still use "back button focusing" or is it redundant given the focussing/sensor technology we have in cameras now?



It's all I use.  How could it be redundant?  It's simply disconnecting the focus acquisition from the shutter release.

There's very little drawback to it, but tons of pros.


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## wfooshee (Feb 18, 2020)

My own take is that I don't see the point unless you _have_ to separate focusing from shutter release, i.e. aim, focus at a specific point, then recompose and shoot at leisure. BBF ensures that no focus changes occur while you recompose. That's much easier than holding the half-press! I never saw any need to use BBF otherwise. With 3D continuous AF I miss very few shots on moving subjects. By very few, I mean maybe 1 in a couple of thousand at an air show, for example.


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## Braineack (Feb 19, 2020)

The ability to focus and recompose easily is a HUGE benefit. It's much easier and faster to do than programming any AF-L.  Even more so when you have to take a second recomposed shot -- you just shoot.  Otherwise you must refocus and recompose.

Just off the top of my head:

What about shooting in the studio, focusing once and never having to worry about it again.  If you setup some scene, you can easily move focus around when using on-shutter-press AF.

Or shooting moving things, you can keep your AF set to AF-C and always track the subject and take a shot at will.  Need AF-S, just press the focus button and release it.

It's much easier to require focus on your subject when lining up a shot, or shoot through obstacles with just releasing your thumb.

If your lens is manual override, you can focus it manually without changing any settings.

Shutter will always fire -- I'd rather have slightly off focus, than no shot at all -- this is huge for event photography.

Able to more precise with the shutter timings.


All my cameras are setup for AF-ON and AF-C 100% of the time.  It's extremely rare I miss focus in any situation.  I can pick up any of my cameras and shoot; simply worrying about exposure settings and not if I need to track the subject or not.


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## wfooshee (Feb 19, 2020)

BBF in action shooting means holding a button while working the shutter. Goofy, to me. Yeah, it can be done, but why require the second button?

The advantage is in focus-then-compose, and it's great for that. Only that. I have spoken.


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## Braineack (Feb 19, 2020)

it's literally the same thing as half-pressing a button while working the shutter, but less fatigue on your finger and better control over the shutter itself...


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## Overread (Feb 19, 2020)

wfooshee said:


> BBF in action shooting means holding a button while working the shutter. Goofy, to me. Yeah, it can be done, but why require the second button?



For action there's several benefits:

1) If you're using VR or IS or any other anti-shake you can enable the anti-shake (half press the shutter) without engaging auto focus. This might be good for enabling the anti-shake before the subject will appear in the frame. So there's nothing to focus on, but you still want the lens ready and working and countering shake for when the subject does appear. If your focus is already in the right ballpark position you don't want it hunting back and forth or focusing way off into the distance when the subject appears

2) You can pre-focus at a specific spot you know the subject/action will be at, but you're also then able to turn the AF on after that point and track movement right after. Eg an animal jumping a showjump you can pre-focus on the jump itself- get the shot as they go over; then enable AF with the backbutton and track the subject as it moves off the jump and away to somewhere else.
Backbutton is far faster at this than trying to find the right switch on the lens barrel for AF/MF switching. Especially as on some lenses the switch can be a long way from where you naturally hold the lens.

3) You can half press to engage metering and meter the scene. The light might be shifting and changing so being able to doublecheck before the action starts, but without losing your focusing point lets you make quick checks even near to action moments.


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## Braineack (Feb 19, 2020)

Yep. Three things I forgot.   I've used all three.


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## zulu42 (Feb 19, 2020)

You guys are making sense but I'm still not convinced. I don't really understand the advantage of BBF over AF-L for pre-focus or focus and recompose situations.
For manual override of focus, I can see that benefit.
for metering without changing focus, AF-L...
Finger fatigue? Get outta here.


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## Derrel (Feb 19, 2020)

Finger fatigue...that one left me at the border town called Credulity...AF-L has served quite well for two decades for me.leaves the right thum free to grip, select focus points withe the D- pad. Run the shutter speed selector.

With a large and heavy lens on the camera the thumb serves a pretty important part of gripping the camera. when you add on a 7 lb 200 or 300mm lens, the thumb as a gripping point is not to be compromised.


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## TWX (Feb 19, 2020)

Derrel said:


> Tried it, don't like it, now do not use it. It makes what is a 1 step process into a two-step process. Some cameras have a focus lock button on the back and if you have this control, then you will see very little need for back button focus.



I tried it in-part because I have a lens whose AF/MF switch is busted and I left it in the AF-mode, so BBAF allowed me to selective use AF.

I found that the traditional BBAF with the shutter-button not doing any AF simply didn't work well for me on my 77D.  I've been slowly retraining myself to use my right eye, but I've traditionally been a left-eye shooter, and that makes it harder to reach the AF-ON button.  Likewise, even when I use my right eye, the 77D body, like the Rebels, is small enough that my face still makes it awkward to reach the BBAF button.

What I instead do is use the AF-ON button as an AF-OFF button.  This allows me to use the shutter button to achieve focus, then hold down AF-OFF when I don't want subsequent shots to use AF while pressing the shutter button.  This has the advantage of allowing a novice like my wife be able to use the camera with traditional half-press AF as well.


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## JBPhotog (Feb 19, 2020)

I guess one might want to ask from a R&D perspective, if there was no value to BBAF then why do manufacturers design cameras with them? The answer is rather simple, it is the preferred method of focusing by the majority of professional (i.e. working) photographers. As Steve Perry says in his eBook mentioned earlier, "BBAF once again separates AF from the shutter release - the way the camera gods intended." And for those who have been around before AF was invented, these two functions where separated, the shutter did its job, the focus ring did its job the two were not married to each other.

Here's a great video explaining BBAF.


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## TWX (Feb 19, 2020)

I wish that the lock switch on my camera would allow me to enable or disable AF on the shutter button.  If that could be configured in that fashion that would make it a lot easier to just use BBAF or not at-will.


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## Braineack (Feb 19, 2020)

zulu42 said:


> You guys are making sense but I'm still not convinced. I don't really understand the advantage of BBF over AF-L for pre-focus or focus and recompose situations.



You don't accidentally forget it's engaged/locked, or accidentally let go, depending on your settings.


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## JBPhotog (Feb 19, 2020)

Derrel said:


> Finger fatigue...that one left me at the border town called Credulity...AF-L has served quite well for two decades for me.leaves the right thum free to grip, select focus points withe the D- pad. Run the shutter speed selector.
> 
> With a large and heavy lens on the camera the thumb serves a pretty important part of gripping the camera. when you add on a 7 lb 200 or 300mm lens, the thumb as a gripping point is not to be compromised.



I have not encountered any issues with BBAF operation with my thumb with either the AF-S 300mm F2.8 or the AF-s 500mm F4 even with TC's included.


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## Braineack (Feb 19, 2020)

Derrel said:


> Finger fatigue...that one left me at the border town called Credulity...



Back when I was doing lots of panning for an entire day, it became an errand to try to track the subject, half-press track focus, then release the shutter, and continue to focus, and release the shutter again, maybe 3-4 shutter releases per pass. I don't experience that using AF-ON


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## Derrel (Feb 19, 2020)

It's time for a T-shirt that proclaims, "I Shoot Back Button Autofocus", similar to the , " I Shoot RAW" shirts that Fro Knows Photo popularized. Say it loud, say it proud, wear it on a T-shirt.


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## TWX (Feb 19, 2020)

Derrel said:


> It's time for a T-shirt that proclaims, "I Shoot Back Button Autofocus", similar to the , " I Shoot RAW" shirts that Fro Knows Photo popularized. Say it loud, say it proud, wear it on a T-shirt.


Problem is that's too much.

On the front it will say, "I shoot back" and on the back it'll say, "button autofocus"


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## Derrel (Feb 19, 2020)

Brilliant suggestion!


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## Derrel (Feb 19, 2020)

Braineack said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> > Finger fatigue...that one left me at the border town called Credulity...
> ...



But every time you half-press the shutter, the system autofocuses.... I have shot perhaps only 10,000 panning photos and I don't know what you are talking about.

If you use the direction pad and your right thumb to set the focus Point once, every Nikon made since at least the d2x will use RGB tracking to follow the subject anywhere it goes across the frame. So for about the past 10 years or more we have had a system to automatically track your subject at computer speed much faster than you can do it with your slow human reflexes. I think your rationale here is underutilizing the system. Perhaps you are not that familiar with 3D RGB tracking. Any Nikon has over 1,008 sensors (the number used in the low-end Nikons) dedicated to analyzing the scene as far as RGB values and luminosity, and as I said, it can track a subject based upon its RGB values wherever that subject goes, anywhere in the frame, but this is dependent upon you using your thumb to select the initial Focus point and Target. Nikon and their teams of engineers have used decades ' worth of camera engineering and you are relying upon a method that introduces the slowness of the human reaction as opposed to utilizing the camera's multi-bit computer.

This kind of reminds me of people who are using the Nikon metering system as if it were a dumb,color blind 18% reflected meter from the 1960s.... the camera does both RGB_and_Luminosity analysis for both metering and focusing, and this is what makes the Nikon D5 such an incredible auto focus camera. There is no need to make compensation for what the light meter sees... by combining RGB analysis with reflected light readings the metering system can tell with extreme certainty what the exact color is of an object. It can differentiate between a white car and a gray car and a black car. The system can _track_ a subject effortlessly. The focusing system can track a subject easily, but only if you allow it to.

If you want to go by slow human reaction, then go ahead, but do you think that you can out-think a microcomputer in terms of speed and reliability? In my experience,no.  It's like using Centerpoint only focus with a camera that has 51 auto focus points. If you take the time to understand how the Nikon autofocus system works then there is very little advantage to using the slow human brain and body to try and out think the camera.


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## JBPhotog (Feb 19, 2020)

AF systems are truly amazing however, they are not infallible. There are caveats to all modes such as Single point, Dynamic, 9, 21, 51 etc. 3D, Group and Auto AF. Each mode uses different determinations as to what you want to keep in focus, Single being _*the*_ most particular of the bunch. 

The subject matter can play a huge roll as to what AF mode you employ and there is no nirvana to all scenarios, they all fail to nail focus at times. It is incumbent on the photographer to decide which AF mode best suits the subject and whether it is static, in a predictable motion, how fast and of course the direction in relation to the photographer it is moving. BBAF lets you decide when the AF system engages and since it sits right under the pad of the thumb when holding the camera, is a logical use of said feature but it doesn't change the AF mode just when it is on or off. This determination is made by visual cues through the viewfinder, is the image sharp or not, is the focus indicator a 'O' or '> <'.

Even with this amazing technology, I have bin of OOF images the camera couldn't make the right decision on.


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## Derrel (Feb 19, 2020)

Learn what your system was designed to do and seek understanding. Today's autofocus systems are extremely complex. Noted Nikon Authority Thom Hogan has a series of books that will help gain a more complete understanding of Nikon autofocus systems and controls. There are also a couple of other authors who have written entire books on getting the most from particular Nikon models. Using today's modern and sophisticated cameras as if they were models made in 1990 is not my idea of getting the most out of the technology. For example the United States Air Force has developed very sophisticated computer tracking and lock on technology which far outstrips the ability of mere mortals.

And speaking of "lock on", Nikon uses that terminology in what I would consider to be backwards English. Most people have lock on set to "fast.... when in reality what they would be better off with is a much lower level setting. lock on should more properly be called "new Target Focus acquisition timing delay".


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## Derrel (Feb 19, 2020)

AF systems are truly amazing, but I have heard many people over the last decade give answers that show that they do not understand what a particular system can do. For example many people do not understand the initial Focus acquisition concept which relies upon the user to show the system by moving the desired AF point to what you wish the 3D tracking system to follow, or people who do not understand that lock on being set too fast means that the camera changes its Target with amazing rapidity: when you swing the camera past reeds, or other soccer players,or other things, Lock on determines how easily the camera shifts or lets go of the initial Target. If you have lock on set to "fast", this one fundamental error will make Focus tracking very poor. What you want to do is set lock on to slow , and yet thousands upon thousands of users do not understand this most basic concept and it is because they set their AF system up incorrectly that they do not have anywhere near the full capability of the autofocus system to track rapidly moving cars, or children, Birds, Etc. This one fundamental area of control is, as I said  in backwards English.

As I said Nikon "lock on " should be called "new Focus Target acquisition delay", not lock on. This is a problem with Japanese English Engineer-speak.... one of the single most-critical controls is quite frequently set incorrectly and dead-simple Focus tracking is made impossible.


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## JBPhotog (Feb 19, 2020)

I would disagree with you here @Derrel regarding the "Focus tracking with lock-on", there is no one solution fits all. It is really dependant on the subject matter you are shooting and if there other objects that may cross through the scene as you are tracking.

This setting is found in the Custom Setting Menu: a)Autofocus -> a3)Focus tracking with lock-on with options from OFF to AF5 Long(model dependant, some are 1 to 5).

If you set this to AF5 your AF system will be very slow to react to changes from target to target and that may be great if you are capturing a bird which is flying through long grass. However, it will be exceedingly painful if you are capturing a fast moving subjects in a group, say a flock of birds and you want to switch from one to another. Like I said it is really subject dependant.


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## DanOstergren (Feb 19, 2020)

I use back button focus, and find that I get what I need in focus more often than when I used the shutter button for focusing. I prefer to have focus and the shutter as separate steps from each other.


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## Derrel (Feb 19, 2020)

The fact remains that most people misconstrue what lock on means: they think it means fast is "good", as in "faster"  and one is "slow"  but the name is misleading. As I said several times above, this setting should really be named something besides lock on. I have lost count of the time that people here on TPF have been unble to track something as simple as a soccer player running at 15 miles per hour in a high contrast uniform, and when the camera swings by more than one player it immediately races to a new Target, most often because people have the lock on speed set to the fastest/highest.

Kind of like how driving in gear 5 at 4000 RPM leads to a lot of problems in situations in which second gear at 2000 RPM would be a much better choice. When people tell you that single point autofocus is the best at tracking athletes in action then you know that they don't know about any of the intricacies of modern Nikon autofocus.

As you said there is no one solution fits all, but there are some incredibly stupid mistakes and some incredibly naive "solutions" based upon wildly incomplete understanding of the basics. if I were to suggest that third gear is the best gear in a 5-speed that would be kind of dumb. Under what conditions? But knowing what lock on means is critical and the way it is understood by most people is the exact opposite of what the engineers meant it to be. Of that much I am certain. Imagine if I thought that first gear would allow my vehicles to go faster than third, or that 5th gear was the " best" when starting uphill when towing a boat and trailer.


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## Derrel (Feb 19, 2020)

Kind of like understanding , and I mean truly understanding , that f/1.4 is a very large opening, while f/16 is a tiny hole.... millions of beginner and intermediate photographers struggle with this and think that f/16 means the lens is fairly well open. Kind of like when people say a "high aperture",meaning a small aperture... when there is confusion about terminology it can be disastrous.


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## Braineack (Feb 20, 2020)

Okay, now do cons for BBF:


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## TWX (Feb 20, 2020)

Braineack said:


> Okay, now do cons for BBF:



Another thing to coordinate in addition to all of the other settings and composing the shot
Small camera bodies make using the control more difficult
Difficulty for multiple users of the same camera
In one-shot mode, human-delay between focus and snapping the shutter may result in out of focus shots if the subject is moving


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## zulu42 (Feb 20, 2020)

Braineack said:


> Okay, now do cons for BBF:


Thumb fatigue!!Just giving you a hard time.

Honestly the "con" in my mind is just for me, personally, making a fundamental change in camera operation. I'm resistant but not unwilling. Seeing you folks with plenty of knowledge tout BBF has me sort of curious to try it again.
I'm pretty adept at pumping the half press and dancing on the D pad for focus points. I'm always AF-C unless on a tripod, and af-c on a tripod when I (rarely) shoot people. I feel like I'd be living life with my thumb pressed. I don't use the AF/MF switches on the lenses, I use the easy, tactile switch on the camera body. If I focus and recompose I use AF-L.
That being said there's no way I cam claim any level of expertise or even complete familiarity with the AF system on my camera. I appreciate the discussion.


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## Derrel (Feb 20, 2020)

Cons for BBF? First and foremost turning a simple one press operation into a two-step process. There is no absolute need to separate focusing from shooting. in quick grab situations it requires you to retrain yourself thumb to focus, finger to fire , that is 2 steps for every shot. You could use the focus hold button if you desire, and keep the focus where it belongs, on the trigger.

Back button Focus can lull you into a sense that the focus is good. In some situations you might forget to hit the thumb button and shoot the shot,or two or three, or a sequence, and every single shot will be out of focus because you forgot to Step One, use your thumb for focus acqusition. In quite a few situations a new focus is absolutely imperative for each shot. If you only have a few inches of depth of field you need to make sure that each shot is focused properly. With back button Focus you might be tempted to think that your focus is good and it might be for shot one, but if a subject moves even a few inches, you might find your focus is not covered by the resulting depth of field especially when using long focal length lenses at short ranges or when shooting wide open or nearly so. When using AFC and the trigger, each shot will be refocused exceptionally close to the moment of exposure, minimizing Focus errors that result from a delay between Focus acquisition and shot triggering.

When your camera is set up for back button Focus it makes it almost impossible to use for other people and it can make taking selfies quite difficult.

Back button Focus requires a fundamental reassignment of two of the most basic controls. When basic controls are shifted things can go wrong in high-pressure situations. Imagine how great it would be to reassign the clutch and the brake or the gas and the brake in your vehicle to make it easier for you to drive. Wouldn't that be great? Why not switch the clutch and the brake pedals? that should be fabulous and it would lead to many more accidental stops. Imagine how great it would be if we could switch the brake and the gas pedal! Since the vast majority of automobiles on the road today use an automatic transmission, imagine how much more efficient it would be if we were to switch the position of the brake and the gas pedal! the mind boggles. Such a great idea! I have only been driving for about 50 years and I think a new way to do things would really be great. I think throwing away all my muscle memory would be a great idea. I think completely learning to do something new might give me give me improved confidence. And of course it would be the greatest thing since sliced bread which as some of you might know,was invented in 1928. I think it is about time to switch the operation of most cars and make what was formerly the brake pedal the gas pedal and what was the gas pedal the brake.

I think it is just as easy to use the shutter release button for Focus acquisition and to leave the Focus hold or focus lock button as a thumb operated option for the times when you want to take one Focus, and lock it, and then use the shutter release button to take a series of photos, not completely eliminate the ability of the shutter release button to function as a focus initiator. Some cameras such as high-end Nikon models have an autofocus lock and an AE lock more or less side by side. There are multiple ways you can configure these buttons such as active only when held, active until pressed again,lock only focus, lock only exposure, lock both together, lock one but not the other, as I said there are multiple possibilities. My preference has been to use the focus lock button as also locking the exposure.

My biggest complaint really though is that BBF ties your thumb up and makes you tend not to use off center Focus squares or groups using what is commonly called the d-pad or the 4-way controller, or what some people call the thumb pad. It is my experience that using off center Focus points is really important inside about 20 feet. As you get closer and closer, and especially with wide-angle lenses, the distance to off-center targets as opposed to the center of the focus screen becomes much more important and critical. Focus and recompose is often quite inaccurate and can lead to bad Focus many times if the conditions are wrong. Because of this, I think it is important to maintain your framing and use your thumb to select the focus Square that you wish to really truly be in focus, not focus and recompose, and if your thumb is free to run the d-pad then this becomes your main way of working, but if you dedicate your thumb to starting the focus you constantly have to shift back and forth back and forth between the d-pad and the back button, and I think this is quite inefficient.


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## Braineack (Feb 20, 2020)

Center focus square leads to awful compositions if not reframing, especially portraits in portrait orentation.


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## TWX (Feb 20, 2020)

Braineack said:


> Center focus square leads to awful compositions if not reframing, especially portraits in portrait orentation.



I'm a rank amateur, but even I know to chose my focus area and even my mode (ie, one-shot versus AI-servo) based on what I'm doing.

If I'm snapping people with one focus point I'll usually choose a point that's where I expect a face to be, usually from the top row or second from the top row in a given orientation.

Other than at a beach or at the renaissance festival, no point in focusing on their middle to upper torso.


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## Overread (Feb 20, 2020)

Derrel said:


> When your camera is set up for back button Focus it makes it almost impossible to use for other people and it can make taking selfies quite difficult..



It's also a bonus - preventing the prevailing addiction to selfies and protecting your precious camera being stolen by anyone else in the family! With Backbutton they can't use it, so they never ever think about grabbing your precious (expensive and delicate) camera! Though yes in times where I've handed the camera to someone else I've had to either teach them or spend 5 mins finding where the heck the menu option is to turn it off for a moment. 



Derrel said:


> Back button Focus requires a fundamental reassignment of two of the most basic controls. When basic controls are shifted things can go wrong in high-pressure situations. Imagine how great it would be to reassign the clutch and the brake or the gas and the brake in your vehicle to make it easier for you to drive. Wouldn't that be great? .



Well I've seen grumpy orangutans who drive in car shows steadily adopt to loving the "flappy paddle " gearbox controls where the gearstick is on the steering wheel. Also in the UK where we have manual gear changing as standard and automatics are more a novelty I've seen my father shift from using all manual to automatic without any real problems and then shift back again. Typically the only time there's an issue is when he's driven one car for a while and is in that frame of mind when driving the other. Same for cameras. The backbutton is just a new thing to learn. It's just the same as learning how to change the aperture and shutterspeed instead of staying in automode. You get the very same arguments of adding steps and adding complication etc... However once you've got used to it most of those arguments go away. Ergo they are only short term aspects rather than long term. At least if you stick with it.



Derrel said:


> My biggest complaint really though is that BBF ties your thumb up and makes you tend not to use off center Focus squares or groups using what is commonly called the d-pad or the 4-way controller, or what some people call the thumb pad. It is my experience that using off center Focus points is really important inside about 20 feet. As you get closer and closer, and especially with wide-angle lenses, the distance to off-center targets as opposed to the center of the focus screen becomes much more important and critical. Focus and recompose is often quite inaccurate and can lead to bad Focus many times if the conditions are wrong. Because of this, I think it is important to maintain your framing and use your thumb to select the focus Square that you wish to really truly be in focus, not focus and recompose, and if your thumb is free to run the d-pad then this becomes your main way of working, but if you dedicate your thumb to starting the focus you constantly have to shift back and forth back and forth between the d-pad and the back button, and I think this is quite inefficient.



Personally I don't find this a huge issue. Granted I do end up shooting for centre frame more often than not, but that's because I find it easier to keep a moving target in the middle than on the edge of the frame. That's more me than the camera. For shifting the focus point I don't find it hard at all. The motion from backbutton to AF dongle and back again is akin to moving the thumb from off the dongle to on it to move it and then off again once selected. So in the moment its not a huge time difference. 

Again I'm used to backbutton and I well appreciate that someone not used to it would be bothered and slowed during a period of getting used to it. When shifting the dongle is a pain; when they forget to use it. Heck I forgot to use it many times when transitioning. Just like I also forgot to change the aperture or to check my shutter speed was fast enough or adjust for changing lighting conditions. 


Of course backbutton isn't for everyone, but I don't think its totally fair to decry it on grounds where a majority of them are, in my opinion, more a element of getting used to a new way of working rather than inherent to using them.


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## Derrel (Feb 20, 2020)

Since time immemorial the clutch pedal has been on left, the brake to the right of that and the gas pedal has been on the floor on the far right. This is not changing between a manual and an automatic transmission, but reassigning the basic functions. Imagine if the clutch and the brake were reversed, or some genius decided that the gas should be to the left of the brake. We would have people killed left and right. Once again I am not talking about making a change between an automatic and manual transmission but rather about changing the function of well-known and established controls. I work at a large car auction house and am incredibly unimpressed by BMW's new transmission with a paddle shifter. I am not impressed either by the new dial type shifting system in which a 1 and 3/4 inch round dial does your shifting.

I remember living in a rental house that had the hot and the cold water in the shower reversed. Even though I lived there for about a year I never fully got used to the system being backwards. For 30 years I had always had the hot on the left and the cold on the right. One would think that the three or four scaldings I received would have made me learn my lesson, but thousands of repetitions over several decades had made me quite ingrained to automatically assume that right side knob would provide me with cold water, but instead it scalded the sh!+ out of me.


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## DarkShadow (Feb 20, 2020)

My EX  Wife VW Passat  is automatic trans with manual mode. I drove it in manual a few times and kept pushing my left foot for none existent clutch pedal.LOL


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## Derrel (Feb 20, 2020)

One can have the focusing and the shutter as separate steps by using the focus lock back button... assigning the focus acquisition to the back button fundamentally changes the operation of the camera, in much the same way as changing the brake and the gas...sure you can adapt, but some people have decades' worth of experience and literally hundreds of thousands of repetitions doing things a certain way, and anything that makes a fundamental change to that is seldom worth it. I firmly maintain that keeping the focusing action on the shutter button and using the thumb operated Focus lock button has several advantages, but so far no one but me has brought that up, but instead everyone seems to be enthralled with using back button Focus.  that's great, especially for people in their 20s and 30s who have been shooting for a decade and a half at most, but I bought my first 35 mm camera in 1975, and I have several fundamental assumptions about how a camera should work. For almost two full decades  I was used to changing my lens aperture  on the lens itself , but when I bought my first digital single-lens camera in 2001, setting the lens aperture had been moved to the front command dial  on Nikon cameras. On Canon cameras the front and the rear control Wheels change their function depending on which shooting mode the camera is set to, which means that the camera requires you to think, "will the front button change my shutter speed or my lens aperture? What shooting mode am I in?" With a Nikon mode the factory default is always f stops on the front, thumb wheel controls the shutter speed , no matter what shooting mode the camera is set to. I have shot Nikon since 1982 , and Nikon focuses, Mounts lenses, and changes f stops in the Leica Direction, meaning opposite of Canon. third-party lenses such as Sigma,which Focus backwards and/or zoom in the "wrong direction" means that even something as simple as turning the zooming or the focus ring in the wrong direction means lost shot opportunities. In the early 2000s I bought several Sigma lenses and found that their non-standard operation was not for me. Leica focuses in the same direction as Nikon. Most other brands are reversed. Back in the manual Focus days a Sigma lens was a disaster just waiting to happen, and for some people here they have made this an example of why they dislike Sigma lenses. Once again I think that the focus should be on the trigger and you can use back button Focus lock when you need to keep the focus in the same place for those few situations in which leaving the focus unchanged is desirable.

There is a second option: back button Focus lock, but I have not heard one single person on the interwebs make reference to it. But if using back button Focus floats your boat, then by all means go ahead and use it. It does have a couple of uses which are advantageous.... but when you use it you set your camera up for a dual modality, meaning you have to remember thumb to focus, index finger to shoot. You have turned the act of taking an autofocus picture into a two-step process, every single time, and that is what I'm talking about in regards to a fundamental change about how the machine operates. If you have been shooting pictures for one year or two years or three years or even 15 years and are under the age of 30, then perhaps it makes sense to change to the newest fad,which as everyone knows on the internet is back button Focus.

" I shoot Raw" makes a great t-shirt slogan and I really think the ,"I shoot back button Focus" t-shirt idea would have a similar appeal. A t-shirt proclaiming that you use back button Focus would let everyone know how hip you are, and I think cool t-shirts that let others know would be in high demand, especially among readers of such cool sites as F-stoppers and dPreview. I am serious about this--this is not sarcasm. I have actually seen quite a few people wearing the " I Shoot RAW" T-shirts popularized and sold by Jared Polin.


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## Derrel (Feb 20, 2020)

DarkShadow said:


> My EX  Wife VW Passat  is automatic trans with manual mode. I drove it in manual a few times and kept pushing my left foot for none existent clutch pedal.LOL



In 1986 I bought a Mazda RX7 which had a 4-speed standard transmission. When that car blew up I bought a 1989 Plymouth Reliant in 1991.  I remember the very first day I climbed in the Reliant which had an automatic. I was going to go to work and  my left foot forcefully hit the floor as I pushed in the imaginary clutch. I just about hyper-extended my left knee. Seriously. My foot hit the floor with quite a bit of force. Fast forward to 2017 when I was learning to drive a semi truck which although it has a standard type shift does not require you to use the clutch. My instructor was quite amazed that I would use the clutch even though it was not necessary, but old habits die hard. I learned to drive on a John Deere 1949 model M when I was 8 years old, back in the summer of 1971.I can drive stick. But I prefer the automatic transmission for its ease of operation, especially in the ever-increasing urban freeway environment of stop-and-go traffic. My last standard shift car was a 1989 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe, which had an incredibly stiff clutch throw out mechanism. It was a bear to drive in stop-and-go freeway traffic. There's nothing quite like making 150 shifts in a 20-mile commute home.


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## Braineack (Feb 21, 2020)

Derrel said:


> . I am not impressed either by the new dial type shifting system in which a 1 and 3/4 inch round dial does your shifting.


Ford actually advertises this as a feature -- probably the worst UI ever implemented.

I drive both an automatic and a manual transmission at home.  Have no issues with either -- both are second nature how they operate.

Much like using BBF, there is no think behind it -- I immediately picked it up and took to it.


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## Photo Lady (Feb 21, 2020)

I still do not understand fully the actual reasons and advantages but i always use it.. i just started this way and i feel comfortable with the back button ...


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## marmle (Feb 21, 2020)

I set my camera to BBF a couple of months ago and I'm still undecided as to weather there is any real benefit. As Derrel said, one could just use focus lock.


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## pez (Feb 24, 2020)

I keep one of the many User modes on my cameras set for "normal" shutter button focus- just in case I want to hand the camera to a non-adept, or the rare times I might prefer "normal" mode. Only takes one click of the user dial (on my cameras). Otherwise I prefer BBF- works great for me.


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## JBPhotog (Feb 24, 2020)

pez said:


> I keep one of the many User modes on my cameras set for "normal" shutter button focus- just in case I want to hand the camera to a non-adept, or the rare times I might prefer "normal" mode. Only takes one click of the user dial (on my cameras). Otherwise I prefer BBF- works great for me.



Yep me too, I set shutter button AF in Custom Settings Bank "D" for . . . . . . .


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## Fujidave (Feb 25, 2020)

I use to have BBF on all my Fuji cameras, but have gone back to normal shutter focus now on them as I find it works easier for me now.


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## freixas (Feb 25, 2020)

Derrel said:


> First and foremost turning a simple one press operation into a two-step process.



Derrel, I have to disagree with this. We're comparing one two-step process (half-press to focus and full-press to shoot) to a different two-step process. I use BBF and never have to consciously think about it, any more than I have to consciously think of the steering wheel, accelerator and brake when driving a car. It never feels like a two-step process, it just feels like how I take a shot. I suspect that you call the half-press/full-press process a "one-step" operation because it feels like one-step to you--using BBF feels equally like "one-step" to me.

As for thumb fatigue, it may depend on one's thumb and one's camera. I shoot with BBF and with heavy lenses and have never had a problem, but that may be because of how _my _hand wraps around _my _cameras (which are Canon).

We can agree that it's a personal choice. You can make either method work for you. It didn't take me long to get used to BBF and the thought of linking focus to shutter press is what now seems odd.



Derrel said:


> but I bought my first 35 mm camera in 1975, and I have several fundamental assumptions about how a camera should work



You definitely shoot a lot more than me, but my first 35mm camera dates back to about the same period and I've continued my photography hobby over the years. I had no problem switching to BBF a few years ago. You are totally incorrect in thinking that only young people can adapt to BBF. I can even switch back to the half-press method if I'm borrowing a camera (continuing the car analogy, it's like switching from a manual to an automatic).

Of course, back in the 70s, cameras didn't use either method--you focused manually all the time.


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## johngpt (Feb 25, 2020)

I had to laugh as after reading the first couple pages of comments I decided to come to the last page, and saw Derrel and Scott's comments about standard transmissions. 
I'm laughing as it doesn't seem as incongruous as one might think.

Anyway, back on topic...
In 2011 I got the Fuji X100. It had terrible autofocus using the shutter release!
Reading the online forums mentioned switching to manual focus and using the AF-L back button.
Worked phenomenally well. 
It also engages the focus assist peaking which lets me know where the focus is happening.
Since then I've gotten the X-T1, then the X100F and now the X-T3. And I'm still using the X100.
These newer cameras all have excellent autofocus using the shutter release but I still use the back button as it's now muscle memory.
And I really like the focus peaking.


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## johngpt (Feb 25, 2020)

I had another thought about BBF v half press shutter release.
I had gotten into dSLR when our younger son was recruited to competitive soccer. I used the half press shutter release method for all those years. I was still shooting sports with my Canon 40D for quite awhile after getting the X100 and had no trouble switching back and forth between the two. As freixas said it was like getting from an automatic car into a standard.
If I were to go back to shooting sports, I'd definitely go back to using the shutter half press method.


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## Derrel (Feb 25, 2020)

Some people prefer one way,others prefer another way. Still think a T-shirt is in order.


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## TWX (Feb 25, 2020)

Derrel said:


> Some people prefer one way,others prefer another way. Still think a T-shirt is in order.


"I argue about back button focus on the Internet and all I got was this lousy t-shirt"?


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## Derrel (Feb 25, 2020)

A driver that never consciously thinks of the brake or the accelerator...driving on innate instincts...interesting...try that driving in mud or snow or tight confines... I used to be a Precision driver at a large Nursery,where it was required to drive all day long for 8 hours with no more than three inches of a variance...piloting a 10 implement cultivator over three--row beds of ornamental plants or trees required lots of actual thinking about the steering and gear choice and braking... it was mentally quite stressful, driving like this. There was plenty of thought given to all parts of the driving process. I would like to be able to say that a person can drive without thinking , but there is actually quite a bit of subconscious or even conscious thought applied to even something as common as driving.

There is actually quite a bit of difference between driving and just sitting behind the steering wheel as a vehicle goes over the roadway.


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## mnhoj (Feb 25, 2020)

I started AF-ON back in ---- with a D200(?).
Don't really have a choice anymore - it's just what I do - for better or worst.

I've recently revisited this when my Sony A6400. It's AF-C and eye-AF are pretty amazing.
Maybe shutter button release would better?
I'll never know - my thumb does what *it *wants.


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## Indrajeet (Feb 26, 2020)

stapo49 said:


> I was wondering how many people still use "back button focusing" or is it redundant given the focussing/sensor technology we have in cameras now?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


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## Indrajeet (Feb 26, 2020)

Hello All! I am new here, I primarily photograph birds and wildlife.

On my newer bodies like the D500 and D850 I have selected three focus options, the AF-ON (back button) is set for Group, which I use most of the time for bird in flight, which is my favourite subject. I have the toggle button set to single point for bird portraits or  picking birds in difficult habitat or selecting a specific bird in a group. For shooting birds in flight against a sky background I will use 21 points set to my Pv button on the front. Works brilliantly and I miss fewer images using this set up.


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## zulu42 (Feb 26, 2020)

Indrajeet said:


> Hello All! I am new here, I primarily photograph birds and wildlife.
> 
> On my newer bodies like the D500 and D850 I have selected three focus options, the AF-ON (back button) is set for Group, which I use most of the time for bird in flight, which is my favourite subject. I have the toggle button set to single point for bird portraits or  picking birds in difficult habitat or selecting a specific bird in a group. For shooting birds in flight against a sky background I will use 21 points set to my Pv button on the front. Works brilliantly and I miss fewer images using this set up.



This is very interesting. I'm not sure what the "toggle button" is, or if I have that on my D800. But I like your concept!


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## freixas (Feb 26, 2020)

Derrel said:


> A driver that never consciously thinks of the brake or the accelerator...driving on innate instincts...interesting...try that driving in mud or snow or tight confines... I used to be a Precision driver at a large Nursery,where it was required to drive all day long for 8 hours with no more than three inches of a variance...piloting a 10 implement cultivator over three--row beds of ornamental plants or trees required lots of actual thinking about the steering and gear choice and braking... it was mentally quite stressful, driving like this. There was plenty of thought given to all parts of the driving process. I would like to be able to say that a person can drive without thinking , but there is actually quite a bit of subconscious or even conscious thought applied to even something as common as driving.



LOL

Hopefully, I never said "without thinking" and I did mean "subconscious" not "unconscious"!

But let me give a different analogy, one that you might find more difficult to discount. Let's say it's like playing  the piano. I play the piano and I find I can often play better when my conscious mind is thinking of something other than the music. This is true even when sight reading (playing a piece for the first time). This is way more complicated than driving and requires converting mounds of visual input into mounds of muscle movements in a very short space of time. 

If I can play the piano "subconsciously", then I can certainly operate the back button "subconsciously". And I can drive "subconsciously" as well.


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## TWX (Feb 26, 2020)

I think of it like the differences between driving a car with an automatic transmission, driving a car with a manual transmission, either on the column or on the floor.

It's possible that the latter transmissions give the driver more options, but at the same time, _require_ the driver to perform extra steps.  In contrast, a driver using an automatic transmission is free to do little more than press the gas pedal, but the driver still has the option to manually downshift or otherwise limit how high a gear the transmission can go into if one so chooses, but can let the car just do its thing which it does exceedingly well without driver-input the vast majority of the time.

Don't get me started about the time a friend and I went on a road-trip to pick up some auto parts, pulling into a rest-stop I'd been driving for several hours straight at highway speeds and completely forgot his car was a manual; the chuga-chuga-chuga-stall as I pulled up to the stop sign at the inner end of the offramp was not my proudest moment.


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## Derrel (Feb 26, 2020)

Subconscious driving...sounds less less than optimal. Whatever happened to "defensive driving", where you actively analyze situations and anticipate potential mistakes others might make, and prepare youself for possible ways to react?

Muscle memory/  training / re-training/ pausing to evaluate how something ought to be done...etc.

Glad you can drive "Subconsciously".


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## Joves (Mar 4, 2020)

I have been using the back button since I could assign it on my D80. No it is not a two step process. Your thumb is already back there. I also find it gives me a better grip on the body, and I used to trip the shutter, miss more shot with the shutter button. If the shutter button had any real resistance like the film cameras did, then it would be different. 
Also I drive MACKs and you do not need a clutch, and you do not on cars either, except for starting out, or holding on a hill. After I am moving I never use the clutch. And when I use the BF I never accidentally trip the shutter.


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## Derrel (Mar 4, 2020)

To those who say the back button focus is not a two-step process: your logic is fatally flawed. If you do not press the back button with your thumb to focus before you use your right index finger to shoot, you have not focused and the chances of taking an out of focus shot is fairly High--- in some situations more than 90% likely that you will be out of focus. I may be getting up in years, but I can count, 1st step, and then 2nd step... back button Focus turns the act of taking a photo that is in focus into a two-step process no matter what bulsh!+ explanation you try to delude yourself with. Step one Focus, step two press another button to fire. If you shoot 1400 shots at a wedding that means 2800 button presses if you shoot 750 shots at a football game that means 1500 button presses. No I'm serious this means that every time you take a photo it is a two-step process at minimum


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## freixas (Mar 5, 2020)

Derrel said:


> I may be getting up in years, but I can count, 1st step, and then 2nd step... back button Focus turns the act of taking a photo that is in focus into a two-step process no matter what bulsh!+ explanation you try to delude yourself with. Step one Focus, step two press another button to fire.



Derrel, in almost every thread I've seen, you've been the voice of reason, regardless of how heated a discussion got. And the thing that finally has you worked up is...BBF?

I don't actually care if you or anyone else uses the shutter release button or the back button for focusing. The OP was about whether one would get more "keepers" with one method or the other. The answer IMO is...it depends--it depends on the camera, the photographer and the situation. There are several ways to skin this cat and BBF is just one way. Some people find BBF easier to use; others, like yourself, will prefer alternate methods.

Is the "normal" approach really a 1-step method? If _I _aim _my _camera at a target and press the shutter release in one step, I will probably get a blurry photo. Your camera may be different, but for me it would be half-press, wait for focus, and then full press. I still count two steps.

The argument about 1400 vs 2800 button presses is clever but irrelevant. I mentioned I play the piano. It's not three times harder to play three notes than one, as I have more than one finger and the brain is very good at parallel processing.

All BBF shooting does is disconnect the focus from the shutter release and transfer it to the back button. All focus controls still operate as normal (as far as I know--I don't own every camera in the world). If there are advanced focus tracking algorithms available, they should still work. It uses a finger that is otherwise unoccupied. Once trained to use BBF (which is not that hard), you won't miss any shots because of it, nor will it feel like an extra step or more work.


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