Back button focus question.

[Billybunter]

Hello all,
I am new to photography, and have just bought my first digital camera, a Nikon D610, which I love using. I have read quite a few articles on the web about back button focus, and how we should all at least give it a try as it is such a good technique to learn. Up until now I have been using the traditional 'button half way down' technique for focusing, where a little red focusing point appears in the viewfinder, with a beeping sound, to confirm the focus.
I have recently set up to use back button focus. Now when I press the Fn button on the camera, which is the button I have chosen in the menu to activate back button focus, I get the same little red focus point in the viewfinder, with the beeping sound, to confirm focus, which is what I was expecting to happen, but also, what I was not expecting to happen, when I press the shutter button to take the picture, the little red focus point appears again, as does the beeping sound. I thought this was going to be disengaged when setting up back button focus. So I am a bit confused now. After setting my focus point with the Fn button, is the camera still re-focusing when I press the shutter button?. Thanks in advance for any info on this.

[Black Pearl]

Point it at something much closer and see if the focus moves

[davidedric]

Welcome! Hopefully, one of the Nikonians will step in.

However, on my Panasonic, there are alternative settings for bbf. With one, the focus stays locked till you press the button again. With the other, you have to keep it pressed (like a shutter half press) till you take the shot, which sounds like the way yours is behaving.

Dave

[Manfred M]

I use Back Button Focus (BBF) 100% of the time with my D800.

As I recall, in one of the menus you have to disable the functionality that has the camera focusing when you push the shutter release half way down. I also have set the focus mode to continuous, so the camera will track the focus point until I release the BBF button or the shutter release fires the camera (this is also set in one of the menus).

[ionian]

Yes, as Manfred says, in addition to assigning a button to focus, you have to unassign the function from the shutter button. I use bbf on my d7100 with af-c, and made the change a few months ago and haven't looked back.

[Billybunter]

Hi all,

thanks for the replies. I will go back the menu and see if I can disable the shutter button focus.

Thanks again

[billtils]

Likewise for me with the D7100.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Billy (I assume),

Could you do me a favour please?
Could you click Settings (right at the top),
then Edit Profile (on left)
and put your first name in the Real Name field
and where you are (roughly) in the Location field,
then click the Save Changes button below and to right,
this helps everyone give you more personal and relevant answers - thanks in advance.

Regarding your use of the Fn button, I wonder how you set it?
For the D7100, there are two possibilities;
"AF Lock Only", which (apparently) holds AF while you hold Fn down (but may not disable shutter release AF).
There is also "AF-ON", which is the one you want, this should disable shutter button half press AF.

Do note however, that if you have AF-ON and are using it correctly, you may be misled in to thinking it is refocussing because half pressing the shutter button still starts up the VR in the lens.

As someone mentioned above, AF-ON is best used with focus mode in AF-C, not AF-A or AF-S - if you're getting a beep, that means you have AF-A or AF-S selected, change it to AF-C would be my advice, then ....

In use; you press your Fn button, wait for it to focus, then let go of it.


However, as previous discussions here at CiC have revealed, not all similar models behave the same way, there can be some VERY subtle (and undocumented) differences.

Also, have you checked whether there's a firmware update that might address this feature? (since it is also not unknown for errors to be released in new cameras)

Also, sometimes, other settings can disable or alter certain functionality - I checked and nothing (on my D7100) appears to affect AF-ON, but as I said above, not all cameras behave the same way.
e.g. I haven't tried, but setting say Fully Auto mode, the software engineer might have decided that in that mode, the shutter button should do what a novice expects it to and over-rule your AF-ON selection for the Fn button.

Hope that helps, Dave

[dje]

Hello all,
I am new to photography, and have just bought my first digital camera, a Nikon D610, which I love using. I have read quite a few articles on the web about back button focus, and how we should all at least give it a try as it is such a good technique to learn. Up until now I have been using the traditional 'button half way down' technique for focusing, where a little red focusing point appears in the viewfinder, with a beeping sound, to confirm the focus.
I have recently set up to use back button focus. Now when I press the Fn button on the camera, which is the button I have chosen in the menu to activate back button focus, I get the same little red focus point in the viewfinder, with the beeping sound, to confirm focus, which is what I was expecting to happen, but also, what I was not expecting to happen, when I press the shutter button to take the picture, the little red focus point appears again, as does the beeping sound. I thought this was going to be disengaged when setting up back button focus. So I am a bit confused now. After setting my focus point with the Fn button, is the camera still re-focusing when I press the shutter button?. Thanks in advance for any info on this.

I have a D610 and my experience is that if another button is set for AF ON, the af function on the shutter is automatically disengaged. The red focus point indicator still operates when the shutter is half pressed but focus is not changed. Test it out by focussing on a close object with back button focus and then point the camera at something further away and press the shutter.

By the way, I'd suggest you try setting the AE-L/AF-L button for AF ON as it is in a more convevient location for bbf than the Fn button - you use the thumb for focus and the first finger for shutter.

Dave

[IzzieK]

Ever since BBF was discussed here at CiC quite a while back, I tried BBF and I have never looked back. It was confusing at first but once you get used to it, you wonder why you are still pressing that half button...

[Dave Humphries]

By the way, I'd suggest you try setting the AE-L/AF-L button for AF ON as it is in a more convenient location for bbf than the Fn button - you use the thumb for focus and the first finger for shutter.

Not for everyone Dave

I also use the Fn button for AF-ON (convenient to use with my third finger) as I find that since I wear spectacles when shooting, my thumb collides with if I use the AE-L/AF-L button for AF-ON.

That leaves my thumb permanently on the rear command wheel (usually set for Easy access EC) and my forefinger free to take pictures with shutter button (or use the front command wheel).

I happen to have the the AE-L/AF-L button programmed (on my D7100) to change the image capture crop size*, which is something I change less frequently than I need focusing, but more frequently than I wish to use the menu.

* 24 x 16 (DX) or 18 x 12 (1.3x)

Fortunately we can choose whatever suits us.

Cheers, Dave

[DanK]

As someone mentioned above, AF-ON is best used with focus mode in AF-C, not AF-A or AF-S - if you're getting a beep, that means you have AF-A or AF-S selected, change it to AF-C

If I understand Nikon-speak correctly, I partially disagree with this.

Yes, BBF has an additional value if you use continuous focusing. However, I almost always use BBF, and I usually use it with single shot AF. Sometimes I prefer to have the AF confirmation work, and at least with Canons, it doesn't with continuous AF. And sometimes I prefer to have the focus point stay put until I choose to change it, and I find that easier with single-shot BBF than continuous AF. I'm not arguing that this is a better setup. It all depends on your preferences and what you are shooting. I'm just saying that it isn't necessarily 'best' to do one or the other.

On the other hand, I do think it is worthwhile for most people to try BBF in one form or another. Almost everyone I know who has used it for any length of time is hooked. It's a relief never to have the AF turn back on when you don't want it to, which happens all the time with shutter-button AF control.

[Dave Humphries]

Oh I agree Dan, all of these options have their 'time and place' when they are 'best' - and even then, personal preference over-rules

I am another convert to BBF and use it 95%+ of the time, although there are occasional situations when even it is not the best solution, so I go back to half press focusing using shutter button.

In my defence (for being so 'instructive'), given Billy's issue with determining when and whether AF was working or not, I felt having it in continuous (AF-C) would aid diagnosis, since he could hold his finger on whichever button, wave the camera around and see if it continually refocuses (even by looking at the focus scale* for movement if necessary).

* although not all lenses have one

[Black Pearl]

It interesting to read about BBF as I hate it with a venom. I've tried it numerous times over the years with numerous cameras in numerous situations and can't stand it.
Just one of those things where right for some isn't right for others.

[DanK]

Oh I agree Dan, all of these options have their 'time and place' when they are 'best' - and even then, personal preference over-rules

I am another convert to BBF and use it 95%+ of the time, although there are occasional situations when even it is not the best solution, so I go back to half press focusing using shutter button.

In my defence (for being so 'instructive'), given Billy's issue with determining when and whether AF was working or not, I felt having it in continuous (AF-C) would aid diagnosis, since he could hold his finger on whichever button, wave the camera around and see if it continually refocuses (even by looking at the focus scale* for movement if necessary).

* although not all lenses have one

Dave,

I see now what you were suggesting.

I rarely switch back to shutter-button focusing, but I sometimes do when I am going a bunch of quick indoor candids. However, I am gradually giving that up too because I have used BBF so long that when I need to focus and recompose, it often doesn't occur to me to hold the shutter halfway down, and I get an OOF shot. At this point, I think that 90% of the time that I don't have BBF on, it's because someone else is going to use the camera. E.g., when I was taking photos of my granddaughter recently, folks wanted some photos with me in them, so I switched the camera to shutter-button AF, expanded the AF point, and gave the camera to someone else. I then switched it back as soon as it was given back to me.

Dan

[NorthernFocus]

With all due respect, Dave, by definition neither you nor the OP are using BBF. You're using FnBF.

Dan, at least on the Nikon bodies that I shoot, the focus indicator does function in continuous focus mode.

To me one of the reasons for using BBF was to make it unnecessary to switch between continuous AF(AF-C in Nikonese) and single AF (AF-S in Nikonese). But that is an attractive feature to me personally because I'm somewhat dim. Invariably if I switch to AF-S to shoot landscape then the camera is still in that mode next time I step out to shoot some sort of action. Typically I'd be a couple hundred OOF frames into a shoot before I noticed my error and corrected it. Problem solved by using BBF and never touching the AF-S/AF-C selector

[xpatUSA]

On the other hand, I do think it is worthwhile for most people to try BBF in one form or another. Almost everyone I know who has used it for any length of time is hooked. It's a relief never to have the AF turn back on when you don't want it to, which happens all the time with shutter-button AF control.

I have recently switched to BBF on my Sigma SD1, the first Sigma DSLR to feature the option. I'm not fully used to it yet but am growing to like the functional separation betwixt the shutter button and the said BF button.

OT but, inspired by this thread, I just now found out that the sadly-missed "focused" beeping still does work when focusing manually - one just has to keep the BF button pressed while so doing

[Billybunter]

Hello Dave,
Thanks for the reply, and I have updated my profile as requested.
I set the BBF by going to Menu > Custom Settings Menu > Controls > Assign Fn Button > AF-ON.
The focusing mode is on AF-S at the moment. I have tried a few test shots, and it appears that the Fn button does indeed set the focus point, and pressing the shutter button only takes the photo. I will take some more test shots soon to verify this.
Thanks a lot.

[Billybunter]

Hello Dave,
Thanks for the reply, and I have updated my profile as requested.
I set the BBF by going to Menu > Custom Settings Menu > Controls > Assign Fn Button > AF-ON.
The focusing mode is on AF-S at the moment. I have tried a few test shots, and it appears that the Fn button does indeed set the focus point, and pressing the shutter button only takes the photo. I will take some more test shots soon to verify this.
Thanks a lot.

Hi Billy (I assume),

Could you do me a favour please?
Could you click Settings (right at the top),
then Edit Profile (on left)
and put your first name in the Real Name field
and where you are (roughly) in the Location field,
then click the Save Changes button below and to right,
this helps everyone give you more personal and relevant answers - thanks in advance.

Regarding your use of the Fn button, I wonder how you set it?
For the D7100, there are two possibilities;
"AF Lock Only", which (apparently) holds AF while you hold Fn down (but may not disable shutter release AF).
There is also "AF-ON", which is the one you want, this should disable shutter button half press AF.

Do note however, that if you have AF-ON and are using it correctly, you may be misled in to thinking it is refocussing because half pressing the shutter button still starts up the VR in the lens.

As someone mentioned above, AF-ON is best used with focus mode in AF-C, not AF-A or AF-S - if you're getting a beep, that means you have AF-A or AF-S selected, change it to AF-C would be my advice, then ....

In use; you press your Fn button, wait for it to focus, then let go of it.


However, as previous discussions here at CiC have revealed, not all similar models behave the same way, there can be some VERY subtle (and undocumented) differences.

Also, have you checked whether there's a firmware update that might address this feature? (since it is also not unknown for errors to be released in new cameras)

Also, sometimes, other settings can disable or alter certain functionality - I checked and nothing (on my D7100) appears to affect AF-ON, but as I said above, not all cameras behave the same way.
e.g. I haven't tried, but setting say Fully Auto mode, the software engineer might have decided that in that mode, the shutter button should do what a novice expects it to and over-rule your AF-ON selection for the Fn button.

Hope that helps, Dave

[Billybunter]

I have a D610 and my experience is that if another button is set for AF ON, the af function on the shutter is automatically disengaged. The red focus point indicator still operates when the shutter is half pressed but focus is not changed. Test it out by focussing on a close object with back button focus and then point the camera at something further away and press the shutter.

By the way, I'd suggest you try setting the AE-L/AF-L button for AF ON as it is in a more convevient location for bbf than the Fn button - you use the thumb for focus and the first finger for shutter.

Dave

Hello Dje, thanks for the reply. I decided to use the Fn button for BBF as it just felt more comfortable for me. I use my right index finger for the shutter, and my right little finger for the Fn button. It just feels OK for me.
Thanks