Do you use back button focusing?

[allenlennon]

Hi all, just wandering if anyone use the back button focus method and if so why? Would like some feed back on this method.

[rpcrowe]

I am beginning to use it and do see the advantages of that method. However for a guy who cannot chew gum and walk at the same time, the learning curve in a bit steep!

[Donald]

Yep!

For me, it was all about ease of use. It frees up the shutter button and allows me to exercise much greater control. I've become so used to it now that I can't envisage what it would be like not using it. It's also so easy to use when in AI SERVO (Canon) mode; i.e. following moving action.

[cliffmccartney]

Hi Allen,

I shoot a lot of sports, and BBF works really well there. I want to follow the action, but I want to lock in the focus just before peak action and then hit the shutter at peak. Decoupling the AF from the shutter button allows me to press the shutter at just the right time without forcing a refocus.

The other time I use it is the "focus-on-something-not-in-the-center-and-recompose" scenario. It's largely a style thing, but I find that scenario to work much better with BBF.

I've gotten used to it, and now I use it exclusively on both my camera bodies.

[DanK]

Most of the time. In most instances, I prefer to have control over AF and don't always want pressing the shutter to activate it. It's handy if you want to focus and then recompose, and if you have lenses that allow full-time manual focusing (all but one of mine do), you can then switch back and forth between manual and automatic focusing without fumbling with the switch. I do the latter quite a bit with field macro work.

In a situation where I am worried about speed I don't want to think about AF, e.g., in taking candids at an event, I sometimes switch back to having AF on the shutter.

[James G]

Allen,
yes I use it but like Dan not exclusively.

[terrib]

I use it exclusively for all the reasons already stated so I won't repeat. Can't imagine going back.

[Manfred M]

I have tried it, but find that it really does not buy me much, other than an increased risk of hitting my glasses when I take my thumb off the button.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Allen,

I use it when it suits the situation, probably 50% of the time.

However (on my D7100), I found that my thumb, when on the button, collided with my glasses (spectacles), so have "AF-ON" programmed to use the DoF Preview button (at the front, below lens) instead, so I focus with my third finger, take pictures with my index finger and still have my thumb free to spin the rear wheel for EC when needed quickly.
I have EC set (when in A/Av or S/Tv modes) so I don't need to press the +/- button to use it.

It works for me

[William W]

Do I? . . .
Yes, I do.


Why do I? . . .
When I was taught how to hold and use a 135 DSL Camera properly, the focus turret was (usually) controlled by the thumb and middle finger of the left hand.

The Shutter was (usually) released by the index finger of the right hand.

It was an unusual and most off putting and limiting "advancement" when some models of the "modern" SLRs that introduced Auto Focus Lenses meant that we lost that essential control over our technique and image making.

Being able to separated Auto Focus from the Half Depress Shutter Release and move it to a separate button, fixed that problem - that is why, I expect, "Back Focus Button" was invented . . . because of all the complaints about the massive loss of control over focussing, when it is a separate functionality.

WW

[Stagecoach]

Yes I do, especially when I want to lock focus, move to take an exposure reading from somewhere else and then re-compose for my shot.

At times I also have the front DoF preview button as Dave has mentioned set to AF-ON so that I can use my thumb to adjust exposure as I have never used the practice of dialling in a set +/- EC.

Grahame

Grahame

[Mike Buckley]

Once I tried it, I never looked back. The same for my wife. When in single servo mode and single-point focusing, I focus using the center focus point. I continue holding the back button (to retain focus) and recompose. Much easier for both of us than holding the shutter release button halfway. Using the back button also allows me to have a tighter grip on the camera body.

[Colin Southern]

I don't use it; the shutter release allows focus and recompose in 1-Shot AF, and the camera does the tracking in servo mode anyway.

[John 2]

I use it on my Nikon and I know I would miss it if I couldn't use it because I constantly wish I could set it up on my X Pro.

[DanK]

When in single servo mode and single-point focusing, I focus using the center focus point. I continue holding the back button (to retain focus) and recompose.

Having an easier way to focus and recompose was one of the reasons I first started using back-button AF. At the time, I used a 50D, which does not have a great AF system, so relying on the center point was my usual procedure. However, neither of my Canon bodies behaves the way you describe, so perhaps there is a difference in this respect between Nikon and Canon. If I set either of my Canons to single shot AF, it makes no difference whether I hold the button or not. Once it has achieved focus, it will retain it until I push the button again. So there is no need to hold it to focus and recompose. In AF servo mode, the cameras continue to seek focus as long as I hold the AF button in, so holding focus while recomposing requires releasing the AF button.

[dubaiphil]

All of the time when hand held, and it's very useful at night on a tripod as well as you don't have to lock focus and then switch the lens to manual focusing, or forget both methods and have the camera hunt for focus before shooting.

[AB26]

I have tried it a few times, when I do remember that button is there. I can see no difference in focus.

My index finger is so trained on the shutter button by now that I do not find any benefit in using the BF button. Sometimes I “pump” the shutter button before taking the shot and trying to train my thumb to do that might be a problem.

[davidedric]

I'm a bit with Andre - tried it and didn't find it natural. Reading the responses, perhaps I need to give it a go and take a lot of non-critical shots so that it becomes more burned in.

[jprzybyla]

I don't use Back Button Focusing, to me just one more button to push. Also I am like Andre I have become so accustomed to using the shutter button it is second nature. Regarding focusing and recomposing with the subject off center Nikon's 3-D Dynamic Focusing Mode works well, focus on a subject in the center them move the subject off center and the focusing points will follow it.

[Tringa]

Yes, I use it so I can easily separate focus and exposure. It took a little while to get used to but I find it very easy now.

Dave