Upon looking thru my digital camera (Canon A85) manual the other day, I came across one function to do with autofocus & I'm not sure which mode is best, so would like an opinion from anyone who knows more about photography than me (which wouldn't be hard- I've only ever had compact cameras - never SLRs). The options are described below:

1) Autofocus On (Auto Selection). The camera automatically selects between 9 AF frames to focus according to the shooting conditions.

2) Autofocus Off (Centre). Of 9 AF frames, the middle one is selected to focus. This is convenient for making sure the focus is exactly where you want it.

With my last (film) camera, I was used to focusing on something by pressing the shutter button halfway down, then recomposing a shot (eg. so something is off centre rather than smack bang in the middle of a photo), before pressing the shutter button all the way down.

So, is the 2nd option going to do what I'm used to doing with previous cameras?, or can I do that with either of the above AF options?
Which is the better way to go?

Also, I have another question to do with fast shutter options.
I have a "Fast Shutter" option on the mode dial of my dig. camera.
Would this option actually be a good option to use when taking pictures of scenery out of a moving bus on tour? (so the pics turn out reasonably clear rather than blurry - as my camera seems to have somewhat of a shutter lag).

Thanks,
ClareS

Hi Clare,

Can you see the 9 AF "markers" in the view finder? In most SLRs, they light up in some way to indicate which ones the camera has chosen to use. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the camera will get it right, so I'd stick with the "Auto Selection" method.

Your "focus then move the camera" method for off-centre subjects will work just fine with a Digital SLR too.

Can't help you out with the "Fast Shutter" thing, I'm afraid. Does the manual give any more information about what it does?

Hi Chris,
Thanks for helping out.

I can't see the AF markers in the viewfinder, but one of them (not all) will light up on the LCD screen when I half-press the shutter button (never noticed that before until I just got the camera & manual out to answer your question).

So will the 'focus then move the camera to recompose the shot' method for off-centre subjects work with the 'auto-selection' AF method? or does that work better with just having the middle frame selected to focus (ie. AiAF off)?

Alas the manual does not give any more information about the fast shutter option on the mode dial, other than to say "use this mode to shoot fast moving objects". Helpful isn't it!!

Cheers,
Clare

quote:

So will the 'focus then move the camera to recompose the shot' method for off-centre subjects work with the 'auto-selection' AF method? or does that work better with just having the middle frame selected to focus (ie. AiAF off)?

Should you wish to use that method, it would work better using the centre AF point. However, with 9 AF points, my guess would be that the camera will cope with off-centre subjects pretty well.

The best thing is to do some "test shots" and see how well it copes!

yeah that's what I was wondering (about the centre AF point being the best for my usual method).
At the moment I have it set for the 9 AF frames - seems to be taking ok shots. I'll have to do some comparison shots though & see which ones look better.

My last 2 compact cameras (both film) seem to have both had centre AF point, which would explain why I'm used to centre-focusing & recomposing shots with shutter button halfpressed.

I tried the fast shutter option thru the car window last weekend. The car was going about 80kmh & the shots seemed pretty sharp - certainly not blurry. I just have to remember to hold the camera close to the window or I end up with my arm reflection in the photo!

I seem to remember some people taking shots thru the bus windows with their digital cameras on the last tour I did, but in some cases, the cameras were a bit of a distance away from the window. Not sure how the photos turned out - whether or not they were full of reflections of inside the bus!


Cheers,
Clare

ClareS - I found the best option is to hold the camera against the glass - this is easier if you have a rubber hood. This does not work too well however, (in fact this is a no win situation) if the sun is coming in from your side of the bus, as you will see a beautiful image of your lens, or if you hold the camera farther away, an image of yourself, reflected in the bus window, superimposed on your photograph.

However with digital just keep on shooting, often an imperfect photo is better than nothing, and you can always discard the ones that are not acceptable to you.

If you're shooting from inside the coach, it's a good idea to hold the camera as close to the window as possible. If you don't, most "automatic" cameras will focus on the window, and everything outside will be out of focus.

If you have a camera which permits it, it's a good idea to switch to manual focus when taking shots through a window.

Whatever you do, DON'T use a flash when taking shots through the window - if you do, you'll get a beautiful picture of the reflection of the flash in the window! It's amazing the number of people who seem unable to switch off their camera's flash.

I don't take nearly as many shots through the coach window as I did on my first tours. They are usually only so-so or worse, but on the rare occasion I have gotten a really good one.

The last couple of OS trips I've done, whenever taking pics out of the bus window, I used the landscape mode on my (film) camera - this mode turned the flash off automatically so I didn't have to think about it.

Landscape mode on my digital camera also turns the flash off it seems (just checked the manual ). I'll have to try this mode next, to take pics out of the car window.

Fast shutter mode on the dig.camera leaves the flash on auto, so while it takes good pics (as long as I keep the camera close to the window to avoid reflections), I can't remember if the flash went off the other weekend when I was trying this mode out & if I use this option while on tour later this year, I'll have to remember to switch the flash off while I'm on the bus.

SteveH, I haven't got a rubber hood for my camera so I'll just have to take my chances without it. Good point about the sun coming in your side of the bus though! If I forget while on tour then at least I'll notice when checking the photo on playback!

Cheers,
ClareS