XTi AF: amateur question

[Gintaras]

question to Canon DSLR owners.

Do you choose Auto AF focusing or you choose AF point manually?

If you choose AF point manually is there a possibility to assign only one point or more?

Sorry for dumb questions, want to know practical experience with AF.

My experience shows that AF auto does not produce nice results all the time and tends to focus off what you want it to focus on. In manual point selection there i can set only one point... which then brings a question of HOW useful is 9-point vs. 3-point AF if you finally end up with 1 point in manual selection??? Am I asking smth stupid?

[GaryS]

I always manually select a point to use.

In the past, I only used the centre point, and recomposed after locking focus. Lately I have begun to manually choose the correct point, and then just take the picture. After you get used to it, it doesn't take long to select the right point, because you know exactly how many clicks on the wheel it takes to get the one you want.

When shooting a moving object, I always use the centre point.

Just my way of working, I think everyone gets their own preference after awhile.

[JTL]

I'm a center-point recomposser (ha, ha, ha...something new to tell people when they ask me what I do for a living! :D:D:D).

[fionndruinne]

I'm a center-point recomposser (ha, ha, ha...something new to tell people when they ask me what I do for a living!

Heheh.:D

Well, if the curséd Nikonian dare speak... I always manually choose one of my pitifully few three AF-points... and it's easy as can be. I think the main advantage of more AF-points is in the ability to pick a point without having to recompose, or when taking action shots where the subject is prone to moving unexpectedly.

Three AF-points makes it darned easy to remember the rule of thirds!

[GaryS]

JTL, have you stopped using your S3 now? You had that XT for awhile and never seemed to like it much... What's changed?

Just curious....

[Gintaras]

thanks, i suspected this... then does it make any difference if XTi has 9 AF vs. D40 having only 3 AF when at the end one uses a centre point and recompose? ;)

NB: speaking of all those endless discussions about more AF points being a god's blessing??? :p

[fionndruinne]

Nope, none. Save you can recompose from any point, not just the center one, so it's quicker sometimes to recompose from (say) the furthest horizontal point.

As long as you're not using continuous AF, things get messy then.

[JTL]

JTL, have you stopped using your S3 now? You had that XT for awhile and never seemed to like it much... What's changed?

Just curious....Three little letters...RAW...:D (and the fact that I'm now using a decent lens).

But, I now have moved from beyond not liking my XT to the point where my hand starts to hurt before I pick it up! :eek::p:D

[fionndruinne]

But, I now have moved from beyond not liking my XT to the point where my hand starts to hurt before I pick it up!

*pats D40 lovingly*:D