Caution ! Dynamic AF versus single point AF... !

Started 4 months ago | Discussion thread
SteveL54
Senior MemberPosts: 2,549
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Re: Dynamic Area AF-C initial focus acquistion behavior is not that new
In reply to Mako2011, 4 months ago

Mako2011 wrote:

SteveL54 wrote:

Karl Persson wrote:

Kerry,

I share your sentiments on this issue.
Why on earth would Nikon do this, who could possibly benefit from this.

I have experienced the downsides of this "D800 feature" myself.
Out to get some wildlife shots with the camera set to AF-C, AF-On and 21 pt dynamic, since I expected the targets to be on the move, I suddenly saw this beatiful elk standing still in perfect light - so I lift the camera and get o few shots until the moment is over, and coming home I find that the foliage behind the elk is in perfect focus - but not the elk.

This never happened with the D300.

(And don´t get me started on the focus priority issue).

Sorry the shot didn't turn out. You can confirm in ViewNX 2 what AF point the camera chose for initial acquisition. (I've gotten good at figuring out after the fact my these types of shot don't turn out. )

Apparently the new scene detection capability doesn't favor elk faces.

Face detection is only enabled in LiveView. The RGB meter only has focus input in AF-Area mode "3D'" and "auto". In AF-Area mode "Auto" that lets the algorithm bias towards faces and In "3D" the integration lets it track outsi=de the FOV of the AF arrays

I'm not sure what qualifies as "face detection" versus a bias, but here's what the D800 manual says about viewfinder auto-area AF:

"Auto-area AF: The camera automatically detects the subject and selects the focus point; if a face is detected, the camera will give priority to the portrait subject."

It's not likely to be as capable as LV face detect -- a mere 91K pixels vs 36K pixels. Nor does it handle faces outside the total AF group.

It makes no mention of how faces impact dynamic area operation -- if at all. My post was a bit tongue-in-cheek and I took a little bit of license with the 21-pt operation. 

Steve

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