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

Yes. I didn't realize that she was talking of the d3 until I went back to read it again, so then I went to NikonUSA to determine the latest firmware. Mine is the latest, so I don't understand why the d3s firmware would produce different results than what Marianne was getting with the d3 v2 firmware, unless it is later than the d3s v1.01.  I didn't check that.

It seems quite clear to me that the initial acquisition is intended to be on the AF point that I select. In every manual that I checked, d3s, d800, d7k, d300, the verbiage is the same, in that, "User selects the focus point manually, if the subject leaves the selected point, then the AF will use the surrounding points."

It never, in any manual, states that it will use the outer points for AF, without it having first left the one selected by the user. Sorry, but I don't think the manual is ambiguous at all.

My firmware is 1.10 on both A and B.

I didn't try to check 9 pt.  My test setup is too dark to easily see exactly where the AF boxes are, but more importantly, I don't know the exact size and shape of each AF point, relative to those boxes shown in the screen.  It isn't unusual for the actual AF point to be larger than the box representing it. To properly test whether or not 9 pt is the same as 21 pt, I'd have to have a much more precise knowledge of the actual size of the AF points in each camera and then change the test target to a larger white area to contrast with a large, precisely edged black line.

At this point, I see no reason to believe that 9 pt behavior is any different than 21.

Kerry

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