NX20- using the AFL button

Coldamus wrote:

northlondon43 wrote:

I've set the button so that, according to the manual, a half press should lock the focus as normal. To my mind the logical sequence would be to press the AFL button first and then focus as doing it the other way around seems rather fiddly especially if using the EVF. Either way there's no indication on the display that the focus is now locked, e.g. the focus frame turning green.

You said in your original post that you had assigned the AFL function to the AEL button. According to the manual, when you do that and press the AEL button, it locks the focus and a (subsequent) half-press of the shutter button executes the auto exposure lock function.

I just tried it out on an NX10 and it works exactly as stated. As you said, the only indication that focus lock is in effect is that AFL appears on the display.

The camera doesn't continue to display the focus rectangle. It doesn't need to - you've already locked the focal distance. The manual talks about locking the focus area. It is really locking the focal distance. The focus area is only used to establish the focal distance and so is irrelevant once the focal distance is locked.

You now state above "I've set the button so that, according to the manual, a half press should lock the focus as normal.". The only way that is possible is if you've left the AEL button unassigned or reset it to its default "AEL" setting that executes exposure lock. In that case, when you press AEL, you see AEL in the display instead of AFL, and a subsequent half-press of the shutter will cause the camera to focus.

You can also assign both AEL and AFL to the button, in which case both those functions are executed when you press it and a subsequent half-press of the shutter does nothing.

Until you are used to where the button is, I agree it is fiddly to find when using the EVF. That being the case, why assign focus to that button?

I can't see how you can expect to press the button and have it subsequently lock a value that you haven't set yet. If the value is locked, you won't be able to change it. If it isn't locked, how is the camera going to know when you have set it? If you assign AFL to the button, that is what it does when you press it, not when you press some other button.

Thank you for your comprehensive reply. I think what has been confusing me is the wording of the manual which states:

'When AFL is on, half-pressing [Shutter] executes the
auto exposure lock function.'

To me this instruction says that you firstly press the AFL button to turn the function on, then half press the shutter to lock the focus.  I then assumed you reframed your shot and fully pressed the button to take the photo.