It can be so frustrating when you don't get a photograph IN FOCUS especially when it's a
fleeting moment so today I'm going to show you how I set up my camera to be a focusing machine from
Landscapes to sports and portraits and also where to focus depending on what you're photographing
first of all let's set the camera up to back button Focus this is a revolutionary way to focus
and once you get used to it you'll be surprised at how well it works with back button focusing it
basically takes away the focusing from this button and puts it on the back of the camera hence the
name so when you hold your hand here your thumb is going to be the focusing button and then this
finger is going to be taking the photograph this gives the control back to you so you decide when
your camera focus is instead of whenever you half press that shutter button there's nothing worse
than framing up your shot getting everything perfect then when you go to take the shot the
focus changes to a different point or hunts around and just loses Focus completely for Landscapes
once you find your frame move the square to where you want to focus focus on that point
and then leave it you can take as many images as you want without the camera either changing
the focus or losing it all together then when you change your Framing and want to focus somewhere
else press the back button again to get focus on the new thing and once again take as many photos
as you want until the next time you want to change it for people and portraits back button focusing
is really effective because you can keep that button pressed and it'll track them when you're
in continuous autofocus with eye autofocus on having it set to human setting the area to wide
and then having it in continuous autofocus doesn't matter where that subject moves as long as you've
got the button pressed it'll keep focusing on that person when you take your finger off when
they move then they'll be out of focus but then you press it again and it'll focus back on them
again nowadays this is one of the most effective ways to shoot portraits when shooting sports or
fast moving objects when your subject is moving in the frame if they're coming towards or away
from you with a back button pressed it will track them and then if your subject is moving across
your position on the same plane then you can focus and let go once you know where you have to focus
another one I personally do with back button focusing is to focus and then reframe this is
where I'll focus on something with that back button and then reframe my composition and
I seem to do this a lot when hiking I guess because I've done this for years I'm used to
it and it's the quickest way for me to get the shot this has very much come from using older
cameras when you just had one good focusing Crosshair bang in the middle of the frame
I'll talk more about the advanced settings like real-time tracking in a bit but first
let's set up back button focusing with my Sony a7c the A7 III and most of the cameras with the
older menu system go to page 5 of 14 in tab 1 and look for AF with shutter and turn this off
then go to custom key on the second tab page 9 of 10 and find custom key photos which is this
top one set the button you want to use as AF on I'm going to set it as this AF on button and if
you have factory settings on this camera this will be already set to that this actually shows
how good this function is that manufacturers have labeled this back button as auto focus on
with the Sony a74 and any of the camera with the new menus go to the purple tab afmf page 21 out
of 53 and find AF with shutter and turn this off then go to the yellow toolbox tab on page 43 out
of 53. look for this option custom key dial set I've set this to the AF on button on the back if
you have your camera in the factory setting and haven't messed around with these custom
settings too much this is already set up as AF on so you just need to do the first step then set the
focus area on page 23 out of 53 to spot which is the same as flexible spot in the old menus
with my A7 III I used to have it on the Press of the joystick but if you press it and inadvertently
move the joystick to one side of the other this moved the square erratically so it's much better
to use the joystick to move the square or use the touchscreen and then press AF on to focus now if
you shoot with Fuji Canon or Nikon there will be videos to set up back button focusing for those
cameras either search for your specific model and back button focusing or I'll see what I can find
and leave some links in the description the thing is just to give it a go if it doesn't work for you
and your shooting Style watch this video again and change all of those settings back but most
photographers I know do use back button focusing it's revolutionized the way that they focus let me
know in the comments below if you've used it or if this is new to you the only downside is when
you hand your camera to one of your friends or someone else to take a photograph of you and you
end up with blurry photographs so to get around this I've just memorized where that auto focus
with shutter option is and then I just change that quickly before I hand my camera to someone
else I've touched on focusing areas already but let's dive a little bit deeper with the
wide focusing area your camera will tend to focus on the thing that's closest to your camera unless
you've got iaf on or unless there's something prominent that stands out in the frame it's
getting better as cameras become more intelligent but again you're giving that control to the camera
instead of you deciding where to focus like I've already mentioned I use wide focusing area with
I autofocus on when I'm photographing people because it gives them the opportunity to move
around a frame and the focus will stay with them whether they're close to the frame or really far
away from the frame the one I use most in cameras like the A7 III is flexible spot this is perfect
for landscape photography this means I can put the focusing Square where I want it and then focus on
that point this is great when you're focusing from a tripod and you want to either focus on
a point that isn't in the middle of the frame or you might want to focus stack and if your camera
has a touch screen even better if you have one of the more modern cameras you can turn on real-time
tracking it's not so good in the Sony A7 III and older cameras but in the a7c the a74 the a7r4
and newer cameras you can use this and it is so sticky this is not necessary for Landscapes but if
you photograph your friends and family you might do portraits sports or Wildlife it's absolutely
fantastic and when used with back button focusing it just makes the whole system really efficient
you basically have four different modes in most cameras single continuous automatic and manual
and in the Sony cameras a setting called DMF which I'll get onto in a bit the first one is AFS which
might have a slightly different name depending on what brand you shoot with this is single
shot focusing it's for static subjects that you'll focus on and then they won't move if you're purely
a landscape shooter this is the function for you AFC is continuous focusing it might be called
Servo AF with a different brand but it's basically where the camera will be constantly focusing on
the point you've told it to focus on so if you or the subject are moving it will follow that Focus
as long as you have that focusing Square on the subject that you want to focus on when combined
with flexible spot and back button focusing this will focus whatever you have in that square as
long as you keep that button pressed then as soon as you take your finger off the back button
stops focusing so let's say you have your subject coming towards you you would get them in the frame
press and hold the back button and it would track them as long as they stay in that focusing Square
with autofocus Auto this gives the choice to the camera to decide whether your subject is moving
or static I haven't had that much experience with it if you have let me know in the comments below
how you've got on with it I just find that if I'm shooting something static I use AFS if I'm
shooting something that's moving I use AFC and when you use AFC in conjunction with back button
focusing you have the choice to have continuous focusing or you press it and let go to have single
shot focusing whilst I remember I have the C4 button set to toggle between autofocus and manual
focus so when I want to switch to manual and make some my new adjustments I just press this button
and straight away it's in manual focus I use manual focus when there's very little light about
or when I want to make those slight adjustments if you want to do this again go out and practice
manually focusing your camera so you know how it works and you know where The Sweet Spot is for the
lens you're using As for DMF this is when you can press shutter button and then tune the focus in by
turning the focusing dial you just have to keep the button pressed to be able to use that Focus
dial as soon as you let go of the focus button it will stop letting you manually focus this is good
when using back button Focus but I prefer just to have a button that's set to toggle between Auto
and manual focus where you focus depends on what you're photographing I have two different ways to
do this depending on whether I want everything in Focus or I want one specific thing if it's
a landscape where I want everything in Focus I'll use a small aperture from f11 to F16 and focus on
the furthest thing in the shot for instance here it's this Headland that's going into the estuary
then what I'll do is just check the foreground so the shot that
I'll take I'll zoom in I know that bit that I focused on is in focus and if I come down here
it's quite dark in the foreground but this bit is looking okay
if it's a little bit blurry in the foreground I'll then focus on the next nearest thing
if I'm really close to the foreground I'll Focus stack and I've done a dedicated video on that as
it's a whole subject in itself and I've left a link in the description if this is something
you want to learn on the other hand if there's a definite subject I'll focus on that for this
example I've just got this bench on the side of this mountain I'm just going to focus on that and
take the shot these are the best ways I've found to focus for me no need to calculate hyperfocal
distances or get too technical I just focus until I know that the whole shot is in Focus
or that the subject is in Focus another thing to think about is the quality of lens that you're
shooting with you have image quality which a lot of people talk about but you need to take into
consideration your focusing speed and accuracy and I've talked about this before but when you buy pro
quality lenses and cameras they just make the job easier and quicker so if you buy a pro lens the
auto focusing speed will be really fast as well as the accuracy now if any of you have used the
nifty 50 from Canon that's the 50 millimeter F 1.8 that one is quite slow when it comes to focusing
speeds the image quality is really high but the focusing speed is quite low so this comes down to
that ease of use once again like I've already said The more you use your camera the more you'll get
to know it and become accustomed to how it works now if you're looking to get a new lens but aren't
sure what to get next in this video I talk you through the process and hopefully help you make
a better decision to get the right lens that will better your photography I'll see you next time