AF-S or AF-C

What do you use? when? why?

Macro? Wide Angle?

Karl

Using AF-C will not let you focus, half press, then recompose. AF-C will take a photo whenever the shutter is fully depressed.

AF-S will only take a shot when focus is acheived.

Both have their plusses and minuses. I use AF-S most of the time.

Cheers

James

I would think that AF-C would be good for tracking something like a shark or a baracuda....

Something stationary or slow moving, I would proabably use AF-S.

Of course I'm talking from absolutely no experience at this point.

From my understanding (as far as nikon goes) the "S" = push shutter half way and the focus is set, "C" = push shutter half way and the camera continually focuses and uses a predictive algorithm? to keep the focus sharp.

Just my take from the D70 drivers manual :?

Shaune

Thanks for the feedback guys ......I'm familiar with the Nikon manual's descriptions and I've even got Thom Hogan's 510 page super manual.....plus I've been shooting around the house with both modes and understand their differences as related to topside use.....I'm interested in real world underwater experience from some of the D100 users on this board

James says he uses AF-S most of the time.....anyone else.....what do you use :?: :?:

Karl

I always set mine to C when shooting UW. I then use the camera menu to enable the back button to operate the autofocus. I can do this one handed with my housing. This way the shutter will fire whenever I press it and I don't need to use manual focus.

I've used both S and C. I like the C setting with dynamic assist. It has worked very well at keeping macro critters in focus while critter and photographer are both moving slightly in the water column. Locking the focus with a half-press works fine if everything is perfectly still, especially at very close macro ranges. But the continuous mode does a great job of holding focus. I know people who like using manual focus and then waiting for the subject to drift into sharp focus, but I find the camera's tracking ability is better than my own reaction time in these situations.

In the past I have always used manual focus or AF-S. Mostly because my 8008 (film) would not autofocus worth a crap.

Since I got my S2, I've used AF-C exclusively and I would have to say that my percentage of in-focus images is better than what I have gotten in the past. This probably has more to do with the fact that my S2 has a better AF module (CAM 900) than my previous camera. Your D70 has the same AF module so I would expect you to get a high, or at least acceptable, percentage of in-focus images if you use AF-C.

I guess the best advise is to try it both ways and see what works best for you.

Larry

I use S. I have used C in the past on occassion. I found I got too many improperly focused shots in C.

I use whatever I feel I will get the best results with. AF-S is nice but all too often my D100 cant focus right and starts a wild focus dance. In those cases i always go to manual. Just experiment, you've got those switches on the outside of your housing (i assume) for a reason

Cor

Most of the experienced D100 shooters I have heard from (Berkley White, etc at the Digital Shootout) recommend turning off the nearest subject priority on the camera. With only 5 autofocus sensors I find that the focus isn't good enough to track moving subjects well.

I tried AF-C but got frustrated with it when I would focus on a subject's eyes, and then when I was ready to take the shot, the camera would refocus somewhere else.

So I'm with Scorpio_fish - I mostly use AF-S

Cheers

James

Most of the experienced D100 shooters I have heard from (Berkley White, etc at the Digital Shootout) recommend turning off the nearest subject priority on the camera. With only 5 autofocus sensors I find that the focus isn't good enough to track moving subjects well.

I use a 105mm 90% of the time for macro and it is a slow focusing lens. I'm hoping that Nikon will introduce an AFS macro lens in the near future.

I tried AF-C but got frustrated with it when I would focus on a subject's eyes, and then when I was ready to take the shot, the camera would refocus somewhere else.

On the other hand, if the subject moves after you lock focus on the eyes your image will be out of focus. The bottom line is that there is no autofocus system currently available - well not sure about CAM2000 systems - that will accurately autofocus 100% of the time. There is still a certain amount of skill, luck and voodoo involved. Whichever method you choose, only time behind the viewfinder will increase your number of sharpely focused images.

Larry

Hello Everyone -

Ok.. seems we have the AF-S side and the AF-C side. What about the Autofocus area mode?! Single or Dynamic? I can see from James previous post that Closest subject may not be best choice for underwater.

Still yet to be wet d70.

M.

Hmm...well...do you want to choose which focus sensor the camera picks, or do you want to let the camera decide?

Cheers

James

I just had the chance to really use my Fuji S2 at Little Cayman, 17 dives on Bloody Bay and Jackson Bay. I had great success with AF-C, single area, even with subjects moving. I used f numbers over f 22 to get me some goodly depth of field, 60mm Nikon lens, using a single Ikelite substrobe 100a. On the closest subject setting, I missed many animals hidden inside sponges, corals, etc., as the focus would be on the foreground instead of on the main subject. (ASA 200)