What Button Will Set The Focus And Take The Picture On A Camera

If you are an active fellow member of Clickin Moms, you have probably heard of it several times.

When members are asked what their major AHA moment was, Back Push button Focusing is oftentimes on top of the list.

It was definitely one of my very own major light-bulb moment when I discovered it.

And so what is back button focusing?

It's a very simple affair that might change the clarity of your images forever.

When you auto-focus with your DSLR default settings, here is how it basically works: yous press your shutter one-half way to automobile-focus, and when your focus is OK y'all press your shutter a second time to take the pic. In that location is an culling to this focusing method: you lot can decide that another button (the famous BBF, or "back button focusing") will handle your focus.

Depending on your camera, you can utilize the AF-ON button (this is the one I am using on my Canon 5D MarkII), or the AF-L button for Nikon users, or even the star (*) button.

Why would you do that?

Simply because it separates your focusing from your shutter. Instead of asking your alphabetize finger to deal with two different things one after the other, yous give it one single task (pressing the shutter at the perfect moment) while your thumb will bargain with focusing.

At that place is a debate virtually BBF. Some take tried it and swear that they don't meet any difference. If yous mainly photograph landscape or still life, information technology's very likely that BBF won't change your life. On the other manus, if you are a portrait photographer, and if your model is potentially moving fast (those who have a toddler at home, I tin can feel your attention growing!!), BBF is probably going to exist your best friend.

Permit'south try to understand why. Here is an image of my boys existence wild and carefree on the embankment. They're happily running towards the lens.

If you place your focal point on the kickoff boy, press your shutter one-half way to focus and so press the shutter, there is a fraction of seconds between those ii steps. This very short moment tin be long enough to let the first boy step out of your focus zone. Peculiarly if you were using a wide aperture, thus having a very shallow depth of field. As a result, you will go an unsharp epitome.

Fortunately, I was using BBF when I took this image (I use it all.the.time). I was also using a dynamic autofocus manner (Ai-Servo, the equivalent is AF-C if yous are a Nikon user). Thus, I kept my pollex on the back push button all the time, allowing my camera to continuously autofocus and follow the male child'south motility. When my index hitting the shutter, my pollex was still pressing the back button then both deportment happened simultaneously. As a result, my focus was spot on.

Then BBF will guarantee a more precise focusing with any epitome involving a fast motion, like Emy flying with her Dad or my kangaroos on the trampoline.

This is why BBF is very often used by sports photographers, or wildlife photographers (in lodge to capture a flying bird for example).

Annotation: this article is not roofing all the aspects leading to sharpness, but don't forget that to get a crisp image with a fast moving subject you also need a high shutter speed in gild to freeze motion, like 1/500s or one/640s in the ii examples to a higher place.

Another interest of BBF is that it locks your focus.

If yous press your thumb on your dorsum button and release it, your focus won't change until you press the button once again. This is something that I use a lot with my recent self-portrait project.

Let'southward expect at this image of my sons and me:

I placed my camera on a tripod in front end of my bed. I asked my sons to sit on the bed, and used them every bit targets to meter and focus. Once my exposure and focus settled, I didn't bear on my camera anymore.

I joined them on the bed (making sure I was continuing close to the focal plane they were in when I focused), and the only thing I had to do is snuggle with them and snap away with my remote.

We took a series of 10 images without having to care about anything else than having fun, my focus was locked and so I knew it would remain faithfully where I wanted it to be!

How do I start?

How to set BBF depends on your camera, and then check your user manual.

On my Canon 5D Mark II menu, information technology is found in custom function Iv (C.FnIV), and I selected the 3rd option (AE Lock/Metering + AF start).

If you lot are a Nikon user, you should go into your custom settings bill of fare, select A (autofocus), select A5 (AF Activation) and then choose AF-ON only.

For those of you already using BBF and loving information technology, please share your settings in the comment section of this article to assistance new users detect the right path!

And so, now it's your plow! Switch to BBF and play to your centre'due south content. You might need a few days to get used to it, just soon enough you will wonder how y'all could live without information technology! I swear it's worth trying considering I've been nailing my focus always since I discovered information technology.

Happy BBF!