Optimal Camera Focus Set Up For Virtually All Situations

One of my main goals as a photographer who’s had successful career shooting action photography in lifestyle and adventure sports was to have a focus system that is accurate, easy to operate and fast to adapt to different situations. The idea is, if one method isn’t working, I can instantaneously switch to 2 other methods without having to reconfigure any menu settings or even take my eye away from the viewfinder to find a button or switch to activate. Taking your camera away from your eye to find a button or switch means missing shots!

I eagerly embrace new technology and improvements to auto focus systems and spend hours with a new camera figuring out how they work. When they do work, they are awesome. I wonder how I ever lived without subject detection focus tracking. At the same time, I never let go of old school, tried and true ways of getting accurate focus, including manual zone focusing to capture sharp action shots as well as landscapes that are sharp throughout the depth of the image.

Manufacturers are slick at marketing and choose photo situations where subject and eye detection focus tracking works flawlessly. This is not the case in the wild world of adventure sports and wildlife. Focus systems fail in difficult situations and a valuable skill for photographers to have is the ability to accurately focus with several tools and methods.

I’ve been experimenting for years trying to come up with what I feel is the best all-around focus set up on my Canon R series mirrorless cameras. I usually leave my focus mode in AF-Servo (focus tracking) all the time, even for landscape and portrait work, with full-time manual focus override with focus activation by back button only. Sounds complicated but it is really a very simple way to increase focus accuracy without having to change settings, switches or buttons between action and landscape scenarios.

The main point is if you want to get better at action and motion photography and increase your keeper rate of moving subjects, you have to practice. A lot! Reading blogs and watching how-to videos only go so far. Spend time in your menu functions to set up your focusing system. I breakdown how mine is set up below.

PRO TIP: Remember EVERYTHING on your 3” LCD Screen can appear in sharp focus. Many times disappointment shows up when you look at an image on your computer at 100%. Learn to enlarge your image quickly on location to check your true focus throughout the image.

1. FOCUS MODE: AF-SERVO (AF-C) BY DEFAULT

This way you are always ready to track a moving subject. This is the best mode for action photography as long as you keep your selected focus point on the subject. This is not always easy to do. Focus tracking has become more sophisticated and complex in the last 10 years with subject specific (people, animals, birds, vehicles) focus tracking. This means once your camera locks on to a subject it tracks it without having to keep your initially selected focus point locked on to the subject. This works great a lot of the time with higher end bodies and lens combinations but tracking systems are not perfect and do fail.

Why this matters: It’s important to understand that focus tracking can get confused if your subject is not moving because your focus system is designed to predict where your subject will be when you press the shutter. So, focusing on stationary subjects in AF-C mode can actually result in misfocused images. This is most evident with long lenses and on subjects at close range. There are two ways around this issue: switch to AF-S mode, or manually focus. Manual focus override ONLY works if you use back button only focus discussed more below.

Switching between AF-C, or servo to AF-S, or single shot mode: I only do this occasionally but I made it quick and painless to do. Customize your camera and dedicate a button to toggle between focus modes. 90% of the time I leave my focus mode in AF-Servo (AF-C) For landscapes or stationary subjects I just focus manually by grabbing the focus ring on the lens but sometimes I want to choose quickly between modes, so I have the MfN button (to the left and forward of the main shutter button) that does nothing but toggle between the focus modes.

PRO TIP: Commit to memory your camera system’s color coding for different focus modes. On Canon cameras, if the selected focus point is outlined in green, the camera is in single shot AF mode – not good for tracking moving subjects. When the selected focus point is outlined in blue, then I know the camera is in focus tracking mode. This prevents me from trying to track a subject in single shot mode – a common mistake folks make when your last shoot scenario was a landscape and now you have a sudden action mode you are trying to capture. If I see green, I quickly toggle the focus mode back to AF-C. Your camera’s color coding may be different from Canon’s.

2. FOCUS ACTIVATION WITH BACK BUTTON ONLY

By default, most cameras come with the ability to achieve autofocus by both the back button and shutter button. The key is to disengage focus activation from your main shutter (right index finger) button. I have 2 buttons on the upper right, back side of my camera bodies that are dedicated solely for autofocus activation. The inside button, closest to the viewfinder, activates focus to the selected focus point which is old school AF technology before focus tracking technology came along. A second button is dedicated solely for focus tracking. I do this so I have two methods available to track my subject simply by moving my thumb a little bit to the left or right. These buttons are assigned by me through menu selections. The camera does not come, by default, with these settings. There is no advantage to using back button focus unless you decouple focus activation from the main shutter button.

Why this matters: Many shooters are still resistant to give up the convenience of one-button does everything for you. Focus activation by back button only means more control and focus accuracy for action and motion scenarios, especially when combined and used with full time manual focus. Your camera continually focuses when you have your thumb pressing the focus button. Focus stops when you remove your thumb. This is a great advantage offering more precise control of when to and when not to focus. At this point you are free to manually tweak your focus which is something I do regularly for various reasons. If my focus activation is still linked to the main shutter button, my manual tweaks get erased and eliminated when I press the shutter again.

PRO TIP: Assign and dedicate a button or dial to rapidly choose the focus area selection mode. For most situations I leave the focus area selection mode on the smallest single point available (Canon calls it “spot AF.”). This works well on a big subject like a moose that has a lot of depth where it’s easy to keep a small focus point on the moose’s eye. For a bird in flight against empty sky, I would switch to a large area mode which works better in that situation.

3. FULL TIME MANUAL FOCUS

Without changing any auto focus settings at all, I can just grab the lens focus ring and focus manually. Not all camera and lenses offer this. This is why I choose bodies and pro grade lenses that allow this feature. On Canon bodies, this is a setting in the menu. With full time manual focus, I can manually focus the camera without disengaging auto focus functions at all.

Why this matters: When all else fails, manual focus still works. It’s my back up plan when AF fails to lock on to the subject. Photographers should have multiple skills sets including how to rapidly and accurately focus the lens manually because doing this is quicker than taking your eye off the action to find the switch on your lens barrel to go from AF to MF. In a landscape scenario, I can quickly focus to my hyperfocal focus point to get the depth of field I want without having to switch from AF-C to AF-S or having to hit a switch on the lens barrel. If a fast breaking action situation happens when I am shooting a landscape, say Bigfoot emerges from the forest and is running directly at me, I don’t have to do anything but hit my back button for focus activation, since it is still on AF-Servo mode.

PRO TIP #1: Assign a button to toggle on and off peaking colors. Peaking colors is a modern way to tell what in your frame is in focus. On Canon bodies, peaking colors only work in manual focus mode. Since they are visually confusing, I toggle them on briefly just to achieve and verify focus. When that is done, I toggle them off so my viewfinder is cleaner. With peaking colors on, I manually focus until I see everything I want sharp in the image outlined with red dots. If I can’t get everything I want in sharp focus then I need to do one of the following:

1. change aperture for greater depth of field,
2. use a wider lens, or,
3. set up focus stacking if the first two didn’t work.

I use peaking colors for very low light and night shooting. With red peaking colors, I focus until I see stars turn from white to red, indicating that I have reached accurate infinity focus.

PRO TIP #2: Assign another button (lower right side on front of camera) dedicated for depth of field preview. This is the old school method of seeing your true zone of focus when you press the button in and your aperture stops down to your intended setting. I pretty much use this on every landscape shoot. It is the quickest and easiest way to determine your depth of field. Remember Pro Tip from above: your LCD can deceive you in to believing everything from near to far is in sharp focus.

HOW THESE SETTINGS ALL WORK TOGETHER

For landscape work, with AF only activated by a back button and with full time manual override means I am free to focus manually without having to change any camera settings or move a switch on the lens. In manual focus, I still get focus verification by way of a green circle lighting up, so it’s not as if I am just guessing with manual focus. In almost all landscape situations I am looking for my hyperfocal focus point so I get exactly what I want from near to far in sharp focus. Achieving this in manual focus is just easier than pressing buttons or switches. When I’m done with the landscape scenario the camera remains ready to accurately focus on a moving subject.

The focus strike zone. Oh forgive me for another sports metaphor. If you are skilled at calculating depth of field for landscapes, then you can manually calculate a sharp focus zone similar to the strike zone on a batter in baseball. When the subject appears in the focus “strike zone” you fire away. No need to track. There are some situations where it is nearly impossible for even the best cameras to suddenly lock on and track a subject, particularly at close range. I do this regularly with predicable action shoots such as skiers or mountain bikers coming very fast at me at close range. It’s all done manually and works like a charm. Keep in mind that focus tracking does slow down your frames per second rate. So, with manual zone focus you don’t have this. Less of an issue today with cameras shooting at 30fps.

Typical action bear scenario: I am photographing a bear running down a creek chasing fish. I am on subject detection focus tracking set to animals and it has worked for a few seconds but now big water drops kicking up in front of the bear are causing problems. I switch over to my inside back button which just tracks with the selected focus point (still in AF-Servo mode) and the selected focus point on the bear’s head is doing a better job at tracking it. The bear stops and gets out of the water on the opposite bank and just lays down watching the creek for fish. Now that the bear is still, AF-Servo is still trying to calculate where the bear will be and with a long lens and shallow depth of field this may result in a misfocused image. No need to switch to AF Single mode. I just grab the focus ring on the lens and focus on the bear’s eye. Since focus activation is linked only to back button, I can take lots of images in manual focus without having to worry where the selected focus point is. If my focus activation was still linked to the main shutter button, any manual focus tweak would be completely overridden when I pressed the shutter button because the lens would refocus to where the active focus point which may not be where I want it. Things like this can easily happen when caught up in the excitement and thrill of photographing action of bears at close range.