Why I Back Button Focus...
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Back button focusing completely changed my photography when I discovered it. If you're taking photos in the outdoors, in busy environments or of fast moving subjects, then separating your shutter and focus will be a complete game changer :)
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Please mark my David Brent out of ten..
haha!
6 👌
6.5
James Popsys hmmm of all the impressions I’ve seen... 7.5. Above average! 😉😆
1
The dog blends in so well with the snow that it looks like a floppy bird flying toward you.
haha!
Been using back button focus for a few years now. Would never go back.
Also, I find fingerless gloves to be good for photography. Apart from the Steptoe connotations.
And I’ve recently come to believe the delete button is the most important button. Have a proper look at the screen, consider the composition, check focus and............it’s crap. Delete.
haha, I hear you David :)
Wind stopper cycling gloves I use. Not the extreme fat fingers type though. No chilled tips. Just don't work on touch screen.
Best and easiest BBF video explanation that I have ever seen. Great video and dog :)
Cheers mate :)
How about a Nigel and James collaboration? Anyway, thanks for this one about back button focusing.
Sounds good Mark, we're plotting :)
I ve tried this technique and found it very annoying when u want normal focusing on shot after shot. Therefore I assigned my button to stop focus, so when I am pressing the button assigned to do that (ex zoom out button), no matter what i do with the shutter button it wont change the focus.
I love your music! I also love watching Pebbles in the snow. Keep sending out the nice videos.
The soundtrack is spot on with the style of your videos, goofy but lovable, would like to see more like that in the future
The way how you explain things is basically how would I explain something, so that's how you get that audience you were talking about on the other video, thanks for the info and keep up the good work
I prefer having "normal" shutter button behavior and a back buttton as AF lock. Than I use one button to take picture normally in AF-C and than if I need to lock it... I need to hold a lock button.
I'll watch a video about the third most important button :)
You and me against the world mate! :)
.... and me.
You have my bow!
Tried BBF in the past and it was a Marmite moment. Hated it every time I picked the camera up (G9) so took it off again. Good luck with it.
Most important button is the shutter button, otherwise you can't take photos.
Ooooooooh, he's got two of the PanaLeica primes! Sooo can't wait to see what you think of them, especially the 15mm f1.7!!! ...And your commentary on the autofocus of the 25mm f1.4 :P
How's the Three Legged Thing tripod treating you?
haha, looking forward to checking them out :) And for a tripod, the TLT is pretty good :)
English accents, in general, drive me crazy because of the high-pitched tones their speakers make. But, your English accent doesn't have any high pitched tones and is nice to listen to. Which country are you from? Wales?
Cheers Michael - I've moved around a fair bit in the UK so I'm probably a mix of everything... :)
Why not just shift your focus point via touchscreen input when composing? That way you wouldn't need to lock focus on intended subject then recompose. This BBF method is more for DSLR cameras where the focus point coverage is pretty much only in the center, as compared to most modern mirrorless systems where the coverage is almost the entire screen.
That's an option! :)
Not more than a 2.8... sorry James. Would be great tough if your were a zoom... if that makes any sense 🤷♂️
haha! Gotcha :)
Still No idea what it does lol. My camera doesn't have one anyways.
Enjoyed the vid tho. Top stuff
Cheers mate - one for the future then :)
That is what I use in any camera that I shoot with.
If someone here wants to understand why it is useful to set your camera for back button focusing, I would suggest for them to watch Tony Northrup's video about the subject.
nice to see you and nigel out together... LOVE pebbles
Just subscribed recently James and gone through loads of your videos, love the way you put in plenty of humour and make what is or could be quite a complex hobby a lot easier to us mere mortals known as amateur snappers! I’ve just retired from 8 years as a wildlife Artist and decided to put aside my Sony Bridge camera and buy a Canon 80D plus a 150mm-600mm lens to spend my time photographing wildlife, so cheers for making an old geezer with a sense of humour happy to watch a young bloke with the same sense of humour teach me how to go about it! 👍👊📷😆
Awesome to hear - thanks :)
I have done something similar on my G9 (brilliant camera by the way) but have customised the buttons so that the AF/AE LOCK locks the exposure, and the bottom front custom button (Fn5) does the prefocus and focus lock (pressed by my ring finger).
This separates the two functions giving me total control.
embrace your inner david brent...
Bbf changed my photography. Would never go back
Me neither :)
Good stuff mate and back button focus is so handy. One thing I am wondering is if Panasonic have given you any new camera gear to review or try? Atb
Hi mate, not yet but hopefully in the not too distant :)
Last night my camera club shot at a Brazilian jiu-jitsu school. They mostly grapple on the ground, so I found myself holding my camera overhead often while pointing down at the combatants. Only way to do this easily was in live view with back button focus. BBF was clumsy at first, but now it's second nature.
Me too :)
Thank you very much, pleasant video
Thanks for watching :)
I've used back button focus since about the second month I had a camera in 2014. It's necessary for me because even without gloves I have a lot of trouble half-pressing the shutter button.
Well, the dog sort of looks like a 🐑, so we'll let it go this time. 😛
I think it's probably easier for everyone mate! And thanks for letting me off :)
Ok I am officially freaking out over the photo at 3.59. Why? Err cos I've a Liver and White Springer called Pebbles and I've taken a lot of shots of her in the snow that look exactly like that one! EEK
Nice simple explanation and love the dog at the end :)
Cheers Chris :)
Like for the dog 🤣
The main advantage of decoupling autofocus from the shutter button is so that the photographer can leave the camera in continuous autofocus, yet still be able to focus and recompose (with the subject off centre) when necessary, by simply letting go of the AF-On button on the back of their camera.
I have been perfectly capable of locking focus and recomposing through the years. The “magic” simply comes from the AF-Lock button, or in my case, the AF-On button, that is configured to serve as a dedicated AF-Lock button instead.
With normal use of your shutter release button, let's say a subject is stationary all you need do,is press rear button with thumb to disable a.f. Then if it moves just release the rear button to start focus tracking. Easy peasy...very few professional photographers use back button for focusing.
Moreover a more important use of a rear button is to have it programmed to One Shot/Ai Servo switch, or on Canon to Register Recall Function.
Besides all that:
Why use two fingers to do what can be accomplished with just one finger.
Your dog has whale ears - and I found this helpful.
I just discovered you through Nigel's channel and I love your vlogging style! Humorous and informative. Subscribing!
today was the first time i had ever touched that button on my Lumix GX8 :D THANK YOU
Totally disagree with your title! The most important button surely is the shutter! ;)
The combo BBF/AFC is for me super flexible and helpful in many genres: landscape, bird, people photography. After my first couple of months with a DSLR, heard of it and tried it for a couple of weeks. Had disaster after disaster- not only photos were really bad, most weren't even in focus... because I'd often forget to press the BBF button! At the time, I went back to defaults for a couple of days, trying AFLock instead.Then just braced myself, committed to BBF+AFC and never looked back. Four years later still love it. You press once its AF-S, you maintain button depressed, its instant AF-C.
Only downside.. anyone who picks my cameras... without instruction, end up with blurry photos :)
Keep the content going. From GM area.
You're not seeing the Surprise View at "Surprise View" because you're not a local. If you're referring to the Surprise View in the Peak District you need to drive along the A6187 from the Toad's Mouth rock (just down from the Fox House pub) and continue past the car park to the sharp right-hand bend that commences the downhill gradient into Hathersage. The view is over the wall, looking down into the Hope Valley, at that right-hand bend. It is quite staggeringly breathtaking.
Alas I cant use this button because it is on the back, if it was under afinger on the front it would be more useful (now that is a thought, maybe my cameras have a custom button there, I will look later - P.S. the answer to that was no, sigh). I take photos on the street in Program mode and permanently have my thumb on the rear wheel adjusting DoF. I have never had a problem with focus so for me this back button is of no importance at all. If I was at all bothered by focus I would use zone focussing anyway as most of my photos are taken at hyperfocal distance anyway; I am mostly more interested in the background than the foreground as I take landmarks and the people just add atmosphere not subject matter ;-)
The joystick is so necessary for the back button focusing thing. In fact its the only feature that i miss in my oly em1MKII...
That function is the most useless for mirrorless. A relic from early DSLR and first SLR that had terrible AF motors that were slow and inaccurate and anyways almost useless as you had only one or three AF points that were all grouped to center of tiny OVF.
For those subscribers who own Nikon gear at the top end, so D4, Df, D5, D850 etc - they have a button marked to do this on the body. no need to adjust settings.
OMG, Nigel is using a TRIPOD how could you stand it! How did you resist the urge to go over and show him that the best use was for picking up noodles (wisdom from the future), James :). P.s. I like Nigels' channel too. Ur both great, keep up the good work. Thanks.
I use back button autofocus but I have noticed I sometimes miss focus by being in continuous mode as the camera's autofocus keeps hunting. So now I prefer switching from single to continuous depending on my needs.
Pebbles looks like a bird in the snow!
Thank You.
Great vídeo! Glad to see that you and Nigel are friends, I really 💜 the both of you! And once again the star of the vídeo, Pebbles!!!
lets go mirrorless and 3/4 sensor , it saves weight. then popsys comes with a huge gearlist. how big is your backpack ? or should i say team to carry it all ?
Votes below for the 4th most important button ;)
Personally I just flip the MF switch to lock focus. For stills, I don't like continuous focus just because if you're moving around, it's changing focus ever so slightly, which means if you take a shot mid transition, you can end up with focus issues because the focus is still travelling, so you're exposing different focuses into one image or not getting quite the crispest focus exactly where you want. OK for video, not for stills.
Thats the first video what explain the best reason for the BBF. Now i know it what benefits it gives. Thanks for this!
Kinda glad I learned about Back Button Focus before even getting my camera! Now that I have it I use that constantly, I just need to learn everything else!
James, love all your videos.. .this is a good one too as I was not aware of this button on my camera....well I probably saw it but new asked anyone what it was for....I like the idea and am going to try it out! I enjoy the humor and realness of your videos/info! Thanks!
I would have guessed it to be the "ON" button. (I'm MUCH better at smart ass remarks than photography. My cameras are embarrassed to be seen with me.)
hmm the 'disjointed' video explains why focus and trigger functions should be dis jointed tbh :) thanks its helpful
PEBBLES.
I love backbutton focus, I've been using it for years and don't wanna go back. It's only a problem when you hand the camera to others to take a picture... always requires a short explanation combined with confusion. Or you just switch it to Auto for a second... a least on Canon cameras it goes back to half-press focusing in that mode.
Good tip, Great view, Cute dog, Nice keyboard, Thanks.
You went there looking for a surprising view. You didn’t get one. That _is_ a surprise view!
The most fun I've had in 6 minutes 15 seconds... well, maybe not, but still...
*Pebbles* !!! 🐶😍 "she's got more energy than the sun...do you feed her rocket fuel??" 🤣🤣🤣
Haha your humor! & agreed yet again, back button focusing = game changer! I typically manual focus 90% of my shots, but for those rare occasions when some thing happens quickly, back button focus saves the day!
& I swear I've been subscribed to you for over a year now, but on my other account 🤦🏻♀️ so now you've got another old-new sub lol!
Sweet! Thanks :)
No funny colours in the lights? Damn it James!
Useful video for G users. Appreciated!
You had my thumb up at the moment the dog shown up
Haha - they seem a good assistant for youtubers :)
If you are in a situation where fast focus is not essential, then manual focus is a good choice.
I would only use auto-focus when absolutely necessary.
NO NO NO NO there is no need for this nonsense! Use your touchscreen and set to release the shutter on half press. THIS will revolutionise your photo taking.
James you are sooo funny ,and your tips are awesum .Very entertaining .love your channel .Thank you
BBF in conjunction with C-AF is the only logical way to have a camera set, it's the best of both worlds.
I love the SIMPLICITY of this video, gets right to the point and is informative. And yeah the shutter is the second most important because I often sit there jamming the back button on my camera just for fun, no need to take the photo.
Now just tell everyone how to disable the horrendous focus acquire beep and the world will be rid of all her problems.
I always love your music choice
haha, cheers mate :)
Great video! I always recommend back button focus. It took me going back and forth a couple of times trying it before I switched completely, but I wouldn't have it any other way now. It's so convenient to have continuous or single auto focus instantly, lock it and recompose. I leave exposure lock on half press so I can also check exposure easily at the same time if needed.
I suppose if you used a, ahem, tripod.... you could use the touch screen as a "back button focus"
I put back button focus and will never change it back.
5:08 I, along with 44K+ other people, would.
Ive recently switched to BBF still getting used to it, but I am getting more consistent in focus shots. Love your humour
10/10, Would Brent again
haha, glad to hear it :)
Side note. If you don't like these videos prior to watching I highly suggest that you do. Great job as always my friend.
Cheers mate :)
Morning James. Managed to set up my D500 for BBF. Your SIMPLE explanation of how to use this has penetrated my brain successfully. Hmm. I was keeping my finger ON the BB instead of pressing just the once. MAGIC! Question: You have a load of runners, or in your case … sheep and you want to focus on a particular runner/sheep. If you hit the focus on one particular runner/sheep, then recompose … will the camera continue to track the subject and keep them in focus? Locking the focus point in the centre of the camera and using BBF would be magic. Might try it out this weekend at a "Doesn't matter Park Run" Does this make sense?
Hi Steve, that's certainly possible with tracking :)
Just wondering if you can use back button focus while you are using mirror lock up
OMG, just gave myself a forehead slap. Leave the camera on continuous instead of switching back & forth from single focus. Life change moment on this date :-D
Glad to hear it mate!
Surprise view because that's the last thing you'll see if you take that corner too fast :)
Cute dog btw... fun watching it play in the snow..
Hi James, are you tempted by the new Lumix DC-S1/S1R??? 🤔 Another great video btw 👍🏻😊
Possibly, time will tell :)
10 😊
Hey James, when I do back button focusing on my GH5, I have to put it in manual focus mode. Otherwise when I hit the shutter button it just refocuses again. I'm not sure I would want it the way you described because it would take away the half-press to focus in the AFS mode. Explain please? Thanks. I always enjoy your videos. Now I'm off to order a Weebill Lab gimbal :)
Hey John, you can switch off shutter AF in the settings if using back button :)
@@JamesPopsysPhoto But then if I want to shutter AF I have to go into the menu again. The way I have it now, all I have to do is switch the focus mode switch on the camera from manual to AFS. Seems easier...
its been 4 days later... still no surprises...and im still lost ( dun dun dunnnn)
HANDS DOWN: IT'S THE DELETE BUTTON!
Eh you can always bin photos in Lr
Jeez, I thought a hawk was flying up to get you, It was a dog. A spaniel I think.
Haha yay Pebbles!
You're so damn funny! There are way too many good videos on youtube to watch them all, but watching a video that is good AND funny is always the reason making me subscribe.
Thanks so much Susanne :)
Thumbs up just for the cameo appearance by Pebbles! But seriously, very helpful explanation.
Thanks Paula :)
My favourite spot apart from the parking fee. Can't do BBF when I shoot runners, not literally that is. My fingers and brain can't change the habit of LIFETIME. BUT, I will have another try.
Haha, I get that Steve! :)
All the back button focusing stuff was very good..but I NEED THAT MUSIC IN MY LIFE!! Who is it and where is it from?
Haha, somewhere in the epidemic sound archives :)
Place is opposite surprise view, near bolehill quarry
Nice. D800E will throw a fit if I use AF lens and fall out with me. You've made simple a video on back button focusing, where others have failed and confused the viewer.
Good to hear, thanks :)
The surprise may be the lack of a view? Or the surprise is the back button focus? Or the dog? Life is full of surprises.....they just may not be scenic
haha!
Another classic Popsys Production.
Great video James more info I can apply to my camera work. Finally started following you on Instagram great work.
Awesome - thanks :)
Just got a G9 and checking it out. I may or may not?
Hi James, great vid as usual, alas I can't do back button focusing as I only have a Canon T6, oh well never mind, cheers mate.
Cheers Rob - one for the future perhaps :)
I completely understand why and want to use back button focusing but keep bloody forgetting that I have set it up for that! So annoying! 😄
Me too at the start :)
Worth it for the outro music!
haha!