Why I Back Button Focus...
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2019
- 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 :)
The soundtrack is spot on with the style of your videos, goofy but lovable, would like to see more like that in the future
I love your music! I also love watching Pebbles in the snow. Keep sending out the nice videos.
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
nice to see you and nigel out together... LOVE pebbles
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.
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!!!
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.
Cute dog btw... fun watching it play in the snow..
Another classic Popsys Production.
How about a Nigel and James collaboration? Anyway, thanks for this one about back button focusing.
Sounds good Mark, we're plotting :)
Always a joy watching your brain work things out. And Pebbles.
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!
Ive recently switched to BBF still getting used to it, but I am getting more consistent in focus shots. Love your humour
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 :)
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!
Really happy to see how your channel is growing man! Keep up the great work! You are hilarious! 😆
Thanks buddy! :)
Hilarious and informative as always! I've already been using back-button autofocus on my Canon 80D for months, but I watched the video anyway, because I knew it was going to be good. Plus it's always great to get different people's perspectives on the pros and cons. Keep the content coming!
Thanks mate :)
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 :)
Good tip, Great view, Cute dog, Nice keyboard, Thanks.
James you are sooo funny ,and your tips are awesum .Very entertaining .love your channel .Thank you
James and Nigel and Pebbles in the same video is a great treat!
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.
Love your dry sense of humor James! And I use back button focus on my Canon EOS R.
I always love your music choice
haha, cheers mate :)
Might not be the most important button, but it's the best button. Landscapes, portraits, sports etc, etc,
best explanation yet. legit.
Pebbles is a rock star! Your assistance on understanding back focus is much appreciated. I also hope you do some collaboration with Nigel!
Hi Brad, it's in the works :)
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.
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 :)
Best vlog ever on the third most important button👍and having a cute well known dog that you don't have to feed do a cameo is brilliant as well 😉
haha, cheers Tony :)
I just discovered you through Nigel's channel and I love your vlogging style! Humorous and informative. Subscribing!
Fabulous video gotta love Pebbles
Looking forward to the next Pebbles video and of course the one about the on/off button, that will be briljant!!!!
Haha, thanks :)
Great video as always.
*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 :)
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.
I've just added "play with back button" to my long list of things. Thank you James.
Awesome :)
Nice simple explanation and love the dog at the end :)
Cheers Chris :)
The most important button on a photographers camera, or computer keyboard - is the "delete". It'll up your game results substantially if you never spend time trying to rescue shots which are only really viable in the bit-bucket. Good video - I do the exact same BF button setup with AFC and take thumb off if I want it to lock... it's really handy.
True! :)
Been going back through your video list. Happy to find someone with a similar camera as me(gh5). I do mostly concert work and I never even thought of using AFC 😬😬
Best explanation I've seen to date.
Cheers Daniel :)
You had my thumb up at the moment the dog shown up
Haha - they seem a good assistant for youtubers :)
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 :)
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.
Excellent video. That cheered me up 😆
Glad to hear it David :)
Good points. I was knowing about BBF but never tought on wear gloves. Nice 👍
Sweet drone footage mate!
today was the first time i had ever touched that button on my Lumix GX8 :D THANK YOU
Great tip, great vid, great Brent impression 7/10👌
haha, cheers mate :)
Great video James more info I can apply to my camera work. Finally started following you on Instagram great work.
Awesome - thanks :)
I didn’t have to wait until Sunday, a nice surprise!
haha! :)
Thank you very much, pleasant video
Thanks for watching :)
A year later, I come back to this, not needed back button focus until now. G9 has a very delicate shutter button, especially in gloves.
Worth it for the outro music!
haha!
BBF in conjunction with C-AF is the only logical way to have a camera set, it's the best of both worlds.
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 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.
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.
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!
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.
Thumbs up just for the cameo appearance by Pebbles! But seriously, very helpful explanation.
Thanks Paula :)
I've heard of back button focusing but never had a camera that could do it, now I do so i'm going to give it a shot, I like to recompose probably a third the time and it can work but it's frustrating, this makes so much more sense, I have a custom button beside my shutter button, lets hope I can make it do focusing.
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 :)
I think Pebbles the dog should have her own TH-cam channel. Great video too. Strange to see snow when we are having the hottest summer on record here in Australia 😜
I've heard! Stay hydrated :)
hmm the 'disjointed' video explains why focus and trigger functions should be dis jointed tbh :) thanks its helpful
Great!
Maybe you could do a video going into back button focusing a bit more as it could confuse people who set their camera to AF-ON instead of AF-LOCK and vice versa. For example in the wildlife community back button focusing is common for birds in flight so if you set the camera up that way and then tried the focus and recompose technique you might end up scratching your head.
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.
Nigel and Peebles are an epic combo of mates!! Get some snow tires lol
I'm on it :)
Thank You.
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 :)
Nice vlog James, 10 out of 10 for your Brent impersonation, the resemblance was uncanny, ha, ha.
haha, cheers mate!
Back button focus is life.
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.
Great videos James, a very funny way to learn photography!!! With this BBF method when you recompose you lock the focus but not the exposure. How do you do if there are big contrasts and you want to keep the exposure of the focused subject, which I understand it is regularly where you want to have the ideal exposure? Thanks a lot in advance!!
Funny enough, after watching this, I FINALLY understand back button focus!! #YayForMe #GoodVideoAfterAll
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! :)
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.
Fiiirst! Edit: on a more serious note, I agree! And I prefer this button to be on the topo right corner like in my old pentax k-r or the gx8 that I bought today ;) ps: lovely music at the end!
Second 🎈
Thanks! :)
@@JamesPopsysPhoto AHAH I have just realised I wrote TOPO! In italian it means mouse! There you go, fun fact!
No funny colours in the lights? Damn it James!
Useful video for G users. Appreciated!
Thank you very much, I finally understand the benefit of using afc and still be able to recompose. Would it also be the same benefits and concepts if I mostly use 3D tracking on my Nikon? Since I shoot street photograohy, I find tracking my subject works best
Haha yay Pebbles!
I'll watch a video about the third most important button :)
You and me against the world mate! :)
.... and me.
You have my bow!
Mate, you're a laugh. 11/10.
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.
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 :)
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 :)
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!
New sponsor? The orange caught my eye.
I’ve been pining for a Brian for quite a while now.
Nope that's paid for, solid product though :)
@@JamesPopsysPhoto Good to see you supporting your local economy ;-)
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 :)
Could you do one on the fourth and fifth most important buttons please? ;)
Deal! :)
10/10
Hi James, are you tempted by the new Lumix DC-S1/S1R??? 🤔 Another great video btw 👍🏻😊
Possibly, time will tell :)
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! :)
You went there looking for a surprising view. You didn’t get one. That _is_ a surprise view!
Hey, interesting idea. I see how you can use bbf when you want to focus on an certain subject(item), then recompose while keeping the subject in focus. Okay, fine. It seems an obvious alternative is to start with desired composition and then use the joystick to move the focus onto the desired subject. Isn't that why the focus area can be shifted to anywhere in the fov? It seems you have gained very little, but meanwhile you have disabled (lost) the ae lock functions! I wonder what I am missing here...?