Jason posted a link on our FB feed about using the back button as your focus button to separate the focus from the shutter.

Melissa Jill Photography

As there are many ways to skin a cat, what is your way of focusing your camera?

I personally use single point focus, with the joystick on the back of my camera controlling where I put my focus point on every shot.

You?

With my D300, how I focus is dependent on what I'm shooting.

If I'm shooting portraits or objects that stay in the same spot, I use the single focus point and move that point as needed.

If I'm shooting objects that move in relationship to other objects that move, like tracking a football, basketball or soccer player, I set the focus mode to "C" for continuous and I set the AF-area mode selector to Dynamic area AF (see page 64 of the manual).

If I'm shooting a single moving object against a static background like a dog running in a park, I set the focus mode to "C" and the AF-area selector mode to Auto-area AF.

I've had my D300 for almost 2 years and I'm still astounded by how fast and how well this camera focuses with its 51 focus points compared to my D200. It's like night and day.

I've been wanting to try back-button, but everything I've read still hasn't made it click. I guess it's one of those things you have to learn in person! Feel like doing a quickie lesson before the next walk Frank?

That would mean I'd have to learn how to do it. I still use the shutter button to lock focus, I just use the joystick to move the focus point

I've tried the AF button on the back of my camera and it worked ok. Found out later that using the AF button on back to lock focus disables VR on the lens. Nice feature, eh? NOT!

iJoeFoto wrote:
I've tried the AF button on the back of my camera and it worked ok. Found out later that using the AF button on back to lock focus disables VR on the lens. Nice feature, eh? NOT!

Those damn Nikons....