Nikon D7000, Single Focus Point?

Question

I just got my D7000 and absolutely love it. I am getting more familiar with the Focus Settings in the camera and I have a question about Single Focus Point selection, which uses one main focus point sensor instead of the camera relying on the 39 Auto-Focus Points to choose what to focus on.

Let's say I am taking a picture of two people that are side by side, or three people that are side by side. If I select the Single Point setting, and put the Focus Point on the middle person's face....will only that particular person come out focused on the photo or does the camera also use the remaining focus points as assistance and will the other 2 people come out focused as well???

I am aware that if they are not side by side and behind each other...I will need to lower my depth of field (at least f/8) so the 2 people behind the person in the front can come out focused.

Answer 1

Focus doesn't fall off side to side. It only falls off front to back. As long as your subjects are side by side and all at the same distance from the camera as your center subject they will all be in focus.

Answer 2

This all depends on the distance from the camera and the people being photographed.



So let's say you are taking a picture of your friends, and they are all kind of side by side posing for you, they will all be (nearly) the same distance from you. If you place your focus point in the center, and center that on the middle person it's a safe bet that everyone will come out in focus.



When you are shooting with a really large aperture, like say F2, then it's possible that with DOF being so razor thin that one or two people could be slightly out of focus.



Yes you will need to stop down more, to get more people in focus like say F5 or yes even F8, but you don't really want to do that unless you are in bright daylight.



If the light level is low, and you go with a small aperture to get more people in focus, you are going to force your ISO to some sky high level. That's going to introduce a lot of noise. While the D7000 is a nice camera, it's not magic.



This is where your skill and artful eye are going to come into play. No camera can change the laws of physics. You can't always get everyone in focus, dSLRs are not point and shoots, the large image sensor changes things like your DOF. So you are going to have to make a choice (in some cases) just who or what will be in focus in certain situations. Good luck.

Answer 3

Single focus point means that the camera focuses on that point at which it is selected. Auto means that the camera will automatically select which point it thinks it needs.



Think of focusing as a parallel transparent wall. If that point is in focus, everything on that plane will also be in focus from the center to the edges (within the limits of the lens capability at least).



So in your scenerao, if three people were standing side-by-side and you focused on the center one, all three would be in focus as long as they were on that same parallel plane.



And as you suggested, if someone is in front of, or in back of, stopping down your aperture will INCREASE the depth-of-field, resulting in the person(s) in front of or in back of being in focus (if you stopped down far enough and increased the DoF enough).



When I bought my Nikon 80-200 f/2.8, I was initially getting a lot of close-up photos that were blurry. Of course this was my fault, and I discovered that the reason was I had my focus set on Auto, and the camera would sometimes pick the wrong focus point.



I had to re-learn how to use the camera and went to Single focus with that lens so that I could select what was to be in focus. Problem solved. At open apertures such as f/2.8, the DoF is very shallow.



Although I had other fast lenses before the f/2.8 telephoto, the DoF becomes even shallower as the focal length is increased and the subject remains close. And the other fast lenses I had were shorter focal lengths so I never had the DoF issue.



So even though I had years of experience, I had to relearn a few things as I went to more capable lenses.



http://www.althephoto.com

Answer 4

What you're not understanding is that regardless of the number of focus points, what ever the camera grabs that's it. It doesn't matter. Focus points don't let you focus everything near and far, what they will do is grab the nearest subject to the camera - and that's why with my Canons I always use a single focus point. I know from looking at the shot what I want in focus.



If the aperture is way down, as on a bright sunny day, your depth of field will be deep... if the light is low, the aperture will be open and the field will be short.



If you read you're manual you'll learn how to get to the single point. You can not, at least with my Canons, use single point in full auto, it doesn't work that way. On my cameras you have to be in the program mode, which gives you more control. Read the book

Answer 5

D7000 Focus Points

Answer 6

39 AF points? Wow! I only use single focus point at center then adjust aperture to set DOF so that everyone else will also be in focus. If you set to single focus at center with your camera and you let the camera do everything else for you, the camera will ignore the other people. If you want the camera to see the others, select multi-focus points. I prefer to see them myself and set the camera accordingly. For those who can't do it that way, they can always suggest to the camera what they want and accept whatever the camera feels like doing. You already have a basic idea of how to do it. Take more control of your camera. That's where the actual fun begins!