{"id":73366,"date":"2020-05-11T11:29:03","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T02:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fujifilmnxtc.wpenginepowered.com\/stories\/prefocusing-vs-autofocusing\/"},"modified":"2024-05-02T03:45:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:45:36","slug":"advanced-month-5-focusing-17-when-to-pre-focus","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/en-us\/stories\/advanced-month-5-focusing-17-when-to-pre-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"Prefocusing vs Autofocusing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prefocusing and Action Photography<\/h3>\n

\nA great way of shooting sports and wildlife photography is to prefocus at a point where you know the action will be taking place, then wait for your subject to come to you. This could be a BMX rider or skateboarder pulling a midair trick, in which case you\u2019d prefocus on the apex of the ramp. Or it might be a downhill skier passing a point on a slalom course, which you\u2019ve focused on well in advance of them getting there.
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\nAs the subject reaches the prefocus point, you can squeeze off a burst of frames using your camera\u2019s fastest continuous shooting speed, and be confident the first image in this sequence will be as perfectly timed as your human reactions will allow.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a9 Michael Clark<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Wildlife photographers also use this technique to photograph subjects such as birds arriving back at their nest or butterflies landing on a flower, which can happen suddenly and without warning. Just prefocus on the spot where they will land and you\u2019re ready to shoot \u2013\u00a0with a much-improved response time.
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\nPrefocusing doesn\u2019t have to mean focusing manually, mind you. If you\u2019re a fan of back-button focusing, then you can use this as a way of prefocusing with AF. Once you\u2019ve focused, your camera won\u2019t attempt to focus again when you shoot, so you\u2019ll get the response time advantage.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Prefocusing and Street Photography<\/h3>\n

\nStreet photographers have also traditionally used prefocusing to improve response times (after all, the phrase \u2018decisive moment\u2019 sprang from this discipline), but they do it slightly differently. Being on the move all the time, it\u2019s impossible to prefocus on a specific place, so instead they prefocus at a distance and use depth-of-field to ensure the objects just in front and just behind this distance are sharp.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"High
\n\u00a9Rinzi Ruiz<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

For instance, by focusing manually at distance of 10ft with a 23mm lens and setting an aperture of F8, everything from 6.5ft to 16.5ft will be acceptably sharp. All this without the need to autofocus, so you can enjoy the fastest response time your camera has to offer.
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\nTo do this, you\u2019ll need to make sure the camera\u2019s focus scale is showing in its viewfinder or on its rear LCD. Press MENU OK and go to SET UP > SCREEN SET-UP > DISP. CUSTOM SETTING and make sure that MF DISTANCE INDICATOR is ticked.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"Learn<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Now when you\u2019re in manual focus mode, you\u2019ll be able to set a focus distance by looking at the scale. The blue area either side of the focus distance indicator is the zone of acceptable sharpness given by the current depth-of-field.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"Learn<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

It should be noted that the phrase \u2018acceptably sharp\u2019 is subjective, and depends on what you plan to do with your photos (print or screen) and how much you value perfect timing over perfect focus. In fact, your camera\u2019s depth-of-field scale can be configured to show you what will look acceptably sharp when you make prints or what will look acceptably sharp when you examine images on screen at 100% (sometimes called \u2018pixel peeping\u2019).
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\nTo switch between these two modes, go to AF\/MF SETTING > DEPTH-OF-FIELD SCALE and choose either PIXEL BASIS or FILM FORMAT BASIS.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Your Next Steps<\/h3>\n