Best auto focus option?

I took some photos for my sister and her husband with my new 50MM 1.8G over the weekend. All photos look great at facebook resolutions. Most photos even look super sharp at full resolution. So I'm loving the lens. However there were a few photos that at full resolution aren't as sharp. Nothing horrible but wondering if there is a better auto focus option then I'm currently using. Pretty sure I'm currently using the default Auto-Area AF(Think that's what it is called), where it automatically picks where to focus. If it doesn't pick right spot I normally use the thumb pad on back to move it left or right or whatever. Is that the best way for non-moving objects like portraits? Or is there something better?

Thanks,
Jeffrey

If you are using auto-area, you can bet the camera focusses on the closest item... In portraits, that will be the nose and at wide aperture can leave the rest of the face slightly soft. Use a single focus point, and focus it on the eye of the subject... More than one person, maybe one slightly behind the other can be awkward, so use a narrower aperture to make sure all of both faces are in focus.

Really depends on what you are shooting at the time.

I find Dynamic 9 Point (D9) flexible enough for just about everything and rarely use anything else.

Also, do you shoot JPG, and if so have you adjusted the sharpening setting in the Picture Control menu? I ask because adjusting that single setting will have a huuuge impact on the overall sharpness of your JPG photos. I'll never understand why that setting is set so low by default.

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Horoscope Fish said:

I find Dynamic 9 Point (D9) flexible enough for just about everything and rarely use anything else.

Also, do you shoot JPG, and if so have you adjusted the sharpening setting in the Picture Control menu? I ask because adjusting that single setting will have a huuuge impact on the overall sharpness of your JPG photos. I'll never understand why that setting is set so low by default.

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Click to expand...

I actually shoot raw.

In Auto-area AF, I don't think you can move the focus point, so you are likely using Dynamic-area AF, which is similar to what @HoroscopeFish mentions, but you have 11 focus points instead of 9 (assuming a D3200).

Dynamic would work for portraits as long as you are watching where it focuses and adjusting as needed, but it is designed for a subject that may move off the chosen focus. Depending on how close the subjects, lighting, and the resulting depth of field, you may want more control over the focusing.

The big thing is knowing what the camera is doing and why so you can control it. Bear in mind there is only one focus point (meaning the focusing distance) in any image. There is depth of field in front of and behind the focus distance, but the sharpest plane in the image will be at the focus distance.

I tend to use AF-S (focus mode) and Single-point AF (AF-Area Mode), because I think it gives me the most control over where the focus point for the subjects I shoot. But it also is probably the closest mode to my old trusty film camera, so a little nostalgic bias maybe.

Gah... I really need to look at what sub-forum I'm in before posting.

On a D3200, with only 11 points to work with, I would be using AF-Auto Mode and Single Point for stills, Dynamic Area possibly.

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As mentioned single point on the eye is probably best but auto area does detect human faces and those take priority

On my D3300 I use Single point AF-S. That lets me decide where the focus will be, no ambiguities. Still while shooting flowers even the central AF point wavers (I think that it is too big in area and chooses objects in front/behind of what I want). In such cases MF is the only method to use.