Focus Areas on Sony Alpha Cameras

[ad20126]

I am a beginner in photography and I use a Sony Alpha camera. I would like to ask how you use the different focus areas. When do you use wide, zone, or flexible spot? Additionally, do you usually focus and then recompose, or do you compose first and then use flexible spot to focus? Thank you very much

 

[Bill in Texas]

I'm not sure my input will help much since I shoot mainly wildlife with an emphasis on birds. I use the back button with spot focus programmed and the shutter for action/BIF shots so I don't have to push two buttons to get the action shot. I mainly use zone for action but found I had more keepers with zone than wide. They are both great focus tools.

 

[DigiFilm]

I've used several different focus settings and always end up coming back to M spot, tracking for shooting bursts with AF-C. I've found that for my use, using flexible/expanded spot/zone allows the camera too much leeway in deciding what I want to focus on. I use this setup for fast action and the rare BIF image when I get the gumption.

I use M spot center for AF-S and single frame shooting, bracketing etc.

For composition, I half-press then recompose if needed. I got used to half press with the Minolta Maxxum 7000 in 1985 and have never seen an advantage to back-button focus.

Bear in mind that Sony tends to make AF updates and changes with almost every new camera, so some of what I'm using may not be applicable to the A6000. This link is to Sony's online user guide and is searchable. Hopefully it will help.

Help Guide | Top

Use this manual if you encounter any problems, or have any questions about your device.

helpguide.sony.net

 

[Hof8231]

For landscapes or scenes where everything's in focus, I stick with wide or zone focus to capture the whole scene sharply. But for portraits or subjects with specific details, I prefer flexible spot to pinpoint focus on exactly what I want.

 

[DigiFilm]

For landscapes or scenes where everything's in focus, I stick with wide or zone focus to capture the whole scene sharply. But for portraits or subjects with specific details, I prefer flexible spot to pinpoint focus on exactly what I want.

The camera can't capture the whole scene sharply by using wide or zone. The camera is incapable of focusing on several things at the same time unless they're all within a given depth of field. Using Wide or Zone simply increases the number of subjects in the focus area that the camera can try to focus on.

The same rule of thumb applies to landscape focus as always: Find something to focus on about 1/3 of the way into the shot, then recompose. Use the smallest aperture you can without introducing diffraction to get the deepest DOF.