Milton Perrin /

AF-F This

The addition of video to SLRs is a logical and nifty idea, though in practical use it has some limitations. Auto focus is iffy at best, and the ability to manually focus moving objects really takes some practice. During the recent El Tour de Tucson I tried the various options in AF-F mode with the D800. I was asking a lot – to follow multiple riders coming towards the camera at a pretty good clip. Sometimes it did ok, other times it lost it and just kept hunting. I tried the options, 9-point, 21-point, 3-d. None seemed much better than the others for shots similar to this using a 80-200mm D. I left the sound of the focus motor to show it’s gyrations. Not great, not terrible, though a lot of testing will be necessary to trust it, if ever. Should have used manual exposure too, at least for now it’s really a manual thing for optimal results.

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