Hi,

I have looked everywhere but I couldn't find an answer.

When I set the camera to AUTO, the AF Area will switch to "Closest Object" setting by default. However, sometimes the camera focus to the left and to the right even I point the subject in the middle.

So, I go to the SETUP and change AF Area to "SINGLE". So, the camera always focus in the middle.

However, if I rotate the mode dial to something else and move it back to "AUTO", the AF Area will reset back to "Closest".

Is there a way to make it stay with "SINGLE"?

Thanks

 

auto is auto...you need to learn how to use the halfway down on the button on your object and then keep it depressed halfway and re-compose your image.

 

That doesn't work. There is no way to know where the camera is going to focus.

This camera is stupid. If there are 3 people standing in front of you, the camera sometimes focus at the person in the left even you try to focus the person in the middle.

Or... if you have a person standing in the middle, and let say there is a box in the frame that is placed in front and to the left of the person, the camera will focus at the box 99% of the time EVEN YOU HAVE the camera pointed to the person dead center. So, the box is in focus but the person in the middle is fuzzy.

You can set the camera to pick either one of the focus areas but if you change the dial, the camera will reset the setting back to the default.

 

Here's an idea. Use manual Focus. Its usually the most accurate anyway.

 

Hmm... Aha! Now I know what the face detection thingy is for!!!

 

I never use Auto - that being one of the reasons. Use the P mode instead. It pretty much does the same thing as auto but allows you to control different shutter speed / aperture combinations quickly that will give you the same exposure. Like if you want to increase the shutter speed for motion or f stop for depth of field.
The Auto setting is there for the "Hey, can you take a photo of us" moments. That's about all it's good for.

 

Like others have said, you shouldn't be using AUTO with a DSLR...ever.

I'd also advise against using P as it also isn't always accurate.

Typically I shoot in Apeture priority mode and let the camera control the shutter speed. Or, if I know the camera won't detect the correct shutter speed due to the lighting (bright sky, light reflecting off snow, etc) I will switch to manual mode, posistion the camera towards the sky and let the light meter take a reading. Then recompose the shot and use the settings from the sky light meter reading to take the shot.

Once you start to learn how to using manual settings you'll notice a strong improvement in your results.

 

for fun i tried auto the other day.. god it sucks

 

I've tried using this technique without much luck. Once I take the meter reading from the sky I lock the exposure and recompose the shot. What I end up with though is the sky being exposed correctly but the landscape is under exposed. What part of this technique am I doing wrong?

 

This was exactly what the problem was. I handed over the camera to someone and asked him to take picture. He pointed the camera dead center to us but the camera focused the pole in front of us and on the left by some unknown reason. When the picture came out, the pole was in sharp focus but we were not.

But... this is not what I ask. I can set the camera to use the center focus area... but if I change the dial to some other mode and change it back, the camera will reset itself back to "Closest" focus mode.

Is there any way to make the camera not to reset itself when changing mode with the dial?

 

Set it to a small aperture (large number) so the depth of focus is wide. More of the image will be in focus.

 

can't quite do that in full auto mode.

 

Don't use auto mode

 

obviously, but bz268 is talking about the camera in auto mode

 

And we're saying don't use Full Auto

 

^