z9 Shutter / focus Question

[PeggyBaker]

So I have my AF-C priority selection to release
Autofocus activation to shutter/AF-ON
FN1 set to Focus mode / AF-area mode
AF-ON to 3D

This way I have the half-shutter press to focus, and FOcus is Wide-area-S

I may have these settings sending me around in circles. What I haven't been able to figure out is, if the autofocus is locking on something in the foreground, and I manually focus on the more distant object, as soon as I half-press the shutter I lose the focus lock. How can I preserve the focus I've achieved manually?

 

[John Navitsky]

there’s a setting in there called “persistence”. make sure it’s on in order to enable the handoff. it doesn’t work for all modes i think

 

[arbitrage]

If you don't want the camera to refocus after your manual focus adjustment then you need to take AF off of the shutter and use a pure back button focus method.

Then you would use your AF-ON to focus and then if you manually focus you can press the shutter and it won't refocus.

 

[PeggyBaker]

Thank you @arbitrage here I was trying to be bold and move away from BBF. So much for that.

 

[MorganP]

Use "C" or consistent mode for it to continuous to focus.

 

[bleirer]

If you don't want the camera to refocus after your manual focus adjustment then you need to take AF off of the shutter and use a pure back button focus method.

Then you would use your AF-ON to focus and then if you manually focus you can press the shutter and it won't refocus.

Another option that works on canon is to program a button for af-off when held. This way the shutter just takes the picture.

 

[thelordofthelight]

There are 2 ways to do this. Either use BBF or in case you want to use shutter button for AF then assign AF lock to another custom button and then hold it when you don't want the focus to shift whenever you press the shutter button.

So I have my AF-C priority selection to release
Autofocus activation to shutter/AF-ON
FN1 set to Focus mode / AF-area mode
AF-ON to 3D

This way I have the half-shutter press to focus, and FOcus is Wide-area-S

I may have these settings sending me around in circles. What I haven't been able to figure out is, if the autofocus is locking on something in the foreground, and I manually focus on the more distant object, as soon as I half-press the shutter I lose the focus lock. How can I preserve the focus I've achieved manually?

 

[Tibor Hrnko]

...
if the autofocus is locking on something in the foreground, and I manually focus on the more distant object, as soon as I half-press the shutter I lose the focus lock. How can I preserve the focus I've achieved manually?

If I understand it correctly you want to switch between AF-area mode and 3D tracking without break in focusing. It is possible to achieve it even with using AF-ON button for BBF.

These are the settings for your assignment of buttons.
Photo Shooting Menu
Focus Mode: AF-C
AF-area mode: Anything you like as precise focusing mode (Wide Area AF(S) is my recommendation)
Custom Shooting Menu
A6* AF-ON only
F2* Fn1 AF-Area mode 3D (assuming you want 3D tracking on Fn1)
Focusing
Press AF-ON to start focusing using the current mode set in Photo Shooting Menu
Keep AF-ON pressed and press Fn1 to initiate 3D tracking
Press Shutter to start shooting.
It is a bit awkward IMO as it uses 3 fingers of your right hand for shooting, while left hand is doing nothing.

These are the buttons as I use them:
Photo Shooting Menu
Focus Mode: AF-C
AF-area mode: Wide Area AF(S)
Custom Shooting Menu
A6* AF-ON only
F2* L-Fn AF-Area mode 3D (lens button)
Focusing
Press AF-ON to start focusing using the current mode set in Photo Shooting Menu

[repeat]​

Keep AF-ON pressed and press L-Fn to initiate 3D tracking​

Release L-Fn to return to original AF-area mode​

[end repeat]​

Press Shutter to start shooting.
Better IMO as right hand does focusing and shutter management and left hand switches 3D tracking on/off.