Help me out with focusing at holiday parties

[oxjox]

TLDR; what focusing configuration is best for candid family gatherings?

 

I'm a hobbits who typically shoots on the street, landscape, and still life objects.  Having the family together is always the best time to take photos and I'm trying to make a stronger effort to do this.  I was trying to use face and eye / face not eye detection with more than one person in the frame.  I had tried all three types of focus modes with continuous focusing on/off.  Ultimately, to get a clear image, I had to resort to manually moving the focus point in single point S mode.  

 

I should also note I haven't really used any other digital cameras outside of Fuji.  Is focusing on people's faces typically challenging or am I doing something wrong?  The camera would focus on inanimate objects, or objects on the edges of the frame instead of near the focusing point when I had wide / tracking focusing selecting.

 

Quickly adjusting the camera's focusing properties is the single more difficult aspect of photography for me.  I'd love some help to get better at it.

 

Here's a good example of what I'm talking about http://i.imgur.com/v7Diy4u.jpeg 

[MirrorMirror]

If you're a hobbit I would ask Gandalf

 

I think the best solution is as you have determined. Single focus box, move it to a face, use a small aperture to get a reasonable depth of focus, take the shot.

Edited December 25, 2016 by MirrorMirror

[photonongrata]

It IS challenging and you are doing nothing wrong at all. There are more techniques than one can list. It makes a big difference which Fuji camera you have and what its capabilities are, so I'd love for you to reply with that information.

 

Single box is one possible technique a lot of people use. It is worth trying other AF modes your camera may have, including Multi (where the camera detects objects for you), Area (where you manually direct an area of the screen, but with multiple points), and Face detection mode. You might also want try one of the MF Assist modes so you can better see what is in focus, if you camera has them.

Edited December 25, 2016 by photonongrata

[oxjox]

If you're a hobbit I would ask Gandalf

 

I think the best solution is as you have determined. Single focus box, move it to a face, use a small aperture to get a reasonable depth of focus, take the shot.

 

Nice catch ;-)

Thanks.

[oxjox]

It IS challenging and you are doing nothing wrong at all. There are more techniques than one can list. It makes a big difference which Fuji camera you have and what its capabilities are, so I'd love for you to reply with that information.

 

Single box is one possible technique a lot of people use. It is worth trying other AF modes your camera may have, including Multi (where the camera detects objects for you), Area (where you manually direct an area of the screen, but with multiple points), and Face detection mode. You might also want try one of the MF Assist modes so you can better see what is in focus, if you camera has them.

Well...  being that I've posted in the XT2 forum, one may presume I'm an XT2 owner.  I was working with the 23 1.4 and a Touit 32 1.8 yesterday.  I love MF assist but that's tough when you're shooting under f5.6 at moving objects.

 

I guess it just takes a lot of practice to know how to configure your camera before you take the shot.  Ultimately, I kept shooting single point and had decent results.  Thanks!

[Lala]

Try using zone wide tracking if subject is moving toward or away from you otherwise zone with a good sized box

[photonongrata]

Well...  being that I've posted in the XT2 forum, one may presume I'm an XT2 owner.  I was working with the 23 1.4 and a Touit 32 1.8 yesterday.  I love MF assist but that's tough when you're shooting under f5.6 at moving objects.

 

I guess it just takes a lot of practice to know how to configure your camera before you take the shot.  Ultimately, I kept shooting single point and had decent results.  Thanks!

 

Ah, good point, missed that. It gets easier as you go! It is possible to very quickly nail focus in any scene with the X-T2, but yeah, just keep at it, and try the different modes, they are very useful!

 

I've found setting AF modes to the Q menu or a customization button is very helpful.