Focus Points. Street photography.

[Vilusious]

I love this camera, best I’ve ever owned. However, I want to improve my hit rate, eg, in focus to make it the most accurate. 

I nearly always shoot from the hip, shooting people as they approach me, so they are moving, all be it slowly. I’m aware of back button focus, and have had much success with this. But I feel I can get more success with auto focus. Single point focus gives me access to 325 focus points, also available in manual focus, yet single focus is not recommended for this type of photography! I’ve always used 91  

Auto focus/continuous gives me a slight delay before the shot is made. I don’t think this is an option. 

Can you please give me your recommendations for the conditions described? Many thanks. (I use a 23mm f2). Not an ad, may I post Chris.mazda5mx on instagram for examples?

Edited July 30, 2018 by Vilusious

[Madmo]

Vilusious,

There will always be a large percentage of misses when you are shooting from the hip. Your best option is stay with manual mode to pre-set your shutter speed and focus. This would allow you to shot as your subject moves within your depth-of-field. 

The video link below may explain it better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld1-w0quKk8&t=60s

It should also be stated that in street photography, sharp focus is not necessarily the primary consideration for a good image.

[Vilusious]

Thanks for reply Madmo. Not the most popular subject on this forum, hence the number of replies. 

But sometimes I look too deeply into things and perhaps stick with the simplest of methods and

try not to be over clever  I think back button focus is the best method for this kind of photography 

and proved it to myself after revisiting the exact same location after the previous visit, the shots 

were out of focus.  Second time around, the shots were fine  

Thank you for the link  

 

[Madmo]

Posting in the "Street Photography" section may get you more responses. Anyway, the best method is the one that works for you.

Hope to see your photos posted in the future😁