D800 focus points (1 Viewer)

Dave Williams · Feb 26, 2016

I was recently with someone who owns a D800 and she was trying to get a photo of a small bird in a bush but was struggling to get it in focus. I asked her if I could have a go and realised that she was using all the focus points so no wonder it was hard to focus. You should be using single point I told her but when we looked in the menu we couldn't find how to change, the only option were all 51 or 11.
Where were we going wrong ?
As a Canon user I couldn't figure it out so maybe someone here would be good enough to explain what should be something very straight forward I would have thought!
Thanks in anticipation, Dave

Brin · Feb 26, 2016

haven't got my d800 to hand, but I do have the d810 and on that you simply press the little button to the left of the lens as you look, and slightly below the release button - it's in the middle of the AF/mf selector. Then rotate the dial on the front right of the camera until you get single point. This is separate from the selection of number of focus points, which is A8 in the menus.
I personally also use single point for such situations, but focus among branches is still not straightforward.
She should of course be using AFC mode and not AFS for birds. (That's the same procedure but selected by the other dial)

Hope this helps

Dave Williams · Feb 26, 2016

Brin said:
haven't got my d800 to hand, but I do have the d810 and on that you simply press the little button to the left of the lens as you look, and slightly below the release button - it's in the middle of the AF/mf selector. Then rotate the dial on the front right of the camera until you get single point. This is separate from the selection of number of focus points, which is A8 in the menus.
I personally also use single point for such situations, but focus among branches is still not straightforward.
She should of course be using AFC mode and not AFS for birds. (That's the same procedure but selected by the other dial)

Hope this helps

Thanks Brin. I didn't know about the dials but when trying the menu method there were only 2 choices to select 51 or 11
Does the 810 differ because with hindsight it may have been an 810 she had.I'm not 100% certain the first offering was 51, might have been more.

Brin · Feb 26, 2016

It's 51 and 11 on the d810
Seems better on the lower figure to my way of thinking.
If she's using the d810 there is an item in the menus to rule out some of the focus area mode options - e.g. group area, 3d tracking, to stop you selecting them accidentally. You can also do that with AFC or AFS modes. Maybe she did that by mistake - it's possible.

Watts · Feb 27, 2016

If it's a D800 it's as Brin has described - press and hold the AF-mode button (that's the button inside the little lever used to switch between manual and autofocus) and rotate the front command dial to scroll through the various autofocus modes including single point.

Bill

stoop · Mar 1, 2016

[QUOTEf it's a D800 it's as Brin has described - press and hold the AF-mode button (that's the button inside the little lever used to switch between manual and autofocus) and rotate the front command dial to scroll through the various autofocus modes including single point. [/QUOTE]

She can use the back dial to select C (continuous) or S (single focus) ..C would be better for moving birds with single spot focus. (Sometimes 9 is ok depending on the density of the tree the subject is in.

D800 focus points (1 Viewer)

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