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Focusing Essentials                                            79















           Figure 3-8:  A situation where the Wide Area AF setting will be fooled.  Switching
           to either “Flexible Spot (Small)” or “Center” allows me to tell the camera, “Focus
           on the fowl, not on the fence!”.


           3.4.2    FOCUSING MODES

           Okay,  that  covered  the  Focusing  Area.    There  are  also  four  Focusing
           Modes,  which  tell  the  camera  whether  it  should  try  to  track  a  moving
           subject or not.  The Focusing Mode is selectable by the Focus Mode knob
           on the front of the camera, near the base of the lens (Figure 3-9).  The four
           choices are:

           S
           This  means,  “Focus  on  a  subject,  and  then  lock  focus  until  I  take  the
           picture.”    This  is  called  “Single  Shot  AF”  (AutoFocus)  mode,  and  is
           denoted by “AF-S”.  This your standard point-and-shoot mode.
           C
           The  camera  also has  a “Continuous  AF”  mode  setting  (denoted by  “AF-
           C”),  which  can  be  used  when  you’re  shooting  sports  (or  anything  that
           moves).  When this mode is enabled you are essentially telling the camera
           “my  subject  is  moving.    Even  when  you’ve  found  focus,  keep  trying  to
           focus on the subject because my subject will not stay still!”  Keep in mind
           that in Continuous mode, once the camera achieves autofocus, it will not
           give  you  a  steady  green  light  and  an  audible  “chirp”.    Instead,  it  will
           continue to track and refocus (the subject is moving after all, right?) in an
           attempt to keep the subject in focus until the final shot is taken.  You can
           always tell when you’re in Continuous focus mode, because the green focus
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