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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