Nikon D7000 manual Autofocus Activation… and More

Chapter 5 ■ Mastering Autofocus Options 151

Just follow these steps:

1.Activate manual focus. Set the lens and camera focus mode to M (see the warn- ing above). If you happen to be using an old non-autofocus (manual focus) lens, you’re all set—it won’t autofocus under any circumstances.

2.Select a focus point. With the focus point selector lock off, select one of the 39 focus points using the multi selector.

3.Press the shutter release button halfway. This activates the D7000’s autofocus system, which continues to function even though the camera’s ability to adjust the focus of the lens has been disabled.

4.Rotate the lens’s focus ring. Adjust until the in-focus indicator at the lower left of the viewfinder display illuminates continually.

5.Confirm. Visually evaluate whether you’re actually in sharp focus—the in-focus indicator is sometimes wrong!

Autofocus Activation… and More

The final considerations in using autofocus are the control or controls used to activate and lock autofocus, plus a few odds and ends. I’ll cover them in ample detail in Chapter 9, which explains all the options, but here are some cross references if you feel you need some review. I’m going to continue the discussion of focusing in the next chapter, which explains Live View and movie making, and some special focus options the D7000 has when using those two modes.

■Focus tracking with lock on. Intervening subjects passing in front of your main area of interest can interfere with autofocus. Set a delay time before the camera refo- cuses using CSM #a3, as described in Chapter 9.

■AF point illumination. Do you want the active autofocus point illuminated when that is an option? Look up CSM #a4 in Chapter 9.

■Focus point wrap around. Do you want the focus point to wrap around to the opposite side during manual selection? Use CSM #a5.

■AF illuminator. Need to turn off the autofocus assist illuminator on your camera, flash, or SC-29 connecting cable? Use CSM #a7.

■Which controls activate/lock autofocus. You can use a half-press of the shutter release or a press of the AE-L/AF-L button (or both), or another button. See the instructions for CSM #f3, f4, and f5 in Chapter 9 for your options.

■Center/show focus point. You can program the multi selector center button to either jump the active focus point to the center or to highlight the active focus point, using CSM #f2, as described in Chapter 9.