Manual needn’t be labour

Will Cheung

Will has been involved in photography magazines for over 35 years and a keen photographer for even longer. He is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and enjoys working on his self-motivated photo projects, as well as shooting scenics and nature. Visit www.williamcheung.co.uk

Focusing is fundamental to the imaging process. Many of us take it for granted that the technology in our AF cameras will get it right, and it usually does, almost regardless of the subject and the lighting conditions. The camera brands have invested a huge amount of resource improving, fine-tuning and innovating how autofocusing works since its beginnings in 1985 with the Minolta 7000. Accuracy, sensitivity, responsiveness and tracking skills have improved beyond all recognition and we should be thankful that autofocus is so incredibly good.

Mirrorless cameras are a comparatively recent phenomenon and it’s true that the AF on this camera type lagged behind DSLRs to begin with, but they have caught up in spectacular fashion. To name a few models, the Canon EOS R3/R5, Fujifilm X-H2S, Nikon Z 9, OM Systems OM-1 and Sony Alpha 1 all boast remarkable AF skills with customisable patterns, eye/face/subject detect with quick and very tenacious focus tracking. What’s more, they are as capable with live view as they are with viewfinder AF. That is not the case with DSLRs, which are generally excellent when the optical viewfinder is being used but are much less effective in live view where they can be slow and uncertain.