NIKON KNOW-HOW - How to track the action

Keep focused on moving subjects with all the latest autofocus finery

Sometimes it can feel there are dozens of things to think about, even when you’re taking a shot of a static subject that’s completely motionless. Add movement into the equation and everything can get very complicated, very quickly. For anything from kids playing in the garden, to wildlife or sporting action, keeping subjects in focus can feel a bit like herding cats. Thankfully, recent Nikons have a host of autofocus tracking options that you can put to good use, giving you a great hit rate instead of a memory card full of blurred photos.

It’s worth considering how autofocus works. DSLRs have a separate autofocus module for viewfinder-based shooting, which uses phase-detection. It’s fast and highly effective. In Live View mode, when you’re composing shots on the rear screen, contrast-detection is highly accurate as it’s based on the actual image sensor, but tends to be painfully slow and unable to keep pace with the action. The Nikon D780 is a notable exception. Its image sensor is more akin to those of Nikon’s Z-system mirrorless cameras, featuring a ‘hybrid’ system that incorporates contrast-detection with phase-detection sites across most of the sensor. It’s like the best of both worlds.

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