Nikon 5400 - Manual (Page 42)

30
Taking Pictures in Auto Mode
Basic Photogr
aphy
Autofocus and Focus/Exposure Lock (continued from page 29)
If the subject is not in the active focus area when the shutter-release button is pressed
halfway, the picture may be out of focus. To focus on a subject that will not be in the
active focus area in the fi nal composition, use focus lock:
1 Focus
Position the subject in the center of the frame and
press the shutter-release button halfway.
2 Check the green (AF) lamp
With the shutter-release button pressed halfway,
check that the green (AF) lamp glows steadily,
indicating that the subject is in focus. Focus and
exposure will remain locked while the shutter-re-
lease button is pressed halfway.
3 Recompose the picture
Keeping the shutter-release button pressed half-
way, recompose the picture. Do not change the
distance between camera and subject while focus
lock is in effect. If the subject moves, focus again
at the new distance.
4 Take the picture
Smoothly press the shutter-release button all the
way down to shoot.
Locking Focus between Shots
To take a series of pictures without stopping to ad-
just focus, keep the shutter-release button pressed
halfway between shots.
The AE/AF-L Button
Focus and exposure can also be locked by pressing the AE/AF-L button. By default,
the AE/AF-L button locks both focus and exposure. When AE-L is selected for the
Controls > AE-L, AF-L option in the setup menu (
142), the AE/AF-L button will
lock only exposure, while pressing the shutter-release button halfway will lock only
focus (select AF-L to assign focus lock to the AE/AF-L button and exposure lock to
the shutter-release button). This can be used with spot, center-weighted, or spot AF
area metering (
68) to meter one area of a high-contrast subject while focusing
on another.
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