Nikon D800

BMbikerider · Oct 9, 2022

With all the Nikon Digital SLRs I have used since the D100 hit the shops back over 22 years ago they have all had 3 positions for the switch to change the AF to single, continuous and manual but not the D800. Why did they change this feature to manual and continuous only with the D800. In my mind a very retrograde step. This omission has been mentioned in several revues and tests and non in positive manner.

I have been right through the very thick owners manual and cannot find anyway of overriding the continuous focusing. It is a pain to have to change to manual focussing if I want to place the point of interest off centre. Nor are my hands large enough to to cover the shutter button and the focus lock at the same time with any degree of certainty this will not induce camera shake.

Have I missed some way of introducing single AF and is there a way of over-riding it?

Sometimes I fail to understand the reasoning behind some designers mentality.

Ariston · Oct 9, 2022

Usually manufacturers find a cheaper way to make things, and then try to sell it as an "improvement" (like removing an optical viewfinder). I cannot imagine not having an S setting for focus, since I focus with one AF point, and then re-compose. It is weird that the expensive D800 is like that.

Eric Rose · Oct 9, 2022

It's in the menu settings. Download the manual. That what I did for my 800e.

BMbikerider · Oct 9, 2022

Ariston said:
Usually manufacturers find a cheaper way to make things, and then try to sell it as an "improvement" (like removing an optical viewfinder). I cannot imagine not having an S setting for focus, since I focus with one AF point, and then re-compose. It is weird that the expensive D800 is like that.

I quite agree. You do exactly what I do. I cannot be bothered to mess about with swapping focus points, I need a camera that suits me not what the manufacturers think I need. I like taking photographs not fiddling about with constant variations of a theme.

BMbikerider · Oct 10, 2022

I have found the instruction how to change the focus to single, away from continuous. I still struggle to understand Nikon's engineers reason for changing this away from the single movement of the switch on the side of the lens mount. To one that means having to research how to do this by looking though the quite extensive 400 pages plus manual. Apart from that it takes 2 operations to change the continuous to single where previously all that was needed was a single click of the small switch.
Going further back than my 1st digital SLR, all the AF analogue Nikons since the mid 1980's never had a serious problem with the AF switch so why repair something that is not broken and certainly more inconvenient than the original design.
Someone in Nikon's design department must have been bored on a Friday afternoon before finishing work for the weekend!

Ariston · Oct 10, 2022

In the past, menu-diving was relegated mostly to the consumer-grade cameras to save costs on buttons and switches. Not so with the newer "improved" cameras. It's the same thing phone manufacturers are doing when they remove buttons, headphone jacks, etc. They are "improving" the phone.

Is there some way to set two "custom setting" banks that you can switch quickly between?

Eric Rose · Oct 10, 2022

Pieter12 · Oct 11, 2022

I haven't used my D800 in quite a while, but I believe there is a setting to assign single focus to one of the buttons at the top of the camera back. All my AF cameras are set to manual focus with a back button to activate AF.

nmp · Oct 11, 2022

Pieter12 said:
I haven't used my D800 in quite a while, but I believe there is a setting to assign single focus to one of the buttons at the top of the camera back. All my AF cameras are set to manual focus with a back button to activate AF.

It's the AF-ON button the back on the right side of the viewfinder. You can set it to single focus. Focus with that on the subject of interest, then compose and shoot. Override the focus capability of the shutter as well in the menu so it does not focus again when you click.

Ariston · Oct 11, 2022

Eric Rose said:
RTFM

I don't think that his complaint is that there is no workaround, but that they removed functionality.

Pieter12 · Oct 11, 2022

Unless you are misstating your issue with the D800, there are two settings for autofocus. Single and continuous--they are set with the wheel. Page 91 0f the manual:

BMbikerider · Oct 11, 2022

Pieter12 said:
I haven't used my D800 in quite a while, but I believe there is a setting to assign single focus to one of the buttons at the top of the camera back. All my AF cameras are set to manual focus with a back button to activate AF.

The way I read it in the manual was to set the AF/manual switch to AF, then holding in the central button on the switch, (to be honest I had not noticed it was there) turn the main command dial on the top rear of the camera until the letter 'S' appears in the window on the top.

Yes that is the way you describe how to do it but why change something that has worked very well for around 30 years. I have also just found out that on the D70 that was changed in the same way as on the D800 but for the D70S it was changed back to the 3 position switch.

DavidOC · Oct 18, 2022

That’s Nikon for you. They have a few foibles that I’m always giving out about.
One is that when you a camera is reset, it sets the image quality to normal jpg. Why normal? I can understand jpg on starter cameras such as the D3500 (and it’s predecessors), but why not at least set it to the highest quality version. Doesn’t make sense.
The other, and again to do with resetting, is that the default ISO is always 100 but with auto-ISO enabled with it. An unfamiliar beginner can end up shooting at ISO 25,600 with out realising the repercussions. This also makes nonsense of the Manual programme mode as the auto-ISO will adjust your settings when you try to compensate an exposure meter setting.
These quirks aren’t limited to starter cameras. It also happens with the D7100 and D7500, and I suspect many other models.

Nikon D800

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