Is autofocus better than manual focus?

Question

I have recently bought a digital SLR and am curious if it is better to usualy use autofocus.

Answer 1

It's certainly easier, but some say not as critically accurate.

I'd say that about 98% of the time, if you use the autofocus correctly, it is quite adequate for accurate focus. If you are using a spot meter setting, for instance, you can really zone in on the critical focus point in your picture, because the camera will use that as the autofocus zone also.

Try autofocus - learn how to use it - and see which you prefer.

There are certain situations (as detailed in your owner's manual) where autofocus will not work very well, so then you can fall back on manual focus.

Answer 2

The autofocus capabilities of most DSLR's are very good. It's a convenience most of the time, and when the subject is moving, it's almost a necessity, because it's tricky to be composing your shot while playing with the focus.
Situations where you want to use manual focus are when your camera is having a tough time finding the focus; for example, if you're trying to focus on a bird or plane in the sky. As you try to get the subject centred, the camera is trying to find a focus against the blue sky, which is difficult, because there's no contrast. It's better to set the focus manually in such situations.

Answer 3

It depends! (Talk about waffling with an answer, but it's true!)

For moving subjects, I'd definitely say autofocus is better...at least if you need to take the photo quickly. But, with all the autofocus points on a modern camera, you run the risk of the camera focusing on a secondary element of your composition, while the subject is out of focus!

For landscape photography, I definitely focus manually. Or I would suggest if you use autofocus, that you disable all the focusing points but the center one, center it on your subject, and after focus locks, hold the shutter button halfway down and recompose your shot.

I hope this helps!

Answer 4

Autofocus is good for most shots. Sports you definatly need autofocus since the human hand can not adjust that fast accuartatly. But anything slow or has an object infront of it, like a fence, then manuel focus would be better.

Answer 5

Shorts answer, no. Auto focus uses the surrounding environment to decide where and how to focus the lens. Manual focus, on the other hand, let's you decide how to focus and your eye can tell you how to focus far better than a computer in your camera can.

My 2 cents, go manual.

Answer 6

Both have their uses.
Manual focus lets you choose exactly what you want in focus, then aperture & shutter speed determines what else is in focus. Manual therefore give you more creative control.

Answer 7

Auto focus is good when you need to take a shoot fast, eg. moving things and candid shot. while manual focus is to get the optimum result.