There’s no denying that the automatic focus features on the D7000 are great, but sometimes it pays to turn them off and go manual. Typically I shoot all my landscape images using manual focus because this avoids the hassle of having your camera try to guess what you’re focusing on. If you don’t prefer manual focus, then make sure to set your camera on AF-S and select one of the 39 focus points (Figure 7.13).
Getting focused while using a tripod
- Set up your shot and find the area that you want to focus on.
- Pan your tripod head so that your active focus point is on that spot.
- Press the shutter button halfway to focus the camera.
- Switch the camera to manual focus by sliding the switch on the lens barrel from A to M.
- Recompose on the tripod and then take the shot.
The camera will fire without trying to refocus the lens. This works especially well for wide-angle lenses, which can be difficult to focus in manual mode.
