Support Material For YouTube Series - Panasonic Bridge Cameras Revisited.

AutoFocus Modes and Styles and Affects on Burst Modes

 

In Part 4 of this series I took a look at the Autofocus facility of the bridge camera range.

 

The normal way to initiate AF is to half depress the camera shutter button ( I'm assuming that the default mode of Shutter AF is set ON).

 

However there is an alternative method that is popular with sports and wildlife photographers - Back Button Focus

Because each camera in the bridge camera range is slightly different when looking at the setup for this mode I am detailing each camera here to show the actual setup for each camera.

For the FZ80/82

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the FZ80/82 begin by setting the AF/AE Lock in the custom setup menu to AF ON

 

 

 

 

 

 

Set the Shutter AF to OFF

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally set the Half Press Release to ON

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now to carry out back focus you simply compose your image, then press hand hold the AF/AE lock button to set the focus.

Press the shutter button to complete the exposure.

If you need to take multiple images with the same focus set then you simply just press the shutter button.

Release the AF/AE lock button to release the focus.

For the FZ200

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FZ200 is a little more complicated as it doesn't have the same degree of control as the other cameras in the range.

 

The Back button focus can be implemented by setting the AF/AE Lock to AF

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only caveat is that the AF/AE Lock button should not have been re-programmed as a Fn2 operation

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the AF/AE Lock set to AF whenever the button is pressed the AFL lock indicator will appear on the LCD/EVF and the focus will be locked at this position.

Pressing the shutter button completes the exposure as though it had been set to half press release on.

The AF will stay locked until the button is pressed again.

For the FZ300/330

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FZ300/330 has the AF/AE Lock button surrounded by the AF Mode switch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn the AE/AF Lock to ON

and Shutter AF to OFF

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn Half Press ease to ON

For the FZ1000 mk1  & mk2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FZ1000 is like the FZ300 with the AE/AF Lock Button within the AF Style switch

 

 

 

 

 

Set the AF/AE Lock to AF-ON

Set the Shutter AF to OFF

Set Half Press Release to ON