The default operation of almost every camera is to activate autofocus via pressing the shutter button halfway. This works perfectly fine for most situations, but you can often improve your experience and hit rate by using another method: autofocus with the back button. This helpful video will show you why it’s useful and how to take advantage of it.
Coming to you from Jan Wegener, this great video discusses the advantages of back button autofocus. Back-button autofocus is so named because it involves separating your camera’s shutter button and the autofocus function. Instead, autofocus is then activated with a button on the back of your camera (usually the AF-ON button). Typically, a photographer will use their right thumb to activate autofocus and their right index finger to release the shutter when using this method. Furthermore, the more advanced autofocus systems of modern cameras can often be further customized. For example, I often associate eye AF with the AEL button just to the right of the AF-ON button, making it easy for me to snap a portrait while shooting an event or similar just by sliding my thumb over a moment. Check out the video above for a full summary from Wegener.
