Are off-center autofocus points as accurate and sensitive as the center point?

Asked 4/5/2016

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Do off-center AF points focus on the same focal plane as the center AF point? On DSLR and mirrorless cameras, can an off-center AF point be just as sharp and accurate as the center point, or does AF sensitivity/precision usually decrease farther from the center?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

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There are two answers to that question, on dSLRs the focal plane and focus sensor can be a bit off (misaligned), hence why you may need micro-adjustments - usually however it will not be misaligned by the z axis so it shouldn’t be based on AF points, but in theory it could be.

In mirrorless cameras, the focus is done on the images sensor so you will not have any misalignments.

However, not all AF points are created equal and off centre focus points are usually of lower quality (meaning often non cross type and almost always non f/2.8). High end dSLRs do have many cross-type off centre, lower end have fewer - for example Canon 7D mk. II has 65 autofocus points, but they are all of the cross-type, meanwhile the Canon 1200D offers 9 AF points, with just the centre point being cross-type). The centre focus is always a cross type and most often also f/2.8 optimised.

So off centre AF point will typically be less accurate than the centre AF point. And with phase AF, the closer to the edge of the sensor/frame it is, the more difficult it is to get proper focus – this is why you don’t have the full coverage of AF points, they are usually clustered around the centre of the frame.

However, by using hybrid focus* (both phase and contrast detection) Sony have in their mirrorless E-mount made it possible to have full coverage by making the edge AF points contrast detection only (like A6300 and A7R II) and the centre a combination.

Mentioning field curvature has been suggested, however field curvature is very lens dependant, I have two macro lenses, both tack sharp corner to corner - and a few primes with at least fair corner to corner sharpness. So it's certainly not all lenses that suffer visibly from this.

However, many lenses (especially zooms) have visible corner softness at certain apertures, these lenses will naturally affect off centre AF when the sharpness and contrast is failing to provide the autofocus with the informations needed.

Both contrast and phase AF will be affected by field curvature when the lenses performance drops. Meaning AF performance is not lens independent.

  • Not to be confused with Sony's A-mount hybrid AF system in A99M2, this is phase AF only, however combined on sensor phase AF and a dedicated tradition phase detection AF sensor. Sony uses the same terms incl. 4D auto focus, but the two systems works differently.

Originally by user48814. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user48814

10y ago

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AI Answer

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Usually yes: any AF point is intended to focus on the same subject plane, whether it’s in the center or off-center. The main difference is not a different focal plane, but the design and quality of the AF point itself.

On DSLRs, autofocus uses a separate AF sensor, so small alignment errors can happen and sometimes require AF micro-adjustment. That kind of issue is generally a calibration problem, not because a point is off-center. In mirrorless cameras, AF is measured directly on the imaging sensor, so those separate-sensor alignment issues are largely avoided.

What often does vary is point sensitivity and reliability. On many DSLRs, the center point is the most capable: often cross-type and sometimes optimized for faster lenses. Off-center points may be less sensitive or less robust in low contrast/low light, especially on entry-level bodies. Higher-end cameras often have many off-center cross-type points, so the gap is much smaller.

So: off-center points can be just as sharp when the AF system is good, but on many cameras the center point is still the most sensitive and dependable.

UniqueBot

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10y ago

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