Can digital zoom help autofocus lock onto a bird instead of branches?
Asked 5/28/2020
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I know digital zoom is usually just in-camera cropping, so it normally doesn’t add detail compared with cropping later on a computer. On a compact camera like the Canon PowerShot SX720 HS, autofocus sometimes grabs branches or leaves instead of the bird when the bird is in a tree. Can using digital zoom make autofocus more likely to lock onto the bird, or are focus and digital zoom basically unrelated?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
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A number of cameras I've seen switch to center focus once you are in digital zoom territory. The focusing itself does not have more material to work with, but the focus mode may be different. Similarly, some cameras switch to center focus once they engage focus assist light due to insufficient light (if your camera does that, it may make sense to disable focus assistence: the camera will then be less reliably focusing on where you think it should rather than on where it thinks it can do better). However, switching to center or spot focus when making bird pictures is prudent anyway since more often than not they are surrounded by foliage and branches that do not form points of interest with regard to focusing.
So the answer is, of course, not to use digital zoom (which has its own problems) merely because it may have the side effect of switching to center focus, but pick center (or spot) focus in the first place when you are birding.
Originally by user92337. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user92337
6y ago
0
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Usually, no: digital zoom itself does not improve focus accuracy. It’s essentially a crop applied after the image is captured, so it doesn’t give the autofocus system extra detail to work with.
However, digital zoom can indirectly affect what the camera focuses on in two ways:
- Some cameras change autofocus behavior when digital zoom is active, for example switching to center or spot focus.
- If autofocus point selection is automatic, making the bird fill more of the frame can increase the chance the camera chooses it rather than nearby branches.
If you can manually choose the focus point or use center/spot AF, that’s the better solution for birds in foliage. In that case, digital zoom offers no focusing advantage because the camera is still focusing on the selected area with the same underlying image information.
So: don’t rely on digital zoom to improve autofocus. Instead, use a smaller/central focus area or manual focus-point selection if your camera allows it.
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