Two camera settings that improved my street photography - Back-button focus and min-shutter/max-ISO

This tutorial is a bit different. Instead of focusing on composition, I go into two key settings that improved my shooting, both of the street and professional variety.

[@DrGreenthumbPhd]

This is even more relevant with today's mirrorless cameras as with BBF you can keep your camera awake longer by half-pressing shutter release and waiting for the right moment without your focus being interrupted. This way you have better battery life on demand as you can have your camera go into standby more often when not in use and awake longer when needed. Or not having the camera rack focus every time you wake it up right before bringing it up to your eye and chances are that your previous focal distance was close enough to prevent too much racking when using BBF. I was burning through batteries holding back the standby timer by 5 minutes because of how annoyingly long the wake up speed is on a Z6II compared to a DSLR. Now if there is something interesting then I just hold my camera half-pressed and ready.

[@EYExplore]

Good tip about keeping the camera wake!

[@samsalueng]

Hello Lukasz,,, Your videos have become adictive, so much so that I went and bought a Nikon D300 with a 35 mm F1.8 lens. I then set it up the way I have learned from you,, from using the night and day setting between using aperture protity and manual. Also using the 3D tracking. My first out and about with it today and its fantastic. I could concentrate on what I wanted from the shot with only having to decide on the FStop. Thank you very much for the advice which has got me started. My last camera was a Canon new F1,, which I sold in 1996. So this is the start of a new adventure.

[@EYExplore]

Oh that's great combo! It's what I started with!! Welcome back to photography! :)

[@theslowwalkers]

Thanks for the great tutorial on your settings. It was so useful.

[@EYExplore]

Glad to hear that! Thanks for watching! :)

[@AllenandAndy]

Literally learned all my camera settings from you

[@EYExplore]

Hehe, that's great!! :)

[@peter_sack]

Excellent Tipps ! Thank you

[@EYExplore]

My pleasure! :)

[@SamirMishra6174]

The second tip has been very helpful for me. Thanks Lukaz

[@EYExplore]

Glad to hear that! :)

[@nancyk9475]

Great videos! Glad I found your videos. Im thinking about picking up a d4. I’m a d750 shooter. What’s your favorite, most used lens? Thank you

[@EYExplore]

I'm sure you can get a great deal on a D4 these days! My favorite lens is either a Voigtlander 40mm f/2 or Nikon 28mm 1/4E. I love primes! :)

[@ofthewayministries]

Thanks for the great advice regarding the min-ISO, which has resolved some of the hurdles I faced when facing fast-changing scenarios and accidentally missing exposure. I am extremely interesting in knowing the benefits of back-button focusing, and I know there are a ton of videos about this out there. Other than the freedom of recomposition and flexibility of having an isolated shutter release button, what are some other reasons why you like BBF over the standard half-press method? And how does BBF benefit street photography more than the standard method? In your experience, why does BBF provide better results in street photography? Thank you for your time and expertise and care to share your passion with us.

[@EYExplore]

All of these are excellent questions! Basically, to me, separating the action of focusing and shooting is very useful. Sometimes, I want to shoot without focusing, so it gives me the freedom for that. For example, if you focus and recompose, you have to keep the button half-pressed. If you let go by accident, then you have to go back, focus again, then recompose again. With BBF you don't have to do this. You can focus once. Let go of the focusing button, then recompose all you want without having to focus again. This becomes even more important when using continuous focus modes or any kind of tracking mode (which I always use as well). I will do a video all about autofocus and street photography very soon!

[@ofthewayministries]

@@EYExplore So with BBF, you have the freedom to simply use the shutter button as you wish, whenever you wish, correct? Do you still use burst modes with BBF, or do you rely more so on movement anticipation/predictions, and try to capture the right moment? I would love to see a video dealing with autofocus and street photography! That would be wonderful!

[@EYExplore]

@@ofthewayministries that's exactly right! Regarding burst modes, I rarely use them in street photography. As you say, I rely more on timing. We'll shoot this video soon!!

[@marka.200]

These are excellent tips, I found out about them recently and they've completely changed my results. Much more consistent and predictable. Now I am looking for the best settings for some of the other Nikon DSLR parameters such as "Set Picture Control" - Standard or Neutral? I've been using Neutral with all sliders at zero lately but would love to know what you prefer for best results (i.e. minimum fuss in post). Thanks!

[@EYExplore]

Thanks!! I use Neutral with the default sliders all the time, but I shoot in raw so I can always change it later anyway.

[@howardprince8996]

I like the idea … I would have thought you would went into how to set that up in more detail

[@EYExplore]

Yeah, it's an old video so it's not perfect. But what else would you like to know about these two settings?

[@paulf1767]

Could you explain a little more about the iso/ shutter speed situation please. I don’t fully understand how it works. Is it if the camera sets iso at the limit I.e. 3200 the shutter speed won’t fall below the minimum I.e 1/250 etc or the other way around? My camera has the facility to set them but I can’t figure out how it works. Thanks

[@EYExplore]

I explain this stuff in more detail here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGGrpYZ6jtiZjtE But to answer your question, the max ISO is a hard limit, the camera will never exceed it. But the min shutter speed is a soft limit. If the scene is too dark, and the ISO is already maxed out, then the shutter speed will go below the set minimum.

[@deane9050]

Thank you great tips, do you normally shoot in aperture priority and if you wanted to shoot a bit of action movement would you go to shutter speed priority, i am new to street just interested what your thought process would be, Thanks Jeff

[@EYExplore]

Thank you! I normally shoot in aperture priority. By setting my minimum shutter speed to 1/250 I can shoot most action effectively. If I need a faster shutter, then I switch over to manual. I never use shutter priority because I don't want to give control of the aperture to the camera. The aperture affects DOF which has a huge impact on the photo and so I always want to be in control if it.

[@deane9050]

@@EYExplore Thank you thats a great tip, i have just took possession of a D3 and what a lovely bit of kit, it just needs a photographer now lol

[@EYExplore]

@@deane9050 it's such a great camera! I used one for years! :)

[@deane9050]

EYExplore great images straight out of camera.

[@Sufibooks]

I tried back button focus several times over the years but kept gravitating back to focus and recompose. Its just is more natural for me.

[@EYExplore]

Yeah it seems to be not for everyone. In the end, whatever works!

[@nickfanzo]

I set up my d4 and d850 the same

[@EYExplore]

Awesome!! :)

[@edvenuto9614]

I bought the d3 on.ebay I.lovs it

[@EYExplore]

Awesome!! I'm sure it was a great deal. They have become really affordable but are still great cameras.

[@kirk0831]

Wow D5 for street photography?

[@EYExplore]

It's a D4, but I've used a D5 before as well. I would to be able to afford a D6. That's an amazing camera! I have tons of videos on our channel use my D4 for street. It is a myth that you need a smaller camera. :)

[@kirk0831]

@@EYExplore Yep, D4 is no doubt a legend, still a beast in 2021. I am more curious about why you choose a "BIG" camera for street photography. In your experience, do you feel you get more "attention" compared to using just smaller cameras?

[@EYExplore]

@@kirk0831 The size of the camera has zero influence on my camera choice other than weight. I use the D4 because it performs amazingly in low light and has great AF. It's also super reliable, tough, weather sealed, and has great battery life. It's also very ergonomic. In contrast, I also use a Ricoh GR II/III which is great because although I sacrifice some of the above, it's light and pocket-able and therefore good on days when I just want a camera with me but may not be shooting the whole time.

[@Mark_James_Hill]

Is it AF/AE or just AF or is this in Manual?

[@EYExplore]

What do you mean? Regarding back button focus? It works in all AF modes.

[@NymPymplee]

"Neekoun", not "Naikan"

[@EYExplore]

I say it a bunch of different ways. I tend to say it the Japanese way when talking to my friends ("nee-kohn") but when explaining things to English-speakers I usually say it the American way ("Nai-kon"). When I worked on a project with Nikon Europe they asked me to say it the British way ('Nik-on"). So It depends on context or who I'm talking to. :)

[@edvenuto9614]

Nikon