I can’t argue since I can’t provide the source.
EDIT : but I think it was no silly to aim this audience.
We agree on that.
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That previously rather overlooked trait might give chickens the reputation boost they deserve
One of the nice features of my Pentax KP — I can choose whether to remember or forget quite a lot of the settings over a power off/on. One of the principal ones I have it forget is the drive mode. There is nothing worse than aiming my camera at a fast moving aircraft or bird, pressing the shutter, then … beep… beep… beep… and two seconds later, the subject goodness knows where, as the mirror is up, the shutter fires. If it was recording audio, it would only ever catch swear words.
Gosh - I just got bit. Cameras all packed away, woke up as the sky was just lighting up, noticed a beautiful scene, grabbed the D3 and a random lens, focused (camera beeped), and captured image. Raised camera a bit, to get in the whole cloud, and camera did nothing - no beep, no shutter actuation. Set lens to cover more of the scene, pressed back-button focus which beeped, and got my photo - but it needs cropping to be what I wanted.
Half an hour later I figured this out:
The silly camera was trying to prevent me from taking a photo when it didn’t think something/anything was in focus. Setting the switch to (M) told the camera to take the photo anyway.
Reminds me of what you just wrote.
When I’m more awake, I’ll investigate more, but for me, I’d rather have the camera take the photo anyway. Testing this, there is an in-focus indicator in the viewfinder. If I did anything such that this indicator wasn’t showing “focus”, the camera ignored me and did not fire. Perhaps I knew this 16 year ago, I dunno.
I wish I had a control on my cameras that could either remember any custom settings, or go back to a “standard default setting” each time. I need to check on this - maybe Nikons also have such a control. I prefer what you have on your Pentax KP.
I have no problem managing my exposure settings. I have dials for all of them and they’re displayed in the viewfinder. I change my exposure settings and exposure compensation continually, just like changing focus. I thought everybody did, to be honest.
As for continuous vs single shot autofocus, I already explained that: I use back button autofocus. The shutter release doesn’t activate or change autofocus, the back button does. As long as I hold the button down, the camera continuously autofocuses. As soon as I release the button, autofocus stops. This way, the camera focuses both ways; either keep the button held down as I shoot, or release the button and recompose my shot.
The “states” or “modes” that I’m concerned about are more like features buried in the menus, such as HDR photography or the AF settings. With the dual back button autofocus setup I use, the only AF modification I need to make with my camera is whether to detect human or animal faces… but that’s specific to my camera model.
I think that a lot of this stuff depends on the sort of genres you shoot. I used to shoot a lot of landscape, but now I shoot a lot more fast moving subjects.
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With my Nikon D780 and Df, the focus method you are describing can be either AF-S or AF-C. As long as AF-C is selected, things work as you describe. If AF-S is selected, the camera will focus once, stop, and not update - unless you press the button again. Using AF-C, the camera will do what I prefer, constantly check the focus until I release the back-button focus button.
Apparently my D3 uses the mechanical control to decide what to do, and the camera apparently is monitoring the focus the whole time. If the “in-focus” indicator goes off, the camera “knows” that the focus is no longer correct (unless I use the bottom setting telling the camera to ignore whether focus is correct.
Back in my rangefinder days, there was no connection. Press the shutter release and the shutter actuated, regardless of focus. Life was so simple back then! Like Joanna’s LF camera, it does whatever she tells it to do.
I made a video and showed you how it’s all set up like that. Maybe your Nikon is different, but if you stop continuous focus it becomes Single Focus.
Canon uses different terms: Servo Focus and One Shot Focus. Same as Nikon’s Continuous and Single.