AF area mode not allowing selection

Comments

• bruto

  February 2015 edited March 2015

  If you have your lens set to M, it disables all AF options in the camera and manually focuses only.
  
  Turn the lens back to A and the grayed out selections should appear again.
  
  For focusing on a specific object, a good starting point is AF-A and either dynamic area or 3D. This will give you a specific focus point, and if the subject moves it should follow the movement. For stationary subjects, choose AF-S and it will lock on and stay where you set it. For moving subjects, choose AF-C and it will not lock on but will keep focusing as things move. AF-A lets the camera decide which of those two modes it uses, is accurate most of the time, and is thus handy as a starting setting when you're not quite sure what your subject will be doing.
  
  Avoid Auto Area focusing if you want to choose your subject.
  
  Remember that for most of the kit lenses, when the lens is set to A the focus ring locks and there is no manual override. Do not force it.
  
  When the lens is set to M and you are manually focusing only, you can still move the lit focus point in the finder, and the focus confirmation light at the bottom left will still give you a fair indication of when you have focused on it. In M exposure mode only the dot applies, and the center scale reads your exposure meter. In P, S, and A modes, if you have enabled the "rangefinder" option in the menu, that center scale will be a focus indicator.
• oldD90

  January 2018

  I have a D90 and finally figured out why I was having the same problem. Some of the newer lenses that have a lock button give this same result if the lens is locked. Unlocking it will resolve this problem as long as no other issues exist.