The focus system
AF-S versus AF-C, focus areas, subject recognition, and the three setups that cover almost everything.
- Choose between AF-S and AF-C for a given subject
- Match a focus area and recognition subject to what you are shooting
- Set up back-button focus and know the three go-to configurations
The a6700’s autofocus is the clearest place its AI hardware earns its keep. You do not need every mode — you need to understand the two decisions underneath them, and three combinations that handle almost everything.
Two questions the camera asks
Is the subject still or moving? That chooses the focus mode:
- AF-S (single) locks focus once when you half-press or hit AF-ON, then holds it. Perfect for a landscape, a still portrait, anything that stays put.
- AF-C (continuous) keeps adjusting as the subject moves. This is your default for people, animals, and anything with a pulse.
Where in the frame should it look? That chooses the focus area — from a single small point you place precisely, through zones, to Wide, which lets the camera pick using the whole frame. Paired with subject recognition, Wide is astonishingly good at finding the right thing.
Recognition does the aiming
Turn on Real-time Recognition and the AI unit hunts for a subject you nominate: human (down to the eye), animal, bird, insect, car or train, or airplane. Once it locks, Real-time Tracking follows that subject around the frame while you recompose. You stop moving a focus point and start just keeping the subject in view.
Back-button focus
By default the shutter button both focuses and fires, which fights you the moment you want to focus once and recompose. The fix is back-button focus: assign AF-ON to start focus and turn the shutter’s focus off. Now your thumb focuses and your finger only ever takes the shot. Hold AF-ON in AF-C to track; release it to lock. It feels strange for a day and indispensable forever.
The three setups that cover 95%
- Still subject — AF-S, single point, no recognition. You choose exactly what is sharp: landscapes, products, careful portraits.
- Moving person or animal — AF-C, Wide, recognition on. The camera finds and holds the eye while you frame: kids, pets, events.
- Fast and unpredictable — AF-C, Wide, recognition on, back-button held. Sports, birds in flight, anything darting.
Learn to reach these three by feel and you will almost never touch the rest.
In the field
Set up back-button focus now. Then photograph a moving subject — a pet, a person walking toward you — with setup two, keeping AF-ON held and your only job being to hold them in the frame. Notice how much attention that frees.