This is a great question and with the options on today’s mirrorless bodies, it can be confusing on which is right for you. The purpose of this blog post is to share with you what works best for me in my style of photography. By no means is this all there is. I wanted to share what I have found in my experience and what works best for me.

Here are all the AF-Area modes on my Nikon Z9 and Z8. Other manufacturers may use different nomenclature, but have similar modes:

• Pinpoint
• Single Point AF
• Dynamic Area AF
• Wide Area AF
• 3D Tracking AF
• Auto Area AF

With all those modes at your fingertips. lets try to put this is layman’s terms as simply as we can to help you make a informed choice/

Pinpoint

Gives you a very small focus point. It only works in AF-S, meaning the camera cannot track subjects. Once it locks focus on something, autofocus becomes inactive until you take your finger off the shutter (or AF-ON button, if you use Back Button Focus).

Single Point

The standard one focus point you can move around the screen. Slightly larger than the pinpoint. I like to be able to put the focus exactly where I want on my subject, almost treating the focus point as the subject itself. This is my default AF-area Mode, and one of two essential modes I tend to use for the majority of my shots. 

Dynamic Area AF

These modes use a main focus point, of which you can set the size to small, medium or large. This will give you a central focus point, surrounded by an ever larger expanding set of focus points, depending on the S/M/L option. Although in the viewfinder you will only ever see 8 dots surrounding the central focus point, the medium and large options include more and more AF points spreading out from the center

Wide Area AF

Wide-area gives you a small or large focus box to move around the screen. Wide-area Small is generally what I use for birds in flight. It gives me a larger focus area to cover my subject than Single Point. I do sometimes switch between Small and Large, depending on the situation.  With the above in mind, I find Wide-area very helpful for moving subjects. Especially birds in flight. Being able to select a target area that is larger than the one offered by Single Point but more controlled than 3D-tracking or Auto Area, helps keep detection to a confined area. This allows you to be slightly less accurate with focus point placement for erratic subjects. 

3D Tracking AF

This will give you a small focus point to put on your target. Once autofocus is engaged, the camera will track that target. This is an essential AF-area Mode. So, once you place that white box on something you want to track, and engage the autofocus system, that box goes green. It will then stick to the target, no matter where it goes in the frame.  3D-tracking’s focus point is white, rather than red, in its default state. When you activate autofocus, that white box turns green to indicate, as with all other AF-area Modes, that it is now actively tracking. With 3D though, it does not just track the distance of the subject, but also the vertical and horizontal movement. 

Auto Area AF

The camera will, generally, focus on whatever is closest to it. Or, an animal if it sees one. It means the camera will look across almost the entire frame for wildlife. However as we have no focus point to move and assist target selection, as we do with 3D-tracking, it can be unpredictable in some scenarios. 

Any of these focus modes can be used across many different genres, but each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Single point, wide area small and large along with 3D at times are what I predominantly utilize the majority of the time. These seem to suit my genres and style of photography. The best way to learn is to try them and see which AF mode best suits you.