Autofocus vs manual

[Apaar_]

Which would be a better option for a person who always have used his phone for pictures. Also I will be doing just photography mainly portraits( not proffessional).

 

[WRXSTIGuy]

Best advice I can give you is to try to go autofocus always unless you are using a high end Zeiss lenses that come in manual focus only. Those lenses are mainly for studio use. Another reason to use manual focus is if you are taking close up macro pictures of small objects.

 

[Solandri]

Nowadays you pretty much have to have autofocus. In the old days the focusing screen would include some aids to help you focus dead on.

https://youtu.be/rnkib7FZ8S8?t=29s

But I haven't seen those in a modern camera except high-end DSLRs. There are a few mid-range DSLRs where you can replace the focusing screen with a split prism, but then you lose the squares which tell you where the autofocus points are (autofocus still works - the focusing screen only affects what you see). Manual focus is considered kind of a last resort, with manufacturers unwilling to spend much if any money on it.

 

[bjornl]

Auto-Focus is the way to go. But if you really want to get good at portraits, you will eventually use AF to get you close and then fine-turn the focus manually.

Study LIGHT first. But you will also want to learn the basics of the 3 aspects of exposure you control with the camera (ISO/Aperture/Shutter speed).
A decent lens like a 50mm f/1.8 is inexpensive and a good place to start for portraits.