Yes, that's how I work too. I want to control what the camera
focuses on. Most of the other modes are intended for
single-aim snapshooting: you frame the picture the way you
want, and the camera takes a bunch of autofocus readings (one
at each place there is a sensor) and "magically" selects which
one to use for adjuting the lens (often, the magic algorithm
is "take the closest point you found").

I was wondering if the preference for SPOT on my part is
heavily in the minority, or if other folks still prefer to
not give up the farm and go fully-auto.

I think full-auto is for people who don't want to worry about
operating the camera (e.g. you loan it to your grandmother for
a few shots), or when you expect you will not have time to do
anything else.

I *can* see selecting a single focus point that is not in the
centre, if you know you want to track a moving object but you
don't want that object to be framed in the centre of the image.

Thanks for the reply. Instead of Auto, I usually use this mode:

"P - Set the optimum aperture value and shutter speed for the
brightness of the subject."

I don't change much from the default settings, but this mode
seems to give me more options from which to choose.

My father used to have an old Pentax that had this very cool
focusing dot in the middle of the viewfinder. I'm talking some
20+ years back. It was sort of "divided" into two areas and you
set the focus with the ring until those two areas were crystal
clear. It worked incredibly well, and the light meter thing on
the side of the viewfinder showed you what your shutter speed
was, I think.

I certainly wish that the EVF in today's point and shoot type of
cameras had that focus feature.

Thanks again for your reply.

Happy Snappin'!