5D AF point selection tip

Forgive me if you are one of those who read manuals carefully so

already know about this, but it seems so useful that it's hard to see

why it shouldn't be activated.

 

Custom Function 13 permits use of the 'joystick' controller (easily

accessed by the right thumb) to manually adjust the focussing point. I

find this useful for focussing on an off-centre subject close-up,

where using the 'AF lock and recompose' method can result in focussing

error.

Well, on 5D, aren't all sensors pretty much bunched up together at the center of the frame anyway? What's the point of moving AF to anything else other than the center point if they are all so close together? Pardon my ignorance, I am just not happy with Canon for not updating AF to cover more areas of the frame. They pretty much left the 20D sensor and repackaged it as "improved".

Same complaint and similar with the 1Ds, what a waste.

I use this setting on the 20D, where it works the same. I don't always find it as easy as I would like to control the AF position with the joystick (which works very well for chimping), but it's a good idea in principle. Especially if you use CF-4-1/3 you need to be careful not to press the AF button by mistake; that puts the AF into auto selection mode.

I've set that function on my 5D, and I really like it. Any focus point can be selected with a single action (and reverting to all 9 also only requires one click). Very nice.

 

And I don't find that the AF sensors are too close in the center. I'm happy with their location, which I like better than the layout of the 10D sensors.

I thought I read somewhere that the focus area of the 5D sensors is smaller on the 20D. . .which is why they added the 6 "helper" sensors for AI servo mode.

 

As for focus error: Do a google search on "focus recompose sucks". Some fellow did a nice article on this topic.

Yes, here:

 

http://visual-vacations.com/Photography/focus-recompose_sucks.htm

I use that function on my 20D all the time. It's not exactly as easy to select the focus

points as I would like, but it works better than scrolling through the focus points with the

click wheel or letting the camera make the choices IMHO. I used to use focus recompose

but tried this function on the 20D and really liked it so I'm excited that it's available on the

5D as well. 45 point autofocus would've been better but the joystick isn't so bad.

I have shifted the AF point selection to the joystick as well.

 

I do think there are not enough AF points for a full frame sensor. In fact, you are now basically limited to ONE AF point for portraits (vertical). At least, Canon could have added two more points on the longer side of the sensor.

<p>I use the joystick on my 20D, while I pine for the ECF I had on my Elan 7E and hope against hope that Canon finally sees the light and adds ECF to a future DSLR. Since the camera is typically smushed up against my face when I'm using it, the joystick is sometimes a bit awkward to operate, but it's the least inconvenient of the AF point selection options available on the 20D. If I had a 5D, I'm sure I'd use the joystick there, too.</p>