* button

<p>I was reading through my manual about using the * button for locking ae. The * indicator is not lighting up in the viewfinder. what does this mean? I dont think it is working?</p>

<p>umm,</p>

<p>what camera?</p>

<p>you may need to select that feature in the custom functions but we need to know what camera you are referring to.</p>

<p>Probably a Canon Rebel XTi. Don't know but one reason might be if you have assigned the autofocus function to the * button via CF4-1. If you have, the * button no longer functions to lock exposure. The half press of the shutter button does this, in this case.</p>

<p>Yes an XTi I didnt realize that this was posted in a different forum. I got it to work in P mode and at the time I was trying to use it in M mode.</p>

<p>Also, I have no idea how to assign the autofocus function to the * via CF4-1. I dont even know what that means.</p>

<p>Brooks--it is as I said in your other thread, which just got cut. It works in P, AV and TV, not in M mode because you don't need to lock a meter reading in M mode--your settings won't change because you set them, and if you want to change your settings, you change them--the camera won't.</p>

<p>By the way, the use of the * button to control autofocus was discussed in your previous thread. Using custom functions, you can assign autofocus to the * button, which can help if you are having focus issues. Look in your manual. There must be something about custom functions and what they do.</p>

<p>Brooke, you might want to get the "Magic Lantern" book on your camera, as it uses a more understandable ( to me anyway) prose form than the rather chopped language in the manual</p>

<p>Check your manual, page 101-106 (C.Fn-4 is on page 104). According to the manual, AE lock will only work in creative zones (i.e. Av, Tv, or P). AE lock is set to the *</p>

<p>The custom functions allow you to (among other things) assign functions to different buttons to suit your needs. You access the custom function menu by pressing the Menu button and using the right arrow button to scroll to the second "Tools" menu, scroll down to "Custom Functions" and then the "Set" button.</p>

<p>Jack,<br>

Thanks. I agree. I could read the manual all day long and still not get it. I will check out the Magic Lantern.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for your help.</p>

So does anyone ever shoot Av,Tv,or P for weddings?

<p>I'm mostly manual. AV and TV sometimes when I literally have no time to change settings in varied light. Unless you can predict your camera meter pretty well, AV, TV and P will change settings every time your scene changes, and it may or may not be what you want.</p>

<p>I have never used a Canon DSLR, but I used to have two Rebel G film bodies. On the latter, the *-button changed the metering mode from centerweighted to spot when in manual, and from matrix to spot in the other modes IIRC (well, a rather big spot on the Rebels, but that's another thing). They had no custom functions whatsoever, so I might be far off actually when talking modern cameras.</p>