1D Mark IV Autofocus

<p>I wonder if a Mark IV auto focus guru could please offer me some help? I've owned a Mark IV for the last 2 years and have since upgraded to a 1Dx. I put my great camera up for sale on ebay and it sold pretty quickly. It arrived at the new owner last night and I was instantly contacted telling me my camera is not working. The new owner was expecting to see all 45 points of focus when she looked through the viewfinder.<br /><br />I am unable to have a discussion with her about this because I know very little about the auto focus function of that camera. With it not in my hand along side the manual, I'm lost even trying to remember. I shot manual prime Zeiss's most of the time and when I did use auto focus it was in a manual area selection mode. The new buyer is not pleased but I'm convinced there is nothing wrong with the camera. I sent her a video on the AF system in the camera and she responded that in the video there are shots of all 45 focus point in the viewfinder. I re-watched the video this morning and my understanding is that those were used in the video purely as illustration to show how the red selection area moves? Is there a AF mode/CF that will allow you to see all 45 focus points at the same time in the viewfinder while shooting?<br /><br />Here is the last email I received this morning explaining the problem with my camera.<br /><br />"Went through the manual and watched a few videos, including the one you sent, last night. Simply speaking, is there no way on this camera too look through the viewfinder and see all focus points on at once and choose from there? I can't make that happen. Is it even an option. In the videos 45 focus points show up to choose from. I shoot birds and need to have precise point over an eye after I meter. It seems to me that with all functions set to default it would go there."<br /><br />Any help, please?</p>

<p>Try directing her to the first paragraph of this page of dpreview. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos1dmarkIV/4 <br /> I've don't own the camera but it says here that they don't light up unless selected, so it seems like normal behaviour. I do use a 1D mark III on occasion and it acts in a similar way, if they all lit up all the time it would be quite distracting.</p>

<p>45, 19, 11 or 9 AF points are USER SELECTABLE (CF III-10) but at no time all 45 AF points can be VISIBLE/ACTIVE at the same time. The CF III-12 provides an auto AF point selection option and the AF point/area can be expanded with CF III-8, but no camera will automagically focus on the bird's eye in auto AF point select mode (perhaps by accident, but not as a rule.) Additionally, the camera's AF points behave differently in single shot and Servo modes. One of the best settings for a beginner for Servo AF is auto AF point selection, acquire focus with the center point and let the camera track... It is all explained very well in the manual and in the following Canon publication (available on the WEB): Canon 1D Mk IV AI Servo AF Custom Function & ISO Speed Settings Guide.<br>

One caveat: regardless of the quality of explanation in the manual, Canon 1D IV is one of the most complex cameras in terms of settings and use for high speed, high precision focus so only long experience can assure good results.</p>

<p>Thanks guys, much appreciate the confirmation. I didn't want to speak from a point of authority when I did not completely know the whole AF system. Although my wife tells me I do that all the time:)</p>

You are correct in your thoughts , the 45 focal points will not all light up at once ,maybe in a demo form ,as it would be per a

advertisement of product ,but ,with all the possible focal points ,only certain ones will turn red ,and that object is then the main focal point

of the camera ,most of the time i rarely see more than seven or so at one time light up, of course depending on the settings of the

camera that will change, in different enviroments. ,but basically its like this. There is no way the camera can have evey single focal point

light up at once as there could never be a way to get the camera to give its best photo,the only way that you will see the whole

group of lights come on at once is when you are changing the setting ,like to center weight focus and etc, at least that is how i understand

any of the cameras im using.if someone else knows different ,id be interested in knowing how to do so.

<p>It doesn't appear to me that the buyer of the camera is asking for all focus points to be lit up at the same time, she's wanting all the individual points to display at the same time through the viewfinder so she can move to and activate the focus point she wants based on the composition. That's the way my 5D Mark III focusing system works with 61 points. When you push the button on the top right back of the camera, all 61 AF points appear in the viewfinder with the one selected in red (when you're using individual focus points, not a group of points). Then you use another button, which the user can choose and set up from some alternatives, to move around and select the desired AF point. That point then turns red as the active AF point. To move the AF point back to the default center position, I hit the top right button on the back and press the little toggle button (just below and to the right of the Live View button on the back of the 5D III). That's the same button I use to move the AF point around by pressing on its edges to move around the screen.</p>

<p>I am not familiar with the autofocus system on the 1D IV but would guess it works in s similar manner and think the odds of the autofocus system not working on a camera that is otherwise operable would be very low. Frankly, the buyer of the camera should be the one to figure it out, but if she doesn't you're probably going to get the camera back, so if I were you I'd try to figure it out for her. You should be able to find a copy of the user manual in PDF form online and you can search a PDF using keywords, or probably even better and faster, if you search YouTube there is a good chance there will be a demonstration of somebody using the AF system on that camera.</p>

<p>You can't see all 45 points at once. The most you can see is 20 (the ring of fire). You can manually scroll though all 45 points using the joystick or the combination of both dials. Tell her to read page 98 of the owners manual for selection procedure. If she's concerned about operation of all 45 points, have her simply take 45 shots selecting a different AF point for each shot. Then simply view each shot on the display (the selected AF point shows up in red). I'm not sure but there may be a custom feature that turns the viewable AF point on/off but I have mine set to show on the display. The AF point can also be viewed in DPP too.</p>