40D shooting without shutter release cable

If I am taking a landscape shot on a tripod with my 40D, is there anyway I can

focus on a specific spot, recompose, then fire the shutter without it

refocussing? I do not have a shutter release cable and wanted to use the self

timer to avoid camera shake. Is there a way to focus using one button then fire

the shutter using a different button without that button activating AF? How do

you guys do it? Many thanks.

Manual focus (I hope you ARE familar with that concept...) As an added bonus you won't need to "recompose" anything. Throw in manual exposure control and you might be pleasantly surprised by the increase in the technical quality of your pics.

Auto focus then shut off the AF. Just don't touch the manual focus ring!

I use my back button (*) to focus -- so once you left off the button, you can recompose all you want -- the shutter button won't affect a thing.

Don't forget to enable mirror lockup (will take two shutter presses, then).

MLU... just use the 2 second countdown timer. hold down halfway for focus, recompose (without letting off the trigger) then press it the rest of the way... wallah.

For sure look into David Hoffmann's suggestion: transferring autofocus activation to the * button (round the back, under your right thumb) is a much more flexible setup for acquiring focus. It's setting #1 in custom function #4.

OP is talking of a 40D - so it has a dedicated AF ON button, and the function of this and the shutter release are controlled by CF IV 1. Focus cannot be transferred to the * button, which exclusively is for AE or FE lock. Does anybody read a manual, or even ever use the camera they advise on?

I second mark's suggestion. I forgot about that little button... it's rather handy, and you can set up a custom spot on the function wheel specifically with those custom functions changed.

>> Focus cannot be transferred to the * button

 

So, you say that a feature that is on the 10D, 20D and 30D is now not available for the 40D? Doubtful.

> Focus cannot be transferred to the * button

 

Sure can, C.Fn IV-2 = 1: "The functions of the <AF-ON> and <*> buttons will be switched with each others function", p. 161:

 

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Owners-Manuals/Canon-EOS-40D-Manual.pdf

I like the setting C.Fn IV-1 = 3. The AF function is then only triggered by the 'AF-ON' button, not by the shutter release button. In fact, if you have mounted a flash (or activated the on-camera flash), then the *-button activates FEL (flash exposure lock), the 'AF-ON'-button activates AF, and pressing the release button half way activates AEL (auto exposure lock). So, you have independent control of the three automatic metering systems on you camera, allowing you to meter off flash exposure of one spot, ambient exposure of another spot, and focus on a third spot. Control freaks like me like that sort of control ...