EOS R10: Back Button AutoFocus Settings

[Cantrell]

All,

I took Trevor's suggestion and watched the Canon video on back button autofocus several times. I then set up my Back Button for AutoFocus. Is the metering being done by the back button focus? After I made the change from shutter to back button for focus in the Customize Buttons line there is a blue star * to the right. Is that correct? I have my Af Operation set to SERVO and AF Area to Whole Area. Are these settings correct? Thank you for any and all comments. 

Reese

[stevet1]

Reese,

I forget now what kind of camera you have, but if you look through the viewfinder and half=press your shutter button, do you see your setting appear? Then the metering is still tied to your shutter button.

Conversely, if you press your back button focus, does it do anything other than focus?

I personally use single point rather than whole area. With whole area, your camera might focus on something other than what you are trying to take a picture of, or focus on something closer than what you want like a branch that's in front of a bird..

Steve Thomas

[Cantrell]

Stevet1,

Thank you for your response. I have the R10. When I look through the view finder and press the shutter button half way all I see is the ES symbol for Electric Shutter. When I look through the view finder and press the AF button I see the blue box. Guess I did correctly. Is the metering being done by the AF button? 

Reese

[stevet1]

Reese,

I apologize. I didn't read the title of your thread, before I jumped in and started offering you my uninformed advice.

I don't own a mirrorless, and don't exactly know how they behave.

If you hold your camera up and half-press your shutter, do your settings appear on the LCD screen? If they do, your metering is probably still controlled by your shutter. If they don't, try your little asterisk button.

If neither of these work, maybe someone who owns an R10 can help.

I think though, that you have successfully re-assigned your focusing.

Steve Thomas

[Cantrell]

Stevet1,

Again thank you for responding to my questions.

Reese

[Tronhard]

Hi 

To clarify. Focus and metering are two separate option. I have single point metering set up and lock/unlock it with the* button.  

I am on a train right now butwhen I get home I shall expand!

[Mer-Mer]

This is probably already addressed, and I’ve missed it. I’m very amateur. Is there a way to use the joystick for setting where I’d like the single point focus to be in each shot? Thank you. 

[Tronhard]

You can, but using the joystick is much, much slower than having the centre point focus set.  You can very quickly place the centre focus point on the point, tap the AF-ON then move the whole camera to recompose. It takes multiple presses of the joystick or a continuous press (which can easily wander from the precise location) to get the joystick to the focus point if it is not in the centre.   That is why the Canon video and I both suggest using the centre focus point locked.

[Tronhard]

OK, I am back... I even have chocolate! 😋

Setting up autofocus with Back Button Focus is a different process and function from setting up single-point metering.  There are some setups on some cameras that have an option to have the exposure point be the same as the focus point, but to me that makes no sense as there is no logical reason why the focus point should have the desired 18% reflectance that the camera's metering is seeking.

FOCUS: If you have watched the video from Canon on setting up Single Point BBF, then you have that set up.  You can also turn on face/eye tracking as well and if the camera can't find the face/eye itself, this will point the system to it and it should be able to track thereafter.   

BTW the SET or Joystick buttons can be set up so that if you Press them (not Hold) they will centre the face/eye detect or focus point if it wanders.  The two systems can work independently of each other or in sync - depends on the camera and configuration.

EXPOSURE:
If you look at the back of the R10 body, you will see the two buttons that I have pointed to in Red in the following diagram:

The first step to use the Select Focus Point button to set up single point centre focus - press that button and use the left/right arrows, or wheel if it is available, in the rear control area of the back to select the single centre point.  Press Set to save that.

The * button should already be assigned by default to AE lock, so to proceed I do the following:

Photographic Procedure:

I point the centre of the display at the point that I consider to be mid-reflectance and press, or tap if you will (as opposed to hold) the * button.  There should now appear on the bottom right of your viewfinder/LCD  a * to indicate the  exposure is locked - which I think you were puzzled about.  You can see if you move the centre point around the number for exposure should remain unchanged.   If you need to do the metering on another point, press the * again.

Now, find the point of focus of the subject - so for an animal or human that would be an eye. I then TAP the AF-ON button if the subject is stationery, otherwise I can hold and it will track (assuming servo focus is turned on).  If you are using face/eye tracking, it may already find that, but if not tapping AF-ON should set it to the centre point where the subject's eye is.

Now recompose and press (tap) the shutter to take the photo if you have set up a multiple frame rate setting for shooting, holding it down will cause it to take a burst of images.

I hope that make sense.

[Cantrell]

Trevor,

Thank you for your responses to my questions. The information is very helpful.

Reese