EOS R7 - jumping blue squares clutter instead of one shot focus

[hgna]

Hello,

I have tried following various suggestions to solve this problem but without any luck:

As I press the back button to focus, the white "one shot" focus square disappears. Instead, a lot of blue squares pop up and populate the viewfinder, fixing on different items in clusters close or far off the focus point I selected.

When on Servo, the clutter is blue - when on One Shot, it is green. 

So I am unable to focus on anything. What could have gone wrong? It used to work ok.

I have tried to deactivate Servo as well as Tracking and Eye Detection and to delete all three Custom settings, in case something was interfering.

But it seems I am unable to stop the camera from searching for alternative focus objects - or what might be wrong? 

I am also unable to deactivate the tap to focus option which I don't want. Could it be a related issue?

Thanks for any help with this - it happened just days before I am going for a bird migration photo trip!

[John_Q]

Hello hgna,

In addition to the things you mentioned disabling, you may want to check to see that the [Subject to detect] is set to none. In terms of the Touch AF, you can disable that by going into the purple AF menu tab #4. Set [Touch & drag AF settings] to [Disable].

[p4pictures · Accepted solution]

Go to custom controls, check that the AF-ON button is assigned the default function Metering and AF start, then press the INFO button as the settings here can be configured to override the settings that were set on the AF menus. 

Here's the screenshot from an EOS R7 custom buttons for the AF-ON button and its configuration for Metering and AF start, but notice the INFO Detail set. in the lower left corner of the screen, that brings up another level. 

Here's the screen after you press INFO. This means that when you press and hold the AF-ON button it can override the current camera AF settings. If there is a check mark in the left column the value on the right will be used regardless of the camera current setting. I think that if you are seeing blue squares when you press the AF-ON button then you have your camera set to use SERVO after when this AF-ON button is pressed. My screen shows that my camera is configured to force ONE SHOT AF, I think you will have SERVO here.

[stevet1]

hgna,

Is it possible that you are in one of the Basic Modes instead of one of the Creative Modes (M, AV, TV, P) when this happens?

That's what happens to me if I put my camera in one of the Basic Modes (AUTO, etc)

Steve Thomas

[hgna]

Hello Brian Thanks a lot! Your answer got me on the right track. I was using the back button as custom button for AF start, while the front bottom was set to Start Metering or searching. So indeed the latter interfered and created the clutter the moment I pressed it. I wonder if it is possible to have info pop up when such conflicts between button settings occur? Anyways, it looks like eveything is working perfectly again😊