Live View Focusing 70D vs 6D MkII

[zcpoling]

I recently purchased my girlfriend a Canon 70D. The body is almost identical to my 6D MkII making her transition from an older Nikon a bit easier, as I can show her very easily how to do most things.

One big difference I've noticed is with live view focusing. On my 6D, I can touch the screen to focus on a single point and the focus is held from there. Additionally, it will not attempt to refocus unless I tap the screen again, even if the camera is moved and that point is no longer in focus. This setting is not affected by touch shutter being on or off.

On the 70D, live view tap focus will only work if continuous focus is enabled. Meaning if I tap the screen to set a point, moving the camera will then cause AF to refocus. Disabling continuous focus completely disables tap to focus in live view. 

Is there any setting combination on the 70D to make it match my 6D MkII? I have tried most combinations to no avail. I'm imaging this is just the nature of the cameras being on rather age gapped firmware revisions, but I wanted to ask you all first.

Thanks!

Zachary

[rs-eos]

While there are features that will be available across all of Canon's cameras, there will be numerous differences between models as you move up and down the price points.   Best thing to do is to check out the EOS 70 D User Manual to see if perhaps there are any custom modes you can set up to modify AF.

[Waddizzle]

Welcome to the forum!  

What is your desired behavior?  Touch the screen to focus, and then hold that focus lock?  Should it maintain a focus lock even if the camera is turned or subjects move within the cameras field of view?

The two camera bodies should have near identical behavior in Live View Mode.  This may also extend to the touch screen behavior, or it may not.  But if you can “touch focus” on the 70D, then that should be good enough for what you seem to trying to do.  Both bodies have the same AF modes, with the main difference being the number of AF points.  In other words, locking a single AF point should be identical on both bodies.

It is not clear to me what all your AF settings are.  Please provide a description or comparison of your enable AF points, AF Mode, Live View Shutter Mode, Back Button Focusing Mode, and Continuous AF.

Your descriptions are a little vague and incomplete.  For example, you say that you must “enable continuous AF” in the 70D in order for it to focus.  There are two settings in the cameras, [AI SERVO] and [CONTINUOUS AF].  

[zcpoling]

Please provide a description or comparison of your enable AF points, AF Mode, Live View Shutter Mode, Back Button Focusing Mode, and Continuous AF.
AF Points - Set to single point on both cameras.
AF Mode - One Shot on both cameras. Though on the 70D, I cannot even change from One Shot in Live View. I only have the following AF settings available to change. Face Tracking, FlexiZone - Multi, FlexiZone - Single, and AF Quick. I'm using FZ Single. AF Drive on the screen always shows One Shot is set.
Live View Shutter Mode - Tested with both enabled and disabled. The 70D's use of touch shutter is, in my opinion, being hindered by the points made before. I will try to further explain that...
Back Button Focusing Mode - AI Servo on both cameras. I am not attempting back button focusing at all while in Live View.
Continuous AF - Enabled on the 70D. I am unsure where to find this setting on my 6D MkII. 

I apologize for being vague before, but that was with intention. Please assume I am only changing settings available in Live View.

With the 70D... My observation is the only way touch focus will work on the 70D is if Continuous AF on menu tab 5 is enabled. I also have AF While Continuous AF is enabled, any combination of all other AF settings do not change the behavior of touch focusing in live view. It will use the point I select or its own face detection and constantly focus even if the camera is moved. If touch shutter is enabled, a photo is immediately taken without evaluating for focus. This is where having Continuous AF off makes touch shutter useless, as the camera will never attempt to focus on the point you tap prior to taking the photo.

Comparing it to my 6D MkII... The same general behavior is observed across all AF settings. Touch focus will set a point and focus on that area. The difference is the camera will not attempt to focus again unless I tap the screen again. If touch shutter is enabled, the camera will evaluate focus and take the photo. No AF settings change this behavior from what I can tell.

What is your desired behavior?  Touch the screen to focus, and then hold that focus lock?  Should it maintain a focus lock even if the camera is turned or subjects move within the cameras field of view?
Yes. The 70D does not do this, but my 6D does. No AF settings affect this on either camera, and I'm confident with that as if I have tried every AF combination to test this.
- Again, touch shutter is worthless on the 70D if Continuous AF is disabled. I have to ensure touch shutter is disabled before tapping a new point to focus, then reenable touch shutter, then tap again to take the photo. On my 6D, tapping the screen with touch shutter enabled will always attempt to meter, focus, and shoot. With touch shutter disabled, it will meter and focus only when tapping the screen/ tapping new points.

I'll end my rambling here and hope it makes any bit of sense. I would probably be much better at explaining this in a video.

Thanks!

[Waddizzle]

I’m still not clear on what desired behavior your want.

Having BBF enabled can affect the Touch AF behavior of the rear screen.  Touching the screen is more or less equivalent to moving the AF point and half pressing the shutter.

Because BBF removes AF functionality from the Shutter Button, having it active may cause unexpected behavior when using Touch AF on the rear screen.

[zcpoling]

I want the 70D to act exactly as my 6D does. When I tap the screen with touch shutter disabled, it should focus on the subject in that point and hold that focus until I tap the screen again. When I tap the screen with touch shutter enabled, it should focus on that point and take a photo, still leaving the focus locked for further use.

The 70D will not focus before taking a photo when using touch shutter; it will instantly take the photo whether or not the focus point is in focus on the subject. The work around being I have to disable touch shutter, click the point, let it focus, enable touch shutter, then tap to take the photo. If the desired point is already selected and the camera is stable, I can wait a few seconds for the camera to focus by itself and then take the photo, but that's assuming the camera is doing what I want. I don't like that auto focus constantly readjusts itself.

It's looking like the cameras just behave differently, with the 70D just having an odd way of focusing in live view. I disabled BBF and nothing changed with the live view focusing behavior. No amount of setting combinations have given me the desired results. 😕

I understand that this is a niche request, but I have had plenty of scenarios where only using the touch screen for taking photos is desirable and I enjoy how it works on my 6D.