R8 Changing Focus Control Settings Quickly

[garymak1]

I am looking for advice from R8 users only.

I am considering buying an R8 as a travel backup & 2nd camera to my main R5.  (For studio work I use the R5 and 5Diii.) I took the R8 out for a spin to compare image IQ and overall handling with my other cameras, including my R5.  Overall, I had a good impression, and it was reasonably easy to guess most of the control function locations based on general Canon organization logic.  And of course I'll figure out differences and specifics if I buy one.  

However, I was confounded by the lack of joystick (such as I'm used to on the R5, 5D) to quickly change the focal points, (AF Point Selection) e.g., spot, extended, etc., as usually on the R5 & 5D, pushing the AF Point Selection button, and then turning the Main Dial allows you to quickly change modes, and then using the joystick, quickly move the AF Point position.  The R8 doesn't seem to have that function with the AF Point Selection button and without a joystick, while shooting and looking through the viewfinder, I couldn't figure out how to move the focal point.  

So, that's my question: on the R8, while shooting, how do you quickly change from AF Point setting to another, and then move the AF focal point from one position to another in the viewfinder screen?

Thanks!

[garymak1]

I didn't provide the entire background requirements on my decision originally as it was irrelevant to the question about quickly changing the focal point settings, but just to fill in the narrative quickly...

I was wanting to replace my amazing/outstanding/still great GX-1iii, and thinking about a lightweight, compact full frame camera, which there are only 2, and really expensive, and surprisingly, missing a few key features.  Then I was trying to find a large-format APS-C like the GX-1iii which there really aren't any, and then I wandered around various manufacturer's offerings, only to find that they all lacked significantly important/deal breaking features.  At that point, the sales pro at our local camera store (shout out to Glazer's in Seattle!) suggested the R8, as being full-frame, but compact and lightweight, and of course, having virtually all the features I was looking for in a G1-Xiii replacement, plus some, and as part of the Canon ecosystem, compatible with all my lenses, GPS, etc.  So, I took it for a spin, was impressed with the results.  It meets all my deal-breaking criteria for a 2nd/travel camera. I was just confounded by the lack of joystick and how to change focus settings quickly, which brings us back to this discussion board! I could probably start another track berating Canon for abandoning a very well-regarded, high-performing, popular compact camera line in favor of developing defeatured v-blogging cameras for TicTok teen "influencers" - but I'd be digressing...😉 (But see previous comments on Ansel Adams for a hint of the possible digression...🤣)

Anyway, that's the story on why the R8.  Just wanted to nail a few troubling details down about its functionality before making my final decision (which, at this point, is probably a "go.") Thanks to all who contributed to this process!

[SignifDigits]

Hope you enjoy it!  I took mine to Iceland with a few small primes and it fit the bill for travel.  I would take the 16mm and the 24-105 STM (don't recall really needing the reach of a 24-240 so I'd probably save the weight and space - our 9-day tour all had to fit into one suitcase and a satchel) as my travel kit if I had that decision to do over again.

[garymak1]

Interestingly enough, I was in Iceland/Greenland last year as well and brought my usual gear: R5, 24-105 ƒ4L, 100-500 L, 16mm and 28mm pancakes and 430 EXIII RT, plus tripod and monopod and G1-Xiii. Didn't really use the 28mm but brought it for night photography if it presented itself (and as virtually every night was cloudy, so no, I didn't.)

This discussion may be getting afield of the topic, but on the subject of the 24-240, I also have that lens, purchased ostensibly as as travel lens, but didn't like the results, especially at the distorted 24mm and 240mm end, which in effect makes it a 28mm - 230mm lens after necessary cropping and lens distortion adjustments in Photoshop.  I also found it just wasn't as sharp as the other two lenses I use:  the 24-105ƒ4L I use 75% of the time and when you need reach, such as for the puffins at Hafnarhólmi Puffin Colony or whales at Húsavík or more puffins at Heimaey Island... there's nothing like a 500ml reach!  Yes, it's heavy, and I don't hike with it, but if I'm traveling to an area where I'm gonna need reach, I bring it.  Yeah, those pesky local regional flights can be a pain.  I often stuff my camera gear into a Domke© Photo Vest (the entire above-listed camera gear fits into my vest for boarding those foreign regional flights that have overly - #%$@!# restrictive carryon weight limits.  I simply get to my seat and empty my vest contents back into my temporarily-lightened backpack and put it in the overhead bin and we're all good.  After all, they don't weigh people getting on the plane - whose weight can vary between 100-300 pounds -  nor do they make you strip down to your underwear and weigh your clothes to board, either. So, why should I, of average height and weight, be penalized because my extra weight isn't belly fat like the 250lb guy coming in behind me?)

Domestically in the US, this is never a problem, but for Iceland-Greenland flights it was, and in Kenya for domestic flights it was. (And for places like Kenya, which is all about wildlife photography (I mean, you aren't going there for the cuisine, the wine, the ancient ruins: it's lions and leopards and elephants and mountain gorillas...and you're spending beaucoup-beaucoup bucks for all of this to go there and travel on safari with guides, but now wait!  Hold on! You can only bring an iPhone because of restrictive carryon weight rules???  Sorry, not at those prices! No can do!  Everyone is flying the same Airbus 320neos or 737s it's just the airline being a restrictive pain in the 🍑...🙄

I digress... Sorry...