1Dx AF focal points

[itzmeagain]

I've rented the Dx for almost a year to shoot indoor sports, recently one followed me home from the store 🙂  and for the first time, am using it in studio for portraits. 

now I have a couple of questions:
- is there a way to have the focal lock dot be red, instead of black, like my older bodies do?
- how can I get it to hold one position, ie, maybe lock on a specific dot on the focal screen, and stay there when I reposition the camera, so that the focal distance/spot does not change (no I am not using AI Servo, I am on single spot single shot)
- I'm having a heck of a time getting it to say, be on the top center spot when in portrait orientation

my previous bodies have been 300D, 20D, 30D, 50D, 7D and 5D ... and they've all been similar in the focusing

any help is greatly appreciated 🙂

[diverhank]

I don't have the 1DX but I read that you can make the dot red - my 5DIII has it black which is the chief complaint.  You might want to check the manual.  Also, make sure you have the latest firmware and manual. This feature was added later.

There's a great guide booklet from Canon that will help:

http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2012/1dx_guidebook.shtml

There are several ways you can do this with your camera.  Read the manual and the booklet for details.

1. You can move the single focus point anywhere among the 61 points

2. You can pre-register a point and get there in one button push

3. You can use the AF-On button to focus and disable the shutter focus function.  This way you can recompose after focusing all you want before taking the shot.

The 1DX (and 5D3) allows you to have separate focus points for landscape and portrait orientation.  Make sure you activate that option and program them differently.

[TCampbell]

I have a 5D III and not a 1D X -- but the focus systems are nearly identical.

On the 5D III there's a menu option for "VF display illumination" - set to "auto" by default, but you can set it to "on".  This will cause everything in the display to momentarily show in "red" (instead of black).   It's only momentary though... then it flipts to black.    The default for this (auto) only lights up red in low light -- and remains black in higher light levels.

Also check the value of "AF point display during focus".  In some modes it isn't clear which AF point(s) were selected.  I use the "Selected (constant)" value for this setting -- which makes it pretty clear exactly which points it used.

In "One Shot" mode you can always lock focus and recompose.  

You can do this in "AI Servo" mode if you configure the camera to use back-button focus instead of shutter-button focus (e.g. press the back button to focus, release and the lens stays wherever it was last focused, and recompose to shoot.).  In this configuration pressing the shutter half-way will not activate AF -- only pressing the back-button will trigger AF.

[itzmeagain]

ty 🙂 it was the VF display that was the trick 🙂
I've been going thru the manual trying to find what I needed LOL
you'd think shooting with this cam for a year , I'd know my way around it by now LOL

THANK YOU