Canon Focus Points... Is it just me!

[captures.in.time]

Hi there.

I have recently finally taken the plunge and moved from film to digital. I replaced my EOS 3 with a 5D so I was able to keep the same lenses as the 5D has the full frame sensor.

The one thing I do miss with my EOS 3 was the eye focusing control... I found it consistently great at performing and 99% of the time by simply looking in the viewfinder my photos where always pin sharp where I wanted them to be....

When I got the 5D, without eye focusing I initially went for the automatic multipoint let the camera do it focus point system... but constantly got poor focus results... As I wear glasses its often tricky to seewhats in or out of focus in the viewfinder... anyway... I have now moved to simply using the centre focus point... then half pressing the shutter button and recomposing to get the composition im after. I find the centre one def the best to use... and almost cant see why you would bother selecting the others when you can simply recompose with the shutter button half pressed.... Am I right to ignore the other focus points... I just find their use a bit of a faph! And I seem to be getting first class results! However... I've read that the tequnique of half pressing the shutter button then recomposing can often fail... is this true... what are other peoples views and techniques on practically using the canon focus points???

Also does anyone know why canon seem to have done away with the eye focusing on the digital cameras?

Mark

 

[StewartR]

Hi Mark and welcome to TP.

When I got the 5D, without eye focusing I initially went for the automatic multipoint let the camera do it focus point system... but constantly got poor focus results...

I'm surprised by that. I would expect that this would always lead to something in the frame being perfectly in focus.

Of course, the thing that's in focus might not be the thing that you want to be in focus, but that's a minor detail.... Seriously though, you've hit on exactly the reason to avoid automatic AF point selection in general use. There are times when it's handy - when you give your camera to someone who doesn't know how to use it, or when photographing birds in flight - but in general it's probably safe to assume that you have a better idea of what you want to be in focus than the camera does.

I have now moved to simply using the centre focus point... then half pressing the shutter button and recomposing to get the composition im after. I find the centre one def the best to use... and almost cant see why you would bother selecting the others when you can simply recompose with the shutter button half pressed.... Am I right to ignore the other focus points... I just find their use a bit of a faph! And I seem to be getting first class results! However... I've read that the tequnique of half pressing the shutter button then recomposing can often fail... is this true... what are other peoples views and techniques on practically using the canon focus points???

The issue abouit focus-recompose is explained fairly well here. It doesn't always have such as big effect as in the example given in that article, but it's a good idea to know about it. The author recommends using an off-centre AF point and not recomposing, and I think that's probably sound advice in situations where the focus is critical.

Also does anyone know why canon seem to have done away with the eye focusing on the digital cameras?

Canon have never said anything officially, to te best ofmy knowledge. The speculation I've seen suggests that:

• the viewfinders of modern crop-sensor DSLRs are too small, and the multiple focus points are too close together for the system to be able to differentiate between them accurately;
• it caused too much loss of viewfinder brightness, which is already an issue for crop-sensor DSLRs.

Of course neither of those are reasons why it shouldn't be included in the 5D or 1Ds series, but one thing Canon have said is that they wouldn't include it in a pro body until it was 100% reliable - and without being able to use crop-sensor bodies as proving grounds it's hard to see where they'll gain the experience to make it 100% reliable.

 

[captures.in.time]

Thanks

Your reply has been really useful... after reading that article I will probably keep using the centre point as very little of my photography uses narrow depth of feild... I prefer to shoot landscape and travel photography so for my use I dont think its to much of an issue.

Just to go ito the whole picking of focus points thing? What do the rest of you do generally... do allot of you let the camera decide??? Do many of you do as I do for single shots and use the centre focus point then recompose??? Or do many of you select focus points???

I just feel selecting them would take allot of getting used to and really slow down the picture taking process... not that im always in a huge rush... but I just think using the jog wheel costantly scrolling through points would be annoying to me!

Oh... and as for how I was getting poor results it was the camera focusing on the wrong things... not that it wasn't focusing on anything! Sorry for the confussion!

Hopefully some more of you will enlighten me on how you use the focus points practically!

Thankyou!

Mark

 

[Forbiddenbiker]

. ...and almost cant see why you would bother selecting the others when you can simply recompose with the shutter button half pressed.... Am I right to ignore the other focus points... I just find their use a bit of a faph! And I seem to be getting first class results! However... I've read that the tequnique of half pressing the shutter button then recomposing can often fail... is this true... what are other peoples views and techniques on practically using the canon focus points???

I imagine the focus points work in a similar way to my Nikon, so I hope this helps ...
I think the main reason to use the other focus points when the composition asks for it, is because it provides more accuracy and less chance of error when using the half button press focus lock, mainly because the pressure is so light and sensitive when using that lock that its all to easy to re-focus by mistake, say, if your grabbing lots of moments very quickly for example ... Its therefore easier and safer to move the focus point to an area that works with the composition at any one time... It is simple to use quickly and it will aid consistent results once you get used to it.

 

[Canon Bob]

Mark,

One thing I recommend is to separate the focussing action from the exposure and shutter.....especially useful for focus/recompose style shooting.
Custom Function 4 on your 5D will be currently 0 but if you set it to 1 then you can achieve focus using the AE Lock Button (*) and recompose and use the shutter button for exposure and shooting.

Give it a try....I think you'll find it works better.

Bob

 

[Chappers]

Mark

I also had a 50e canon and loved the eye control.

It does take a little time to get used to the new method of focusing. I tend to switch from central point, focus and recompose technique, to selecting a specific point ( non rapidly moving subjects,) to using the overall focus points. All dependent on subjects.

The best advise I can give is try the different approaches, and see what works best for you.

 

[captures.in.time]

So really what im doing is not that wrong... unless im doing close portrait stuff... I think i'll use the multipoint when I can but stick to using the centre point... I'll maybe use the other points for slow stuff where I have loads of time... I have not touched the custom functions yet... thats my next step... but found with my EOS 3 i didn't actually think any would benefit me... will have another look though!

M

 

[coldyn8w]

Mark,

One thing I recommend is to separate the focussing action from the exposure and shutter.....especially useful for focus/recompose style shooting.
Custom Function 4 on your 5D will be currently 0 but if you set it to 1 then you can achieve focus using the AE Lock Button (*) and recompose and use the shutter button for exposure and shooting.

Give it a try....I think you'll find it works better.

Bob

Ive been using this (*) only the last week or so and have found it very it very useful.

Here is an article on the problem with the focus/recompose method.
http://www.mhohner.de/recompose.php

You'll find the problem only exists with shorter focal lengths though as the actual change in recompose angle at long lengths is next to nothing.

 

[Anthony.Ralph]

Another vote for focussing via the (*) button. It lays nicely under your thumb and this method allows using the shutter half-press to select the area in the picture you want to use for setting exposure.

Anthony.

 

[captures.in.time]

Im trying to have a catch up over the next few months with my processing of photos... but will maybe consider giving the * option a go when I next look at my custom settings... Im back at work this week after a week off and wont have the time from now to Christmas that i'd like for my photography...

Work can really get in the way at times!

Thanks for all the comments so far... anyone any other thoughts?

Mark