Struggling with focus points on the 7D

Ann McRae

My early tests with the 7D were great - it was fast to find focus and on the right subject. However, I am not so lucky ATM. I have my first soccer to shoot this Monday, and I want to be sure that I have this sorted by then.

Previously, with the 1dMkIIN and the 20D, I have set custom function IV:3

so that I focus with the * button, and exposure is set when the shutter is pressed. I am really used to achieving focus with the * button. It appears I can set this up as a custom setting on the 7D, so will try that.

I have changed to center point, I thought, but when focusing the camera still picks two or three points, and I am fighting with it to choose the one I want. For example if taking a photo of a group of leaves and berries, I cannot seem to pick the berry I want to have in focus.

So, can someone give me a lesson, please.

ann

20DNoob

I've no experience or really any knowledge of the 7D but maybe it's got expansion points as an assist on by default.

Best of luck sorting it out.

ziggy53

Ann McRae wrote:

My early tests with the 7D were great - it was fast to find focus and on the right subject. However, I am not so lucky ATM. I have my first soccer to shoot this Monday, and I want to be sure that I have this sorted by then.

Previously, with the 1dMkIIN and the 20D, I have set custom function IV:3

so that I focus with the * button, and exposure is set when the shutter is pressed. I am really used to achieving focus with the * button. It appears I can set this up as a custom setting on the 7D, so will try that.

I have changed to center point, I thought, but when focusing the camera still picks two or three points, and I am fighting with it to choose the one I want. For example if taking a photo of a group of leaves and berries, I cannot seem to pick the berry I want to have in focus.

So, can someone give me a lesson, please.

ann

Does this discussion help?

http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00UnsA

20DNoob

ziggy53 wrote:

Does this discussion help?

http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00UnsA

Oh man, that would have driven me insane. I'm just so used to pressing a button and spinning a dial to set center point.

waygard33

Here's how I understand it:

There are 3 choices (that I know of so far) for focusing.
1) Manual Select: Single point autofocus *what you're looking for.
2) Manual Select: Zone AF
3) Auto Select: 19 Point AF *The mode I think you're stuck in.
*See NOTE1 below. There are 2 other modes which by default are not selectable. Page 89 in the manual.

To look at and change the 3 zones:

*Press the AF Point Selection button - upper right corner - thumb (also the +magnifying glass image).

*With your index finger press the M-Fn button (just behind/above the shutter button). This will cycle you through the 3 modes as observed on the LCD.

*Cycle through the modes until the first choice is selected - Manual Select: Single Point Autofocus

*From here you can use the Multi-Controller (joystick) to select the specific point you want. Either press the 'Select' button or the 'Shutter' button (half-way) to finalize the selection.

That should do it. Moving from the XSi, for me it was definitely different but I really like have 3 distinct modes and once you get used to selecting the mode with the M-Fn button, you can operate/change it pretty quickly.

NOTE1: There are actually 2 other modes (5 total) which you will notice, as you cycle through the choices with the M-Fn button, that you can not select from this menu. They are discussed further starting on page 89 of the manual. They are really just other options in the Single point focus method. *20DNoob above, in his first post is referencing this single point assist mode - 1 of the 2 modes which are not by default accessible from this menu. If you have 4 available choices when pushing the M-Fn button, this may be part of your problem. The correction in this case would be to simply select the other option.

NOTE2: Then of course, there are the Autofocus Drive modes 1)Single shot, 2)AI Focus, 3)AI Servo (page 84 in the manual). I typically bounce between 2 & 3 when shooting sports, depending on whether or not I want the focus point to follow my target continuously or not. I typically set this up using the Quick Control Menu button which then lets me change the main settings quickly from that menu on the LCD

I hope this helps.

Wayne G

divamum

Potential 7d buyer wondering.... once you've selected the mode via *+mfn, will it stay in that mode, or does it default back so you have to go through that every time?

waygard33

divamum wrote:

Potential 7d buyer wondering.... once you've selected the mode via *+mfn, will it stay in that mode, or does it default back so you have to go through that every time?

When you power it on, it remains in the last setting.

Wayne G

Ann McRae

waygard33 wrote:

*Cycle through the modes until the first choice is selected - Manual Select: Single Point Autofocus

*From here you can use the Multi-Controller (joystick) to select the specific point you want. Either press the 'Select' button or the 'Shutter' button (half-way) to finalize the selection.

That should do it.

I hope this helps.

Wayne G

Thanks much, Wayne. It was the final choosing of the focus point that I had missed! Too many choices I guess for my old brain. Will give it a good work out this weekend, and certainly Monday at the game.

The rest of the information is very good - I seem to have a particular reading disability specific to Canon manuals!

ann

waygard33

Ann McRae wrote:

...I seem to have a particular reading disability specific to Canon manuals!

ann

You're welcome Ann. And I 'hear' you on the Canon manuals. Not much help. I spent about an hour yesterday playing with the wireless flash setup and tearing through both the camera manual and the Canon Flash manual. What a disaster that was. My head is still spinning and I'm now blind in 1 eye.

I was in the book store just last Thursday, looking for a 3rd party manual on the 7D...nothing yet.

Good luck on your soccer game.

Wayne G

colourbox

Ann McRae wrote:

I seem to have a particular reading disability specific to Canon manuals!

No, it's not your fault. Even as rich and market-savvy as Canon is, all their manuals I've seen are still written as if translated straight from the Japanese. Even my best-of-class Panasonic LX-3 has a barely comprehensible manual, and a progress message for a firmware upload that says "Version up on Going"

Cuong

So how did the 7D perform at the soccer shoot last Monday?

Cuong

Airedrifter

This helped me a lot.
http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=3049&productID=329&articleTypeID=5