Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Review: 7. Operation & Controls: Digital Photography Review

Exposure / Focus / Metering / Drive modes (cont.)

Auto Focus modes

Mode

Description

One
Shot

One Shot AF

In this mode a half-press of the shutter release activates AF and locks onto a single focus distance. The focus confirmation light (a dot on the viewfinder status bar) will be lit once a focus is achieved or blink of it can not be. You can, if you wish, recompose the shot while 'holding' the focus distance by keeping the shutter release half-pressed.

AI
Servo

AI Servo AF

In this mode the camera constantly refocuses on a moving subject. If the subject is moving at a constant rate towards or away from the camera the focus system will 'predict' the new focus distance. This is especially successful when AF point selection is set to auto (the camera can use all 45 focus points to track a moving subject). In this mode the focus confirmation light only indicates if focus can not be achieved (it blinks).

	•16 of the custom functions in section III of the custom function menu define the precise behavior of the AF Servo system.

Metering modes

Mode	Description
	Evaluative This metering mode is suitable for general shots and even those which are backlit. It uses the 21 metering zones in conjunction with the current AF point to calculate the optimum exposure.
	Partial Partial metering is more effective for strongly backlit subjects, metering is weighted at the center of the frame covering 8.5% of the viewfinder area.
	Spot Spot metering is useful for metering very precisely a single subject or area within a scene. The metering is weighted at the center of the frame covering 2.4% of the viewfinder area. With AF points limited to 11 or 9 (custom function 13 is 1 or 3) the metered spot will follow the AF point.
	Center-weighted Average In this mode the entire frame is metered but more emphasis (weight) is placed on the center portion of the frame.

	• C.Fn I-10 allows you to disable any of the metering modes.

Drive modes

The headline figure for the 1D Mark IV is clearly its 10 frames per second shooting speed. All told, that generates around 280MB of data per second, which makes the whole thing that bit more impressive.

Mode	Description
S	Single frame Silent Shooting The shutter and mirror noise are reduced in Silent Shooting mode. The mirror return after the shutter is fired is delayed until the shutter button is released.
	Single frame A single shot is taken for a full press of the shutter release.
	Continuous *1 Press and hold the shutter release and the camera shoots until the buffer is full. As soon as there is space in the buffer (images have been written out to the CF card) the next shot will be taken. There are two continuous modes (Cont-H and Cont-L).
	Self-timer 10-sec delay Camera pauses 10 seconds before taking shot. Countdown is displayed on the top LCD.
	Self-timer 2-sec delay Camera pauses 2 seconds before taking shot. Countdown is displayed on the top LCD.

*1	• C.Fn III-18 allows you to reprogram continuous H mode from 10-2 fps (1-9 fps in 'L' mode). • C.Fn III-19 allows you to limit the number of shots in continuous shooting mode.

Top of camera controls (right)

There's no significant change on the right side of the camera, it's pretty much business as normal here.

Right side of camera controls

Button / combination	Operation
	Acquires a flash exposure lock, attached flash will pre-flash and meter for the correct flash output. Also used in Multi-spot metering mode to select a meter point, and can be assigned to initiate video filming.
	Illuminates top or rear LCD status panels with blue LEDs for six seconds.
	Select exposure compensation: • +/-3 EV in 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV steps *1
	ISO sensitivity * • L (50) (enabled via C.Fn I-3) • 100 • 200 • 400 • 800 • 1600 • 3200 • 6400 • 12,800 • H 1,2 and 3 (equivalent to 25,600, 51,200 and 102,400 enabled via C.Fn I-3)
	AE / FE Lock Press to trigger automatic exposure and lock the exposure for the next shot. Hold the button to lock the exposure for more than one shot.
	AF point selection button Press to choose a single AF point, turn the main dial or the quick control dial to scroll around the available AF points. Alternatively you can also use the new multi-controller to select a point directly (press the selector for the center point). The exact function of this button can be programmed via C.Fn III-3.

*1	• Exposure compensation steps can be set to 1/3 or 1/2 EV via C.Fn I-1.
	• C.Fn IV-3 allows you to switch the functions of the AF point selection, Exposure Compensation and ISO buttons when you reassign the Quick Control dial when the metering is active.
	• C.Fn IV-1 allows you reprogram the function of the shutter release and AF

< Previous | Next >