I found a way to use the touch bar that I really like, so I thought I'd share it.
The way I shoot, I only use two AF modes: face detect and single point. So I disabled all the other AF options (like zone) and then assigned the touch bar to switch AF modes. Now I just swipe left to go to face detect and swipe right to go to single point. It's instantaneous, there's no guessing, and if it's in the wrong mode (e.g., I hit it by accident at some point), it's simple to swipe to what I want. So you can just leave it unlocked. You can even absent-mindedly swipe as you lift the camera to your eye, so that it's definitely in the mode you want. This actually makes the touch bar a good thing, because there's no resistance unlike a wheel or a toggle switch.
I also mapped the left tap to toggle the digital level and the right tap to toggle the AF point size, because neither of those are all that damaging to hit accidentally and are easy to undo simply by hitting it again.
So basically, I think the key to happiness with the touch bar is to use it for toggling things. Canon may have intended it as a scrolling interface, but I don't think it works all that well for that, given that it's imprecise, lacking haptic feedback, and prone to accidental activation. So in that spirit, here are some ideas for a Canon firmware update to improve the touch bar:
* Allow more toggle-oriented options, like being able to set the touch bar to toggle between just two AF modes while still allowing access to all AF modes in the main menu.
* Allow replacing the scroll action with "tap left", "swipe left", "tap right", and "swipe right" as the four supported actions instead, in effect giving us four virtual programmable buttons.
* Allow specific absolute settings , like "swipe left = set AF mode to face detect" or "swipe right = turn mirror lock on".
One other thought that came to mind: if Canon really really wants to make scroll work on the touch bar, maybe offer an option to require a "commit" instead of the delay lock. So accidentally swiping would look like you're scrolling through, say, the ISO values, but unless you then commit by tapping the touch bar within a few milliseconds, it just springs back to the current ISO. So switching the ISO would be something like swipe-swipe-swipe-tap. Notice that this also has to allow for multiple swipes to keep swiping. And to mitigate the imprecision factor, slow down the scroll and maybe even offer an audible click option so people can "count the clicks" to get to the setting they want.
The way I shoot, I only use two AF modes: face detect and single point. So I disabled all the other AF options (like zone) and then assigned the touch bar to switch AF modes. Now I just swipe left to go to face detect and swipe right to go to single point. It's instantaneous, there's no guessing, and if it's in the wrong mode (e.g., I hit it by accident at some point), it's simple to swipe to what I want. So you can just leave it unlocked. You can even absent-mindedly swipe as you lift the camera to your eye, so that it's definitely in the mode you want. This actually makes the touch bar a good thing, because there's no resistance unlike a wheel or a toggle switch.
I also mapped the left tap to toggle the digital level and the right tap to toggle the AF point size, because neither of those are all that damaging to hit accidentally and are easy to undo simply by hitting it again.
So basically, I think the key to happiness with the touch bar is to use it for toggling things. Canon may have intended it as a scrolling interface, but I don't think it works all that well for that, given that it's imprecise, lacking haptic feedback, and prone to accidental activation. So in that spirit, here are some ideas for a Canon firmware update to improve the touch bar:
* Allow more toggle-oriented options, like being able to set the touch bar to toggle between just two AF modes while still allowing access to all AF modes in the main menu.
* Allow replacing the scroll action with "tap left", "swipe left", "tap right", and "swipe right" as the four supported actions instead, in effect giving us four virtual programmable buttons.
* Allow specific absolute settings , like "swipe left = set AF mode to face detect" or "swipe right = turn mirror lock on".
One other thought that came to mind: if Canon really really wants to make scroll work on the touch bar, maybe offer an option to require a "commit" instead of the delay lock. So accidentally swiping would look like you're scrolling through, say, the ISO values, but unless you then commit by tapping the touch bar within a few milliseconds, it just springs back to the current ISO. So switching the ISO would be something like swipe-swipe-swipe-tap. Notice that this also has to allow for multiple swipes to keep swiping. And to mitigate the imprecision factor, slow down the scroll and maybe even offer an audible click option so people can "count the clicks" to get to the setting they want.
