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EOS R Lock focus point to center or disable touch?

Started Mar 12, 2019 | Discussions
ChrisNord New Member • Posts: 2
EOS R Lock focus point to center or disable touch?

Are there any way do disable the touch screen to lock the focus to the center of the screen? I have problems with the focus point is all over the screen and moves when my nose touch the screen. Or if I touch it accidentally. And I think it is a slow process to move the focus with my fingers when I am in a fast stills situation. I like the old DSLR way; focus and reframe the subject. I am aware of the Thrash Can button for center the focus point. But to seconds after, the focus point is somewhere else on the screen. I can disable the whole screen from touch, but then you loose a lot of features. I love the focus touch on video, but not so much for stills!

Adrian Tung
Adrian Tung Veteran Member • Posts: 4,032
Re: EOS R Lock focus point to center or disable touch?
1

Are you having problems accidentally touching the screen all the time, or mainly when using the EVF (e.g. your nose touching the screen)?

If it's the latter, then you could just disable the Touch and Drag feature (or at least move the area to somewhere you nose isn't prone to accidentally touching). This should solve your issues while you use the EVF.

(On a side note, this is with the EOS RP but I'm going with the assumption that the EOS R will have similar settings)

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BirdShooter7 Veteran Member • Posts: 9,127
Re: EOS R Lock focus point to center or disable touch?

I am having trouble with both.  I pretty much exclusively use the EVF and my nose moves the AF point quite often but I also accidentally move the AF point often with my finger.  Especially when I try to change a setting like ISO.  It isn't such a problem when I am trying to take a photo of a static object that isn't going anywhere but when I am trying to get focus on a bird it really slows the process down and results in lots of missed shots.  It's very frustrating

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Ed Rizk Veteran Member • Posts: 3,898
Re: EOS R Lock focus point to center or disable touch?
1

I set mine to use just the top right quarter of the screen. There has to be one quarter that is out of the way of your nose.

I also set a button to center the focus point. I use the AF on button. The trash can button centers the focus point by default.

I find relative movement easier than absolute.

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Ed Rizk

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BirdShooter7 Veteran Member • Posts: 9,127
Re: EOS R Lock focus point to center or disable touch?

Thanks, I have also found that I have the least problems with top right and agree relative seems easier.

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Adrian Tung
Adrian Tung Veteran Member • Posts: 4,032
Re: EOS R Lock focus point to center or disable touch?

RDKirk's recent post on the Lock dial (https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/62425825) gaves me this idea: use the Lock dial to disable touch screen. Then you can quickly enable or disable touch depending on what you're doing at that moment.

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pauleuk New Member • Posts: 4
Re: EOS R Lock focus point to center or disable touch?

That will disable moving the focus point but not stop touch to focus where lightly pressing any where on screen then moves to that place

pauleuk New Member • Posts: 4
Re: EOS R Lock focus point to center or disable touch?
1

There seems no way to stop touch screen focus movement so if the camera gently touches  the body while walking the focus point is the wrong place most time yes you can recentre it but it is another thing to do and remember to do. Why Canon has not addressed this issue is bizarre and to advise turning all touch screen off is ridiculous.

Sittatunga Veteran Member • Posts: 5,406
Re: EOS R Lock focus point to center or disable touch?

pauleuk wrote:

There seems no way to stop touch screen focus movement so if the camera gently touches the body while walking the focus point is the wrong place most time yes you can recentre it but it is another thing to do and remember to do. Why Canon has not addressed this issue is bizarre and to advise turning all touch screen off is ridiculous.

The dustbin button centres the focus spot, unless you've reassigned it and I'd have thought it's easy to get into the habit of pressing it as you raise the camera to your eye.  Switching the camera off when it's not in use or folding the screen so it can't be scratched by your shirt buttons are both pretty effective.

antiquesmugglers New Member • Posts: 8
Re: EOS R Lock focus point to center or disable touch?

Same here, my thumb rests on the upper portion of the back screen and I can not get anything focused when its focusing in the upper right side of the screen. So irritating!

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drsnoopy Senior Member • Posts: 1,216
Re: EOS R Lock focus point - a solution
1

For the R body.  Set the rear screen to display only the Settings while you're photographing using the EVF - you can cycle screens with INFO button.  The screens available can be configured in the menu, it's the yellow menu page 4 "shooting info disp" then "screen info settings" - you might only want 2 or 3 screens anyway.  I use screens 2 (full info), 4 (no info), and 5 (Settings).  When it's only showing Settings, touching the screen accidentally or bumping it when moving has no effect and so your focus point won't move.  There is another advantage to using the Settings screen as your default, because one press of the Q button then gives you touch screen access to all (or most) of your camera settings, which I find very handy. When you want to photograph using the rear screen, just cycle to the live view screen.

On the R5 one of the screens available is "blank", but this isn't possible on the R with the current firmware.

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JimCycle New Member • Posts: 1
Re: EOS R Lock focus point - a solution

There appear to be 2 other ways to disable the focus point  from moving when touching the screen:

1) Menu | Set Up (Wrench) | 3 | Touch Control | Disable.  Unfortunately this disables all touch control.

2) (Better) - Menu | Set Up (Wrench) | 6 | Multi function lock | Check Touch Control.  Same problem as above but easier to turn on and off.

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