M5 Problems: How Move Movie Button? Toggle Screen?

After considerable dithering, I decided between the M50 and the excellent deal B&H had on the M5 + 18-150, in favor of the latter, here:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4450020#forum-post-63411854

I've been using the combination for a few days, but am not entirely happy.

(1) One problem is that I keep hitting the red Movie button the the right side with my thumb. Last night at our family Christmas gathering, I must have hit the thing 5 or 6 times, creating accidental videos that required deleting.

Now the M5 does have a Custom menu that, among other things, enables you to reassign functions to different buttons. The Custom menus can only be accessed by setting the Mode wheel on top to one of the Custom settings—took me a while to figure that out (it's not explained in the manual, as far as I could tell). So I turned the red button to Off, and assigned the Movie function to the 'M-fn' button on top right (don't know what, if anything, that's normally for). That seemed to work, but when I shut the camera off and turned it back again, those settings were lost; the camera reverted. So the first question is: how do I make Custom changes like that stick?

(2) I'd also like to be able to turn off the LCD screen when shooting, as I prefer to use the viewfinder, and the LCD just uses up battery juice when I'm not holding the camera to my eye. You can turn of the screen in Menus (command is buried), but then to turn it back on you have to go back into Menus—which is hard when the screen is off. Is there a way to assign that screen on/off function to a button I could toggle (prefereably one that I won't use much, if at all, otherwise)? And will that stick after turning the camera on and off?

I'm finding little frustrations like these are dimming my anticipated enthusiasm for this camera. Maybe I just need something simpler, less software dependent?

Thanks, Ken—  I discovered that I could get to the reassignment screen through the Info button, and now the move of video to the M-fn button seems to be holding.  Thanks for the Manual page.  Yes, the M5 manual looks similar.

I still haven't figured out whether (and how) I can toggle the LCD screen on and off.  Setting  Viewfinder to Manual turns off the screen, keeping the EVF on all the time.  But there are times when you want to look review your shots or use the Menu, and then it is necessary to turn on the screen.

Can I turn off the eye sensor and just switch from EVF to LCD and back with a button?  That's how my SX50 works (no sensor).

MrLynn wrote:

Thanks, Ken— I discovered that I could get to the reassignment screen through the Info button, and now the move of video to the M-fn button seems to be holding. Thanks for the Manual page. Yes, the M5 manual looks similar.

I still haven't figured out whether (and how) I can toggle the LCD screen on and off. Setting Viewfinder to Manual turns off the screen, keeping the EVF on all the time. But there are times when you want to look review your shots or use the Menu, and then it is necessary to turn on the screen.

Can I turn off the eye sensor and just switch from EVF to LCD and back with a button? That's how my SX50 works (no sensor).

As an M5 user, I have assigned LCD display off function to the Video Record button and toggle function between EVF and LCD to Depth of Field button. Sometimes I use automatic switch between two displays and other times manual switch when I want not to be disturbed by the automatic, unintentional switch. However, keep in mind that there is no way to turn off EVF on purpose when the manual switch is on, while LCD can be turned off by a button assigned to the function. Moreover, EVF is easily turned on by motion when it is asleep.

Over on my original 'M5 vs M50' thread, M5 user R2D2 came up with a solution to Screen Toggling: assign Turn Screen Off function to some button, and put a piece of tape over the Eye Sensor. It worked! Here's our conversation from that thread:

You have to give yourself a little time to adjust. The UI, ergo, and operation are all foreign to you right now. There are a Huge number of options, so don’t be so hard on yourself.

If you want truly manual control over EVF switching, then do as I did and reassign the “trashcan” button to switch. Then place a piece of electrical tape over the EVF eye sensor. You’ll probably want to extend the “sleep” and/or metering timer(s), and might need to “bump” the shutter on occasion to wake the EVF.

See if any of that helps.

R2

Hey R2, that worked! I had already assigned the Screen Off function to the red Movie button (because I was hitting that one all the time with my thumb, creating accidental videos I had to delete—I moved video to the M-fn button, nicely out of the way). This morning I blocked the EVF proximity sensor (with a piece of Post-It temporarily), and that (a) left the EVF on and (b) when I look through it, kept the screen from turning on. And when I want the screen, I just hit the red (now On/Off button) and it comes back: toggle!

Thanks for the tip. Leaves me wondering why Canon didn't think to have an EVF/Screen Toggle function in its 'assignable' list, so I wouldn't have to physically block the eye sensor with a piece of tape, which seems a little inelegant for a shiny new camera.

Daughter and family are coming up from Virginia next week, so that will give me plenty of opportunity to play with the M5 and maybe "time to adjust." But at least my first two bugaboos have now been resolved (misplaced Movie button, and no built-in EVF/Screen toggling).

Thanks!