Assign two different AF modes to buttons on R6 II (from a Sony shooter)

Hi everyone,

after years with mainly Sony, Fuji and sometimes Lumix I finally gave in and bought a Canon R6 II. Partly based solely on the rumor that soon some Canon RF 1.4 lenses could be released and (hopefully) 3rd party lenses at some point. 
I really enjoy the ergonomics and the EVF. But there's one thing I'd really like to have and I can't seem to figure out how:

On Sony, I'd usually have two AF modes ready to be used on different buttons:

1. Shutter button: Basic single point, single shot AF for static photos. 
2. AF-On button: The magic mode, i.e. realtime subject tracking, AF-C.. the whole show. 
Is there a way to get this done on Canon? Or what would be workarounds that get close to this? Right now what I did is assign subject selection (auto, human, animals, vehicles) to the * button and Single-Shot/Serve toggle to the front button. It kind of works but toggling through all the subject modes takes too long. 
Thanks for you advice! 🙏

Thanks guys, will have a look!

PMUK wrote:

Distinctly Average wrote:

You can use back button focus. Set the shutter button to metering only then setup back buttons for your different modes. With BBF I would argue there is no need for single shot anymore but that is a personal choice. When you are setting up the back buttons for AF, there are sun menus accessed with the info button. These allow you to setup the details of what each back button does, the tracking modes etc.

Hi tippingpoint,

Welcome to the EOS R Talk Forum - and the Canon R System!

+1 to the above advice.

You can also use the shutter and customised buttons to provide alternative AF functionality - as well as 'Metering and AF start', also consider the 'Register/recall shooting func' option.

(As mentioned, both can be further refined in the menu system via the [INFO] button).

I have an R5/ R7, but I don't believe there is a function which can be assigned to a button or dial to switch/ cycle between the subjects to be tracked.

You can do this with the R6II. I have my Set button assigned to this function. Very useful.

(You can set-up different options for each custom AF-On button).

Phil

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Dear Everyone at Canon: Zebras for Stills - How Hard Can It Be?

I have my R6II set up a bit like you want, but the other way around. I have full tracking, with eye detect, on my shutter button most of the time, because that's what I use most of the time. I do have eye detect set to toggle on and off with the AF-point select button (the furthest right button, next to the star button), but I hardly ever toggle it off. I have my AF-ON button set up for spot focus without tracking. I have that on servo, because I find that I just don't use one-shot focus anymore (though it's one of the options with the M-Fn button), but you can just as easily set it up for one shot. I also have the star button set up for a different focus configuration (animal detect), but I might change that, because, as I said in my other reply, I have the SET button set up to switch between subjects to detect, so I don't really need instant access to animal detect via the star button. Also, the R6II has the auto select mode for subject to detect, which works pretty well, as far as I can see.

tippingpoint wrote:

On Sony, I'd usually have two AF modes ready to be used on different buttons:

1. Shutter button: Basic single point, single shot AF for static photos.
2. AF-On button: The magic mode, i.e. realtime subject tracking, AF-C.. the whole show.
Is there a way to get this done on Canon? Or what would be workarounds that get close to this? Right now what I did is assign subject selection (auto, human, animals, vehicles) to the * button and Single-Shot/Serve toggle to the front button. It kind of works but toggling through all the subject modes takes too long.

There are many approaches to doing this on the R6 II.  I never thought of it the way you suggest, but I just tried it on my R5, and it works.

In other words, you can keep AF assigned to the shutter release, and you can configure the AF-ON button to work a specific way, and when you press AF-ON, it overrides the AF settings assigned to the shutter button.

You cannot assign AF settings to the shutter button; it will just use the AF settings you've told the camera to use. Most times, it's easiest to do this using the Q button.

One thing that's important to understand: When you put the camera in Face Detect mode (smiley icon AF mode), then you don't have control over where to focus. The camera AI looks for a face and locks onto it. So if you're shooting a landscape and you want to focus on a specific tree, you cannot do it if the Face Detect mode is on. Face Detect is GREAT for people and animals but terrible for landscapes and other still scenes. That confuses a lot of photographers, but think of it like this, "When I use Face Detect, I'm telling the camera to look for a face." That's why it's best to have one way of engaging Face Detect AF and another for engaging non-Face Detect. Or you can assign a button to toggle Face Detect on and off, but I dislike using toggles because you never know which mode you're using until you start shooting.

MarshallG wrote:

tippingpoint wrote:

On Sony, I'd usually have two AF modes ready to be used on different buttons:

1. Shutter button: Basic single point, single shot AF for static photos.
2. AF-On button: The magic mode, i.e. realtime subject tracking, AF-C.. the whole show.
Is there a way to get this done on Canon? Or what would be workarounds that get close to this? Right now what I did is assign subject selection (auto, human, animals, vehicles) to the * button and Single-Shot/Serve toggle to the front button. It kind of works but toggling through all the subject modes takes too long.

One thing that's important to understand: When you put the camera in Face Detect mode (smiley icon AF mode), then you don't have control over where to focus. The camera AI looks for a face and locks onto it.

This is only true for the R, RP, R6 and R5. For later bodies Subject Tracking can detect subjects in any AF Area mode, so not just the whole frame.

I would agree that you should set the correct Subject type for the shot you want to take e.g. None for Landscapes. In fact, you probably would not want Subject Tracking on at all for the majority of Landscape work e.g. when using a tripod.

cfieldgate wrote:

MarshallG wrote:

tippingpoint wrote:

On Sony, I'd usually have two AF modes ready to be used on different buttons:

1. Shutter button: Basic single point, single shot AF for static photos.
2. AF-On button: The magic mode, i.e. realtime subject tracking, AF-C.. the whole show.
Is there a way to get this done on Canon? Or what would be workarounds that get close to this? Right now what I did is assign subject selection (auto, human, animals, vehicles) to the * button and Single-Shot/Serve toggle to the front button. It kind of works but toggling through all the subject modes takes too long.

One thing that's important to understand: When you put the camera in Face Detect mode (smiley icon AF mode), then you don't have control over where to focus. The camera AI looks for a face and locks onto it.

This is only true for the R, RP, R6 and R5. For later bodies Subject Tracking can detect subjects in any AF Area mode, so not just the whole frame.

I would agree that you should set the correct Subject type for the shot you want to take e.g. None for Landscapes. In fact, you probably would not want Subject Tracking on at all for the majority of Landscape work e.g. when using a tripod.

I don’t own one of those newer bodies, so I don’t know. But if I’m shooting anything static, like a landscape, I don’t want the camera to “detect” anything, I want to tell it where to focus, either by using center point focus and recompose, or by using the joystick.

But if there’s some new genius way I don’t know about, maybe I shouldn’t be so old school?

Distinctly Average wrote:

MarshallG wrote:

cfieldgate wrote:

MarshallG wrote:

tippingpoint wrote:

On Sony, I'd usually have two AF modes ready to be used on different buttons:

1. Shutter button: Basic single point, single shot AF for static photos.
2. AF-On button: The magic mode, i.e. realtime subject tracking, AF-C.. the whole show.
Is there a way to get this done on Canon? Or what would be workarounds that get close to this? Right now what I did is assign subject selection (auto, human, animals, vehicles) to the * button and Single-Shot/Serve toggle to the front button. It kind of works but toggling through all the subject modes takes too long.

One thing that's important to understand: When you put the camera in Face Detect mode (smiley icon AF mode), then you don't have control over where to focus. The camera AI looks for a face and locks onto it.

This is only true for the R, RP, R6 and R5. For later bodies Subject Tracking can detect subjects in any AF Area mode, so not just the whole frame.

I would agree that you should set the correct Subject type for the shot you want to take e.g. None for Landscapes. In fact, you probably would not want Subject Tracking on at all for the majority of Landscape work e.g. when using a tripod.

I don’t own one of those newer bodies, so I don’t know. But if I’m shooting anything static, like a landscape, I don’t want the camera to “detect” anything, I want to tell it where to focus, either by using center point focus and recompose, or by using the joystick.

But if there’s some new genius way I don’t know about, maybe I shouldn’t be so old school?

I’m not a landscape shooter but I would have thought the touch screen the ideal method of picking your spot for that.

It usually is if you’re using a tripod. That, or you use 10x zoom with Manual focus.  But, in a more general sense, whenever you want to shoot something that isn’t a person’s face, the joy stick method without subject detect is my favorite.

PMUK wrote:

Distinctly Average wrote:

You can use back button focus. Set the shutter button to metering only then setup back buttons for your different modes. With BBF I would argue there is no need for single shot anymore but that is a personal choice. When you are setting up the back buttons for AF, there are sun menus accessed with the info button. These allow you to setup the details of what each back button does, the tracking modes etc.

Hi tippingpoint,

Welcome to the EOS R Talk Forum - and the Canon R System!

+1 to the above advice.

You can also use the shutter and customised buttons to provide alternative AF functionality - as well as 'Metering and AF start', also consider the 'Register/recall shooting func' option.

(As mentioned, both can be further refined in the menu system via the [INFO] button).

I have an R5/ R7, but I don't believe there is a function which can be assigned to a button or dial to switch/ cycle between the subjects to be tracked.

between the subjects being actually in your frame, or between different types of subjects?

(You can set-up different options for each custom AF-On button).

Phil

Thanks everyone, I finally managed to set it up exactly the way I wanted. I just didn’t have any mental concept of the canon way of being able to use the info button to further refine a lot of parameters for the AF-on button. But now I know 😊

PMUK wrote:

thunder storm wrote:

PMUK wrote:

Distinctly Average wrote:

You can use back button focus. Set the shutter button to metering only then setup back buttons for your different modes. With BBF I would argue there is no need for single shot anymore but that is a personal choice. When you are setting up the back buttons for AF, there are sun menus accessed with the info button. These allow you to setup the details of what each back button does, the tracking modes etc.

Hi tippingpoint,

Welcome to the EOS R Talk Forum - and the Canon R System!

+1 to the above advice.

You can also use the shutter and customised buttons to provide alternative AF functionality - as well as 'Metering and AF start', also consider the 'Register/recall shooting func' option.

(As mentioned, both can be further refined in the menu system via the [INFO] button).

I have an R5/ R7, but I don't believe there is a function which can be assigned to a button or dial to switch/ cycle between the subjects to be tracked.

between the subjects being actually in your frame, or between different types of subjects?

(You can set-up different options for each custom AF-On button).

Phil

Hi thunder storm,

The latter (subject types), but as Alastair explained this is actually possible on the R6II.

(I realise you can switch between subjects, e.g. different faces in a group of people).

Phil

Thanks for the clarification, Phil.

I left my shutter button to the factory setting which activates both AF and Metering. I've never had an issue keeping the shutter have pressed while tracking and burst shooting. Even if I lift my finger past half way the AF is so fast these days it hardly matters.

I also activated AF Preview which is on page 3 of purple AF menus. My normal starting point is all AF points and Eye AF. The camera will start to look for an eye after it wakes up and you don't have to press any buttons. Referring back to the first paragraph even if I lift my finger past half way off the shutter it takes over and AF continues. It looks like this with white lines. Single lines, not double.

That leaves me with 3 BBF buttons. I've mapped AF-ON to single point AF for general AF. The * button for  Zone AF which I use for birds in flight. The AF selector button is mapped for spot focus which I use for smaller birds in thicker foliage.

So what so I use the 3 BBF buttons for? We really don't have a name for it. Pre-focus or override. It is not a programmable, just a method created by users. While Eye AF is amazing the system can sometimes get confused, pick the wrong subject in a crowd or drop a subject.

For example there are 3 people in the frame and I want to focus on the person on the right but the camera picks the person on the left. I just press the AF-ON so single point AF engages, physically move the camera so the AF point lands one the person on the right,  release AF-ON, the eye snaps it and then I recompose.

Using AF-ON on I don't have to get the AF point on the Eye. Any place on the body will do. As long as the subject is in the plane of focus the eye will snap in when release AF-ON. I let the system do it's job. I find it much faster than moving the AF points around using the joystick or LCD. I have not set ups the joystick on my R5, R6II or R7. Of course if you do portraits on a tripod it is beneficial.

The reason I prefer my method. Some like to separate AF from the shutter and map it to the AF-ON. That means to override you have to lift you finger off it and press the * button (for example) to activate a non eye AF mode. I use the shutter for both AF and Metering and I just press one of the 3 BBF buttons as needed. The fastest method for my needs.