I have avoided this method forever until succumbing to it last night. I set my Canon 7DII up for a football game in a dungeon and must say that FPS was improved and I seemed to get more keepers than usual. Nothing fantastic (it was a 56-2 game) but nothing awful either. Now I wish I had used this method much sooner!
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Back Button Focus
- Thread starter NNDman
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Steve Grodin
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TheBlackGrouse
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Can't tell if the number of frames-per-second is higher but the number of keepers definitely is.
For me, the most important reason is the more relaxed position of the hand. Pushing the Af-on button is easy with your thumb, while the index finger is waiting above the shutter. No half-way pressing while tracking, giving unnatural muscle tension. Back button and shutter are on-off switches, easy for the muscles and easy for the brain.
For me, the most important reason is the more relaxed position of the hand. Pushing the Af-on button is easy with your thumb, while the index finger is waiting above the shutter. No half-way pressing while tracking, giving unnatural muscle tension. Back button and shutter are on-off switches, easy for the muscles and easy for the brain.
Kung Fu
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I guess it depends a bit on hand size or thumb length? I found back button focus incredibly awkward for my hand on my 70D.
My 30D doesn’t have a dedicated AF-ON button, but can be setup to use *. Unfortunately it’s moved even further away from the natural thumb rest position.
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Redring1
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BP focus is indeed awesome. great with sports on the 7d2 but not as second nature yet with the grip in vertical due to hand size. On the 5D3 its very good with static shots with repositioning after focusing,
oppy
Leading Member
One of the first things I did on my 80D! :-D
TheBlackGrouse
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Plausible, I don't have large hands and my thumb has a natural position when using BBF.
itsDing
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I only bought a Canon 50E film camera in the early 90's because it had back button focus. I could focus and compose portraits and take the pictures using a remote control lead, having the subjects looking at me if I wanted. No other brand had this feature at the time which I still use today with my Canon digital cameras. I had to sell off all my Pentax cameras and lenses when I switched.
Tannin
Senior Member
Hand-holding big lenses, BBF is very difficult, especially if you are working at awkward angles (such as from a car). For this reason I use reverse back button focus (RBBF) - set the AF-on button to STOP autofocus. Wouldn't dream of doing it any other way for big lenses.
For my 5D II, which pretty much only ever gets used with a 16-35 and has a hopelessly primitive autofocus system with a tiny spread such that you seldom have an AF point over your area, I need to focus and recompose a lot. On this one I *(do* use BBF (orthodox BBF, not reverse) because there is no issue with handholding such a little lens, and focus-recompose is significantly easier.
When I first tried BBF on the 5D II instead of RBBF, I imagined that it would be very confusing as all my other bodies use RBBF, but to my surprise I discovered that it's quite easy to switch back and forward between the two, and my thumb seldom "forgets" which camera it is using.
On the 7D II, because of all the extra nonsense Canon have added for video shooters, the back of the camera is quite crowded and when hand holding a big lens it is very, very easy indeed to press the AF-on button without meaning to. (The 7D II back is very cramped compared to any of the 5Ds or 1Ds, or the 7D Mark 1.) I nearly sent a brand new 600/4 back for intermittent failure to AF issues until I twigged that it was the location of the AF-on button which was causing problems. (Wouldn't be an issue if I had smaller hands.) So I re-purposed the * button to be the focus lock and disabled the AF-on. Works perfectly.
Kudos to Canon for their excellent control customisation system. It really does make a photographer's life easier.
For my 5D II, which pretty much only ever gets used with a 16-35 and has a hopelessly primitive autofocus system with a tiny spread such that you seldom have an AF point over your area, I need to focus and recompose a lot. On this one I *(do* use BBF (orthodox BBF, not reverse) because there is no issue with handholding such a little lens, and focus-recompose is significantly easier.
When I first tried BBF on the 5D II instead of RBBF, I imagined that it would be very confusing as all my other bodies use RBBF, but to my surprise I discovered that it's quite easy to switch back and forward between the two, and my thumb seldom "forgets" which camera it is using.
On the 7D II, because of all the extra nonsense Canon have added for video shooters, the back of the camera is quite crowded and when hand holding a big lens it is very, very easy indeed to press the AF-on button without meaning to. (The 7D II back is very cramped compared to any of the 5Ds or 1Ds, or the 7D Mark 1.) I nearly sent a brand new 600/4 back for intermittent failure to AF issues until I twigged that it was the location of the AF-on button which was causing problems. (Wouldn't be an issue if I had smaller hands.) So I re-purposed the * button to be the focus lock and disabled the AF-on. Works perfectly.
Kudos to Canon for their excellent control customisation system. It really does make a photographer's life easier.
Nick5
Senior Member
Have been using Back Button Focus since 2010. Once mastered, I never went back to "Traditional" focus on shutter, whether in One Shot or AI Servo.
I still use the shutter button for one shot. I have been asking Canon for 2 years on every site forum I can find. Please add Drive Mode to the Detail Set. You could leave your camera on One Shot and when you press a BBF it kicks into AI Servo. You don't get 2 or 3 unwanted images. Not a major issue, just a minor irritant.
Simple programming and I keep waiting for the FM update but to never happens
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