I leave it completely on eye-detect auto focus servo if I know for sure I am photographing people or animals - and I leave AUTO for the initial point selected option. I then activate the upper right part of the screen so if I want the camera to focus on something else other than the eye or face or head, like somebody’s hands or something they’re holding, I put my finger on the screen in that particular area and move the focus point to where I want and let go and it will begin tracking it. It seems to work pretty darn good. I also have asterisk button to toggle from eye-detect to spot focus, which works well when I just want to take still life shots of objects. I also use back-button focusing all the time.
That's an interesting way to work it. I wondered if that worked. There's really endless ways to set up this camera, but what becomes obvious is that you need to find some sort of arrangement that allows you ti switch between the AF modes. I think it comes down to subject size as well. The eye AF was amazing when I photographed my little daughter. Like it would not jump off the eye and I could easily use auto, but for smaller birds it seemed a little bit more challenged, which makes sense of course. Appreciate the comment, I love hearing about different ways to set it up
Sir, you are a Godsent!!!!! This video is just absolutely fabulously brilliant, it will save me hours of time and frustration setting my camera up ( when it arrives, that is...) . I really can not thank you enough, again you are a Godsent, and kind enough to share your extensive knowledge and the fruits of your labours as with us...thank you!!!!!!!!!!!
It is so great to have this in a format that I can watch several times. I’ve had my R5 for about a week and it’s been great to go out and try the settings; then rewatch this and have a few a-ha moments and gain an even better understanding! Thank you for your thoughtful; easy to follow and beautiful videos! I’m so grateful to have found your channel!
Jan, you probably know this but it wasn't in the video. When assigning custom functions for back button focusing you can assign additional functions to the AF-ON button by pressing INFO when you're in the list of choices for "Metering and AF start". If you press INFO before pressing SET-OK you get 3 additional settings to add - "AF Operations", "AF Method", and "Servo AF Characteristics". This allows you to have One Shot for AF-ON and Servo for "*", or visa versa. I just got my R5 so this video was very helpful.
Just a HUGE thanks for the “2 Back Button” Tip... I had been using a multi-step method to switch back and forth with people/animal detection. Your tip I’m sure is gonna be great as I continue to become acquainted with my new R5.
Glad it helped! What I have done also, I assigned my full settings for people photography to C1. So now I can switch really fast between people and animals
This is something a real review of a camera by a person who really knows about camera. People stay with default settings and complain about the cameras without realizing the customization opportunities
Thanks. I think that;s one of the biggest issues and challenges. These cameras are so advanced that you can easily make them what you want them to do, but you need to know where to look. The default settings hardly ever allow a camera to show its full potential
For the Canon EOS R6, these settings have been really helpful, thanks a million! A few things that I struggled with that may help others with the R6 (and perhaps the R5): first, to switch to a custom mode (say C1) you turn the mode dial at the top of the camera to C1; that should have been obvious, but it took me a long time to figure out. (I made a custom mode, C1, for birds, and use C2 for people). Second, I found that the animal eye autofocus really only works when the eye of the bird is possible to see in the viewfinder; if the bird is too far away, the camera may recognize the bird, but won't be able to find its eye; this is probably not a problem with a 600mm lens as you use, but I don't have such a lens. (Still, it's great when it works!) Third, to put the autofocus point back in the center, you need to press the joystick straight in. (Is there a way to put that in the "My Menu"? I don't think so, or at least I couldn't find it.) Finally, it seems that the "My Menu" customization is quite helpful for storing commonly changed settings, but selecting "My Menu" doesn't actually change anything, you still need to select the item and change it, but it is helpful for finding hard-to-find settings that you change frequently.
At the larger distances, the depth of field will be large enough to cover most of the bird, so it's not as critical to find the eye. If it's somewhere near the head it should be good enough
I can't express how much I have found your video helpful to me. I just bought a R6 Canon and it basically has the same menus and settings that you described for the R5. The menu for the AF pink dropdown was the one that I found most helpful. I was having problems locking on the birds eyes with the way I had setup. The fact that you have two buttons to first locate exactly where you wanted to initially focus in and then the second button setup for the bird tracking on the eye really is excellent. Thanks so much for such a great and professional video!
Thank you, Jan. I have used my R6 enough to have been totally confused. And, I have watched cajillions of settings videos. I just bookmarked yours with this comment, "Use all of these settings!" Perfect mix. Amazing. Thank you. Thank you.
Once again, excellent presentation of vitally useful information. Your delivery style is spot on, as is the content, much better than many others I have viewed. This is the real deal. You are doing us all a great service, Jan, and saving us heaps of time, thank you.
This is by far the BEST video on autofocus settings on the R5. Thankyou so much for this - including an explenation on why you have chosen these settings, what happens and tips & trick for using them.
This video is awesome and very helpful. There's nothing worse than trying to set your camera to 8K only to realize it's grayed out because Digital IS is on, and you can't use 8K with Digital IS on. So it's definitely better to set this type of thing up in advance so you can easily get to it with the custom modes.
Very helpful guide, thank you for posting it. One thing I would add is to put the camera into airplane mode in the wireless settings to conserve the battery when you are not using the Wifi. For the dual back button AF, it still wasn't quite intuitive for me coming from the 5DIV so I set the AF mode to expanded area AF, set the AF-ON button to Metering and AF start, and I set the AE Lock button to Switch to Registered AF func, I then registered "Tracking" as the AF function. After all of that I can now press the AF on button for normal expanded AF or press the AE Lock button for tracking. It is a little clunky because for the tracking to focus I have to hold down the AE button then half press the shutter, but it works in a more intuitive way for me. I can fall back on Expand AF, or spot AF, or Zone AF, or quickly switch to tracking with the press of a button.
Jan, Thanks I used this as you suggested to setup my R7, with my Canon 100-500RF together with some input from Duade Patons recent video. Now to try it in the field. Thanks very very comprehensive.
@@jan_wegener Could this be why the RAW-picture is underexposed with about 1 stop for me? It's insane.. I first thought it was error from my part.. that I've seen so wrong in the camera that I've underexposed, but the JPEG is looking good.
I recently bought the Canon R5, and I found your guide very useful. One of the things I value in this and other demonstrations of yours is the professionalism of the compilation. Many TH-cam demonstrations lack clarity. Quite often inset videos are almost unreadable because the TH-camr has not paid sufficient attention to the needs of the audience. Yours are exceptionally clear, and well-paced
You can set 3 Auto Focus buttons on the back....1. Just to grab a whole bird(Zone), 2. Just for the eye, 3. Just for one specific spot. I use all 3 at certain times
Well done Jan on the video, I have now order my camera and will have to wait until the shop can get hold of one for me, I will definitely set it to the two back button focusing technique you showed that will help me a-lot. One quick question did you have to calibrate this camera to your lens? Have not had a mirror less camera before.
Jan - Thanks for showing how to setup both the AF and the Animal tracking buttons, it really helps. certain features we miss out but the intrinsic details is worth listening and using on the hardware
question: if you set up 3 custom modes for video, how do you quickly switch in between them? can you assign a button to switch through modes? ... and do you see which mode you select without taking the eye away from the viewfinder?
I haven't found that yet. I have to press mode and then move the dial. But it is displayed in the viewfinder, so it's pretty easy. Although usually for video I use the screen, so I take my head off anyways, cause I don;t wanna touch the camera, which will introduce vibrations.
@@jan_wegener If I understand correctly you can program the m-fn button to this, page 817 in the manual :) Guessing it would be a quicker way to just press a button.
Just bought my first R5, thanks to you!! I can't believe how amazing it is. All my EF lenses are working well. This has been very helpful, thank you - it has saved me hours. I have set one for landscape and one for wildlife. When I went to test out my new RF 100-500, I got so caught up in the BBF buttons that I forgot to check my SS. So I have added a minimum shutter speed to the custom mode as well as I'm still using AV, haven't quite progressed to manual for wildlife yet. I'm having a bit of trouble with the eye detection but assume that is just practice. I have also just had a play around with the Canon app which allows you to use it as a remote which will be helpful in Landscape, astro etc as you can change most of the settings as well as take the picture or movie. I didn't want to lose the M-Fn button, so found that you can change to movie by pressing the mode button, then the info button, the info button lets you toggle between stills and movies, then you could select your custom mode then press the red dot button to record. Another great improvement is the dial on the mode wheel that allows me to alter the ISO
Jane, silly question: does the RF to EF converter ship with the camera or is that a separate purchase? Lovely setup you have there and I'm hoping to do the same in the next ~3 months before I go off to South Africa to point lenses at animals.
@@mstrathmore You have to buy the converter separately - there are about 3 styles, basic, one with a ring and one that can take filters. I got the basic one as I can't see a need for the ring one at this stage as you can change exposure. aperture, speed and ISO with the current dials on the camera
This helped me so much! Thank you for your clear directions. It’s exactly what I needed for shooting birds. I too, have struggled with the animal eye detection jumping around. Also, I love being able to use my thumb to move the focus point! So much better!
Thank you. You are the first youtube video person to really explain how to set up the camera and why. I'm still struggling on the video custom settings and how to use them but I am so excited about the focus mode now for photos!
@@jan_wegener OK, I will keep working on that. I still have my Canon 5D Mark III and my 7D Mark II and I'm still nervous about parting with them.... :)
Yes, we do set up the two back focus buttons differently. Interesting to know how you set up yours. Looking forward to your upcoming videos on bird photography. :-)
@@jan_wegener As I commented on your last video, I set up two separate back buttons focus as well but I did it slightly different than your setting. AF-ON as Metering and AF Start, * as Eye Detection AF. Also on AF page 4, Limit AF methods, uncheck all AF methods except Face Tracking and 1-point AF. Set up the camera with Servo AF with Face Tracking. I found this set up helps when I go back and forth taking pictures of people/animals and stationary objects. Press AF-ON for normal AF with Tracking, press * for Eye Detection AF, press AF point button to switch to 1-point AF then use the joystick to move the AF point and AF ON to focus stationary objects. I did other customizations on various buttons as well but using two separate back button focus and the AF point button to switch between tracking without eye detection, tracking with eye detection and 1-point AF for stationery objects are the main things. There are things I wish future update could give us though...1)a single button press to toggle between Full Frame and 1.6x Crop, 2)a single button press to toggle between Mechanical shutter and Electronic shutter, 3)a single button press to toggle between People, Animals and No Priority on Subject to detect. We all do things differently to achieve the same result and that's the beauty of it really. If we all do things the same way, how boring is that? IMHO, the R5 is an excellent camera for bird photography.
I just got my R5 this month. While first playing with it with a friend I tried taking a picture of a bird deep in a tree. I really fought the focusing points trying to get between the leaves and branches. I ended up calling Canon Tech Support to see how to select an individual focusing point. (Exact same issues you described.) The agent I spoke with was clueless, which surprised me since this camera has been out for nearly three years! I'm so glad I came across your setup video! I'm a pretty advanced user, having progressed through various Canon models over the years and also having a 1DX Mark iii. But the R5 is a little different beast to setup but I think I'll really like it. Thanks
Great video. Has aged well. Still good advice. My only suggestion is that instead of using the upper right of the screen to select focus point, program joystick button to activate that feature and then use joystick to move it around. With your eye to the viewfinder and your thumb half inch away, it is a fast way to reorient your focus point. Also, the “set” button can be set to pop it right back to center. Good job. Will be watching….
I have been a Canon man since 2004 and now have an R6 to go with all my "L" glass. Thank you for showing me how to set up double back button focus for normal focus and also eye focus on the star button. Jan you are very clever! I might buy an RF mount 800mm f11 tele lens for birding so I can get the fastest fps. I have my wildlife and nature settings set on C1 and my events and weddings settings set on C3. I just kept the settings the same except for animals on C1 and people on C3 I cannot believe that the sensor is so usable up to 25,500 ISO it's amazing!
Hi Jan! Thank you very much for your very informative instruction video! It was very helpful for the initial setup. I am not sure whether you are aware, but I have noticed recently that it is also possible to use normal autofocus and eye detection auto focus at the same time if you set the shutter button half press to the standard setting (Metering and AF start) and only the AF-On button (or any other button respectively) for "Eye detection AF". The advantage of this setup, you save one button (in your case, the * button) for any other customization you might want to make and still have the choice between normal AF and eye detection AF at any time. The Eye detection AF overrides the "normal AF" of the shutter button half press, so no interference there. Greetings from Vienna, Thomas
Hi Thomas, yes I have set up a friend's camera like that. personally I like Back-button focus anyways, so my preference is to have both buttons at the back and not have the shutter button focus. Either set up works well and it comes down to personal workflow styles. It's a good way for many people to set it up that ay, so thanks for sharing.
This is definitely how I will set mine up - BBF has never worked for me, especially when photographing wildlife where things happen so quickly and so briefly. Most likely it's just that I don't have BBF practice, but I really to prefer the cam to start focussing when I half-press.
Your video is, without a doubt, a teriffic asset to anyone aquiring an R5. Thanks very much. When the current issue subsides, I will probably visit Australia and thank you in person..
@@jan_wegener Hi Jan, I have set up my R5 and went to a local area that is great for flying waterfowl, mainly Northern Pintail. Until now I have been using a 7D MkII with a 500/f4, (the initial one). When I used the 7D MkII, I would prefocus on an object that was at a distance that enabled me to view the birds as they came from the side, focus on the bird then shoot at an opportune time. I was very successful. With the R5 I am shooting at 1.6X and jpeg. My computer is an older Mac, which I am going to soon update to the latest OS. At the same time time, I will be going to the latest PS. (I am now using PS CS5 (snow leopard). That will enable me to start shooting RAW. Today I would prefocus as before, but I was unable to view the birds coming in. Also, when I fired off a few frames, the camera would flash up the frames taken, blocking my ability to follow the birds further. I know the R5 is capable of out preforming the 7D MkII.......what do you think that I need change/stop doing? Thanks in advance, John Lewis, Chico, Ca.
@@johnlewis4310 you have to turn off image review, so it won't be displayed in the viewfinder. In what way were you unable to view the birds in the viewfinder?
@@jan_wegener I have now turned off image review; that has helped. I have been photographing flying waterfowl for several years at the same location with my 7D MKii and a 500 mm/f4 with very good results. I prefocus at a distance that I would expect to be locking focus on incoming birds and hold the shutter-release button down as necessary. When I have used this technique with the R5, if the wait after prefocus is more than ? seconds, the screen has either turned off or I cannot lock focus on a bird(s) because they are far out of focus. At the advice of a Canon customer service person, I increased the length of time the screen remains on. (I have forgotten which screen I used!). Also, ambient light getting into the viewfinder impacts the screen adversely. Hoodman makes replacement eyepieces to fix this, but they are camera specific; I did not view one listed for the R5. What are your thoughts, Jan John
Just switched my autofocus case based on this video and I'm very happy with it now. I always felt like it was jumping around too much with birds in flight. Thanks for this helpful video
Many thanks Jan for this great video on setting up the R5. My new R5 came today, can't wait to try it out, you saved me so much time. I have been using a 1DX Mk2 with dual back button focus for a while now and wondered how I could set it up to quickly change from spot to animal eye for my wildlife shooting. The single button press to change from photo to video also helps a lot. Stay safe
I have found that remapping C.Fn3 AF ON to "switch to registered AF func." and "Spot AF" while keeping AF5 "Initial servo AF pt" on AUTO works quite well for me. When face/eye detection doesn't work, I can simply override it by pressing AF ON and it focuses to the middle.
I just received my R5 today and with the assistance of your video I made the suggested changes to the settings. Can’t wait to try them out. Great video. Thank you Jan!
Excellent video. Thanks for that, very helpful. I’m waiting delivery of my R5, but will certainly be using some, if not all of the settings you highlight. 👍
Nice and clear Jan. Our set ups are very similar. A couple difference/add-ons include: I prefer the RGB histogram to ensure I'm not blowing highlights in a channel - especially red, I have manual focus peaking on and manual focus guide on for when I do macro (both settings are very helpful!), and I've updated my custom menus with frequent things like format, sensor cleaning, etc so I don't have to dig for them when I want them quickly. My biggest problem with the R5 is now I have an even higher percentage of keepers that are so sharp that it takes me longer to go through the images! Enjoy your R5!
I was getting a bit frustrated over the last month with my R5 with the animal eye focus with birds, as it would at times struggle to find the bird and get lost on leaves and branches. Since switching to your dual back button AF systems my hit rate has gone way up, thanks Jan.
Just got my R5. Thank goodness I found this video! Auto focus was giving me FITS! Now I’ve set my camera with all your setting and can’t wait to try them out. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!
Always at the end of the video you leave me with no doubts in my mind! When R5 got released some issues like heating and all prevented me to get it, but after your video now I’m getting it soon! Thanks a lot for Sharing your wisdom and it’s invaluable Jan. #Inspiration 🙏🏻😊
Thanks for the video Jan, had the R5 for 3 weeks now and am really loving it. I have taken your advice and gone to back button focusing. I too had that issue with camera getting confused when more than one bird was in frame. I have moved the EYE-AF to the AF point selection button (easier to find for me). This is a whole new way of shooting but I think it will pay off once muscle memory kicks in to new system. Thanks for this invaluable tip...and all the others!
yes, I am still training my fingers to remember where to go on the new camera as well. I am sure it will soon become second nature. A lot comes down to your hand size, which buttons work best I think.
@@jan_wegener I waited 4 months for my pre-ordered R5 to arrive. I felt reasonably confident with a lot of the menus but was experiencing exactly what you described with AF for bird photography. I have now, with your help, set up double back-button focus which I didn't really understand until your video! I particularly love your videos on IG.
Thanks again Jan. The place I buy most gear at finally got the adapter w/ring in so I ordered and received an R5 and a mess of accessories to replace my 5D. After reading the 1,000 page manual and making some adjustments (some of which I remembered from this and your other videos, but most I did not) I watched this video again and made most of the photo adjustments your suggested and is where I will start. Reading the whole manual was a bit time consuming (and very frustrating when it came to reading that Canon PDF manual... more on that at the end) but as expected, that effort AND your video saved a ton of experimenting and reading so that you very much for all that. The Canon manual adventure was... as I said... frustrating and I had to dig deep down in my back street vocabulary to express myself accordingly. I generally read manuals pretty thoroughly and bookmark, highlight and make notes on pages / items I know I'll have to come back to and not try to memorize anything other than what and where things are in a manual (I suppose that may be left over from my dinosaur age computer career with miles high stacks of reference manuals to deal with). Anyway, one can not do that with the Canon PDF manual as it has security that will only allow printing; no highlighting, copying, adding notes, editing and other functions that would make it easier to read and find info appropriate to one's self. A call to Canon got the response 'It is copyrighted so you can't do that'. So... anyone in the world can download it for free and read it, pass it on to others for free, but... Seems there may be a market for a hybrid Canon R5 manual that one COULD adapt to one's own use.
That was a valuable video. I already had made some of your suggested changes and now did some you suggested. Setting up for a fast switch to video will help me a lot. Thank you.
I just got my R5 and tried playing with the animal eye detection with my dog. Your suggestion of using the AF-ON button to initially lock a focus point is something I'll try!
Thanks so much for doing this video. I have transitioned from the 5D Mk4 to the EOS R and now the EOS R5, I mainly shoot weddings, portraits, events, fashion/runway, studio, and some video work. I plan to create a TH-cam video soon (hopefully ready in September) to show my setup for the EOS R and how it would be different for someone coming from the 5D Mk4 compared to someone coming from the EOS R (because I've basically done both). I really appreciate your point about the single button to get into video mode, that will help me a lot! Thanks, and I subscribed so I can see more of your videos!
Well done, Jan! I'm so glad I found your videos! My Canon EOS R5 is schedule to arrive today. Using your video, I created a 6 page document, explaining each setting to select. Assuming that it's easy to switch between custom modes, like it is on my 7D Mark II, I think that I'll likely use Photo C1 for birding photography and Photo C2 for people. Now I guess I need to read though your 430 other comments! Thanks!
Hola Jan :) Tus videos son muy buenos. Se agradece la claridad y detalles. Tengo la R5 con el RF 100-500 hace 4 meses, es una cámara fantástica. Ver tus videos me ayuda bastante. Me suscribo y continuaré viendo. Saludos desde Talca, Chile.
I need to go try out your "double back button" focus mode. My quest has been somewhat in the opposite direction. The pro Canon 1D, 1Ds, 1Dx bodies had face detection but they didn't have the horse power needed to drive it and it mostly didn't work. For me, personally, I had the same experience with the particular Sony's A7?? camera I had. So I've assumed that face detect and eye detect were just marketing schemes but it sounds like the hardware has finally caught up and is able to drive the software. Also, as you mentioned, I wanted the ability to force the camera to focus on a particular spot if I needed it to and that also persuaded me to not mess with the face and eye detect methods. As a result, the direction I've gone is to have the ability to assist the auto focus with manual. I like how with One-Shot mode, I can set the camera to allow me to manual focus after the camera has focused and it will also magnify the image in the view finder. I'm still playing and testing to see what works and doesn't work on this path. The peeking and focus guides in the MF modes are also very interesting. But the dual back button mode definitely is interesting. As I'm writing this I'm wondering if a third or fourth bottom could be added to force the camera between one-shot mode and server mode and also force the camera into "full manual" mode. As you said at the start, there are so many possibilities that it is hard to decide what works best. Great video... I'm going over and watch how you set up the video next.
Thanks for the valuable tips. I too am just going through the R5 settings and trying to get accustomed to the mirrorless features. Your 2-button back focus will be a setting I am adopting.
Thank you very much for sharing Jan. Much appreciated even though I never shoot birds ;-) I have a small comment on the back button focus. I have the AF-ON button set for face/eye tracking as you recommend. But I have my single point AF on the shutter release button. When pressing the AF-ON button, it overrules the shutter release button, which is then only used for taking the picture - not focusing. In that way, I don't need two back buttons for different kinds of focusing, only one. Take care, Klaus
Hi Klaus, yes, there are a few different ways to set it up. I set it up exactly like you describe for a friend the other day, but personally I like BBF anyways, so the two buttons work the best for me.
I've been using double bbf but I also set the the 3rd back button (af point select) to mode so I can quickly access my custom modes which are preset for hummingbirds or larger birds in flight. I've also changed the front depth of field button to cropping ratio in case I want quickly access the 1.6x crop to get extra reach
Great advice! Everyone should definitely customize their camera to their preferences and I think too many people just leave the defaults and learn to adapt to them, instead of adapting the camera to their own preferences and style. I have a somewhat different approach to AF than you. Since I've found that Eye detect works for me probably 90% of the time, I just leave the AF-ON button for focus and have it typically set to tracking/eye detect, then I have the DOF preview button set to "switch to registered AF func." and have that registered to spot AF. So I use the AF-ON button to focus normally, and it's normally set to eye detect, but if eye detect fails I press and hold the DOF button to temporarily switch to spot, and the AF-ON button then works in spot until I release the DOF button. Then I have the AF point selector button set to toggle between AF modes, and I've turned off all modes but tracking, spot, and field. In case I need to use them for a longer duration. Works for me so far!
Great video, thx so much... One thing: you do not need to remove AF from the shutter. Pressing any button assigned to eye focus will override focus from the shutter button. Consider using mfn button to change between the different focus mode, and you will have the very best flexibility the universe 🙂
I leave it completely on eye-detect auto focus servo if I know for sure I am photographing people or animals - and I leave AUTO for the initial point selected option. I then activate the upper right part of the screen so if I want the camera to focus on something else other than the eye or face or head, like somebody’s hands or something they’re holding, I put my finger on the screen in that particular area and move the focus point to where I want and let go and it will begin tracking it. It seems to work pretty darn good. I also have asterisk button to toggle from eye-detect to spot focus, which works well when I just want to take still life shots of objects. I also use back-button focusing all the time.
That's an interesting way to work it. I wondered if that worked. There's really endless ways to set up this camera, but what becomes obvious is that you need to find some sort of arrangement that allows you ti switch between the AF modes.
I think it comes down to subject size as well. The eye AF was amazing when I photographed my little daughter. Like it would not jump off the eye and I could easily use auto, but for smaller birds it seemed a little bit more challenged, which makes sense of course.
Appreciate the comment, I love hearing about different ways to set it up
Having some issues with my photos being sharp. Would you suggest I use image stabilization mode 2 on the 100-500 lens?
The button customization is the main reason why I love Canon...that's seriously awesome! God bless you Jan and your works!
Sir, you are a Godsent!!!!! This video is just absolutely fabulously brilliant, it will save me hours of time and frustration setting my camera up ( when it arrives, that is...) . I really can not thank you enough, again you are a Godsent, and kind enough to share your extensive knowledge and the fruits of your labours as with us...thank you!!!!!!!!!!!
You are most welcome :)
Just bought the R5 I found the menu like a minefield, after watching this vid all problems have been solved thankyou so much your a genius
Glad I could help
It is so great to have this in a format that I can watch several times. I’ve had my R5 for about a week and it’s been great to go out and try the settings; then rewatch this and have a few a-ha moments and gain an even better understanding! Thank you for your thoughtful; easy to follow and beautiful videos! I’m so grateful to have found your channel!
Glad I could help!
Jan, you probably know this but it wasn't in the video. When assigning custom functions for back button focusing you can assign additional functions to the AF-ON button by pressing INFO when you're in the list of choices for "Metering and AF start". If you press INFO before pressing SET-OK you get 3 additional settings to add - "AF Operations", "AF Method", and "Servo AF Characteristics". This allows you to have One Shot for AF-ON and Servo for "*", or visa versa. I just got my R5 so this video was very helpful.
Just a HUGE thanks for the “2 Back Button” Tip... I had been using a multi-step method to switch back and forth with people/animal detection. Your tip I’m sure is gonna be great as I continue to become acquainted with my new R5.
Glad it helped! What I have done also, I assigned my full settings for people photography to C1. So now I can switch really fast between people and animals
This is something a real review of a camera by a person who really knows about camera. People stay with default settings and complain about the cameras without realizing the customization opportunities
Thanks. I think that;s one of the biggest issues and challenges. These cameras are so advanced that you can easily make them what you want them to do, but you need to know where to look. The default settings hardly ever allow a camera to show its full potential
For the Canon EOS R6, these settings have been really helpful, thanks a million!
A few things that I struggled with that may help others with the R6 (and perhaps the R5): first, to switch to a custom mode (say C1) you turn the mode dial at the top of the camera to C1; that should have been obvious, but it took me a long time to figure out. (I made a custom mode, C1, for birds, and use C2 for people). Second, I found that the animal eye autofocus really only works when the eye of the bird is possible to see in the viewfinder; if the bird is too far away, the camera may recognize the bird, but won't be able to find its eye; this is probably not a problem with a 600mm lens as you use, but I don't have such a lens. (Still, it's great when it works!) Third, to put the autofocus point back in the center, you need to press the joystick straight in. (Is there a way to put that in the "My Menu"? I don't think so, or at least I couldn't find it.) Finally, it seems that the "My Menu" customization is quite helpful for storing commonly changed settings, but selecting "My Menu" doesn't actually change anything, you still need to select the item and change it, but it is helpful for finding hard-to-find settings that you change frequently.
At the larger distances, the depth of field will be large enough to cover most of the bird, so it's not as critical to find the eye. If it's somewhere near the head it should be good enough
Absolutely Fantastic Jan, sharing your insight, knowledge and thought process is absolutely invaluable for so many. Truly appreciate what you do.
Thanks Peter, happy to share 😊
I can't express how much I have found your video helpful to me. I just bought a R6 Canon and it basically has the same menus and settings that you described for the R5. The menu for the AF pink dropdown was the one that I found most helpful. I was having problems locking on the birds eyes with the way I had setup. The fact that you have two buttons to first locate exactly where you wanted to initially focus in and then the second button setup for the bird tracking on the eye really is excellent. Thanks so much for such a great and professional video!
glad I could help!
Thank you so much, Jan. You've removed so much of the frustration of going from the old system to the new for me. This is excellent.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you, Jan. I have used my R6 enough to have been totally confused. And, I have watched cajillions of settings videos. I just bookmarked yours with this comment, "Use all of these settings!" Perfect mix. Amazing. Thank you. Thank you.
Glad I could help you. I prefer a no nonsense approach :)
Once again, excellent presentation of vitally useful information. Your delivery style is spot on, as is the content, much better than many others I have viewed. This is the real deal. You are doing us all a great service, Jan, and saving us heaps of time, thank you.
Thanks Sean, much appreciated
Excellent advice from somebody that knows what he's talking about
Thanks Peter :)
This is by far the BEST video on autofocus settings on the R5. Thankyou so much for this - including an explenation on why you have chosen these settings, what happens and tips & trick for using them.
Glad it was helpful!
This video is awesome and very helpful. There's nothing worse than trying to set your camera to 8K only to realize it's grayed out because Digital IS is on, and you can't use 8K with Digital IS on. So it's definitely better to set this type of thing up in advance so you can easily get to it with the custom modes.
Great to hear!
Very helpful guide, thank you for posting it. One thing I would add is to put the camera into airplane mode in the wireless settings to conserve the battery when you are not using the Wifi. For the dual back button AF, it still wasn't quite intuitive for me coming from the 5DIV so I set the AF mode to expanded area AF, set the AF-ON button to Metering and AF start, and I set the AE Lock button to Switch to Registered AF func, I then registered "Tracking" as the AF function.
After all of that I can now press the AF on button for normal expanded AF or press the AE Lock button for tracking. It is a little clunky because for the tracking to focus I have to hold down the AE button then half press the shutter, but it works in a more intuitive way for me. I can fall back on Expand AF, or spot AF, or Zone AF, or quickly switch to tracking with the press of a button.
Great video. I've ordered my R5, that switching between photos and video custom button is exactly what I wanted to know 👍
Glad I could help! It was driving me crazy not having that!
Jan… FANTASTIC! Just got my R5 and this is the best guide I’ve seen. Incredible job. Thank you very much.
Happy to help!
Used the settings you recommended.. and it works for me. Especially using the thumb to move the focus point while seeing through the VF. Thank you.
Great to hear! :)
Jan, Thanks I used this as you suggested to setup my R7, with my Canon 100-500RF together with some input from Duade Patons recent video. Now to try it in the field. Thanks very very comprehensive.
Adobe Camera RAW has just been updated to include the R5 & R6.... Happy now!
Yes, I updated mine, still not very good profiles available, but better than before!
@@jan_wegener Could this be why the RAW-picture is underexposed with about 1 stop for me? It's insane..
I first thought it was error from my part.. that I've seen so wrong in the camera that I've underexposed, but the JPEG is looking good.
@@FredrikLarssonPhoto Yes, they're definitely coming out too dark in Camera RAW. it's a very poor job by Adobe
I recently bought the Canon R5, and I found your guide very useful. One of the things I value in this and other demonstrations of yours is the professionalism of the compilation. Many TH-cam demonstrations lack clarity. Quite often inset videos are almost unreadable because the TH-camr has not paid sufficient attention to the needs of the audience. Yours are exceptionally clear, and well-paced
Great to hear!
Your AF settings are perfect!!!
cheers
You can set 3 Auto Focus buttons on the back....1. Just to grab a whole bird(Zone), 2. Just for the eye, 3. Just for one specific spot. I use all 3 at certain times
Great video, thank you, even if I'm not into birds photography, a great guide to set my new R5. Thank you!
Well done Jan on the video, I have now order my camera and will have to wait until the shop can get hold of one for me, I will definitely set it to the two back button focusing technique you showed that will help me a-lot. One quick question did you have to calibrate this camera to your lens? Have not had a mirror less camera before.
That’s great! No, mirrorless don’t have to be calibrated! How good is that!?
Jan - Thanks for showing how to setup both the AF and the Animal tracking buttons, it really helps. certain features we miss out but the intrinsic details is worth listening and using on the hardware
question: if you set up 3 custom modes for video, how do you quickly switch in between them? can you assign a button to switch through modes? ... and do you see which mode you select without taking the eye away from the viewfinder?
I haven't found that yet. I have to press mode and then move the dial. But it is displayed in the viewfinder, so it's pretty easy. Although usually for video I use the screen, so I take my head off anyways, cause I don;t wanna touch the camera, which will introduce vibrations.
@@jan_wegener If I understand correctly you can program the m-fn button to this, page 817 in the manual :) Guessing it would be a quicker way to just press a button.
@@Smauges I am already using that to get to the video mode. It's the only button I found that let's me switch to standby video and back
Just bought my first R5, thanks to you!! I can't believe how amazing it is. All my EF lenses are working well. This has been very helpful, thank you - it has saved me hours. I have set one for landscape and one for wildlife. When I went to test out my new RF 100-500, I got so caught up in the BBF buttons that I forgot to check my SS. So I have added a minimum shutter speed to the custom mode as well as I'm still using AV, haven't quite progressed to manual for wildlife yet. I'm having a bit of trouble with the eye detection but assume that is just practice. I have also just had a play around with the Canon app which allows you to use it as a remote which will be helpful in Landscape, astro etc as you can change most of the settings as well as take the picture or movie. I didn't want to lose the M-Fn button, so found that you can change to movie by pressing the mode button, then the info button, the info button lets you toggle between stills and movies, then you could select your custom mode then press the red dot button to record. Another great improvement is the dial on the mode wheel that allows me to alter the ISO
Jane, silly question: does the RF to EF converter ship with the camera or is that a separate purchase? Lovely setup you have there and I'm hoping to do the same in the next ~3 months before I go off to South Africa to point lenses at animals.
@@mstrathmore You have to buy the converter separately - there are about 3 styles, basic, one with a ring and one that can take filters. I got the basic one as I can't see a need for the ring one at this stage as you can change exposure. aperture, speed and ISO with the current dials on the camera
Thank you! Great information
Glad it was helpful!
after viewing this, I got my first R5. Thank you Jan
I feel like you just upgraded my R5 from "nice" to "holy sh*t!! wow!!"
Thanks! That's why i did this video. Out of the box the R5 is set up pretty ordinary, but it can become a real beast!
This was a tremendous help!!! I can’t wait to see your other videos and books.
Glad it was helpful!
Would I be right in thinking that you’ve been sleeping with your new camera since you bought it 😅
haha no, it lives on my desk atm :D
This helped me so much! Thank you for your clear directions. It’s exactly what I needed for shooting birds. I too, have struggled with the animal eye detection jumping around.
Also, I love being able to use my thumb to move the focus point!
So much better!
Awesome!
Thank you. You are the first youtube video person to really explain how to set up the camera and why. I'm still struggling on the video custom settings and how to use them but I am so excited about the focus mode now for photos!
Glad I could help! Video is the set up the same way as photos, just in video mode. So you have to switch over before setting it up
@@jan_wegener OK, I will keep working on that. I still have my Canon 5D Mark III and my 7D Mark II and I'm still nervous about parting with them.... :)
@@cecibeck keep them ;)
Yes, we do set up the two back focus buttons differently. Interesting to know how you set up yours. Looking forward to your upcoming videos on bird photography. :-)
Me too. This lockdown is kinda making things a bit harder. How did you set it up?
@@jan_wegener As I commented on your last video, I set up two separate back buttons focus as well but I did it slightly different than your setting. AF-ON as Metering and AF Start, * as Eye Detection AF. Also on AF page 4, Limit AF methods, uncheck all AF methods except Face Tracking and 1-point AF. Set up the camera with Servo AF with Face Tracking. I found this set up helps when I go back and forth taking pictures of people/animals and stationary objects. Press AF-ON for normal AF with Tracking, press * for Eye Detection AF, press AF point button to switch to 1-point AF then use the joystick to move the AF point and AF ON to focus stationary objects. I did other customizations on various buttons as well but using two separate back button focus and the AF point button to switch between tracking without eye detection, tracking with eye detection and 1-point AF for stationery objects are the main things. There are things I wish future update could give us though...1)a single button press to toggle between Full Frame and 1.6x Crop, 2)a single button press to toggle between Mechanical shutter and Electronic shutter, 3)a single button press to toggle between People, Animals and No Priority on Subject to detect.
We all do things differently to achieve the same result and that's the beauty of it really. If we all do things the same way, how boring is that? IMHO, the R5 is an excellent camera for bird photography.
Thank you Jan, a most helpful video.
Glad it was helpful!
Your video and channel are so information. Many thanks for taking the time to do it. I really appreciate it.
My pleasure!
I just got my R5 this month. While first playing with it with a friend I tried taking a picture of a bird deep in a tree. I really fought the focusing points trying to get between the leaves and branches. I ended up calling Canon Tech Support to see how to select an individual focusing point. (Exact same issues you described.) The agent I spoke with was clueless, which surprised me since this camera has been out for nearly three years!
I'm so glad I came across your setup video! I'm a pretty advanced user, having progressed through various Canon models over the years and also having a 1DX Mark iii. But the R5 is a little different beast to setup but I think I'll really like it.
Thanks
Glad I could help
Great video. Has aged well. Still good advice. My only suggestion is that instead of using the upper right of the screen to select focus point, program joystick button to activate that feature and then use joystick to move it around. With your eye to the viewfinder and your thumb half inch away, it is a fast way to reorient your focus point. Also, the “set” button can be set to pop it right back to center. Good job. Will be watching….
Brilliant. I've just bought an R5 and gone through all your settings.
Thank you for a fabulous vid Jan. It's very clear and easy to follow. Now I just need to learn how to use my camera!
Glad it was helpful!
Genius tip on the flexibility between spot AF & Eye Detection AF. Thank you!
Thanks :)
I have been a Canon man since 2004 and now have an R6 to go with all my "L" glass. Thank you for showing me how to set up double back button focus for normal focus and also eye focus on the star button. Jan you are very clever!
I might buy an RF mount 800mm f11 tele lens for birding so I can get the fastest fps. I have my wildlife and nature settings set on C1 and my events and weddings settings set on C3. I just kept the settings the same except for animals on C1 and people on C3
I cannot believe that the sensor is so usable up to 25,500 ISO it's amazing!
Thank you for the wonderful tips! I bought my R5 in the last week, and I’m anxious to get out and find some wildlife.
I have watch your R5 wildlife settings 5 times already. It is so helpful. Thanks
Glad to help!
This is amazing! I learned so much about my new camera! Thank you!!
Glad you found it helpful!
Just got my R6 yesterday and customized all the options according to your video...now the fun part begins! Thanks you so much for this!!
Glad I could help!
Hi Jan! Thank you very much for your very informative instruction video! It was very helpful for the initial setup. I am not sure whether you are aware, but I have noticed recently that it is also possible to use normal autofocus and eye detection auto focus at the same time if you set the shutter button half press to the standard setting (Metering and AF start) and only the AF-On button (or any other button respectively) for "Eye detection AF". The advantage of this setup, you save one button (in your case, the * button) for any other customization you might want to make and still have the choice between normal AF and eye detection AF at any time.
The Eye detection AF overrides the "normal AF" of the shutter button half press, so no interference there.
Greetings from Vienna,
Thomas
Hi Thomas,
yes I have set up a friend's camera like that. personally I like Back-button focus anyways, so my preference is to have both buttons at the back and not have the shutter button focus. Either set up works well and it comes down to personal workflow styles. It's a good way for many people to set it up that ay, so thanks for sharing.
@@jan_wegener Jan, thank you for your fast response. You are right, it's a matter of personal preference. Keep the good work up!
@@tomarse84 thanks, will do.
This is definitely how I will set mine up - BBF has never worked for me, especially when photographing wildlife where things happen so quickly and so briefly. Most likely it's just that I don't have BBF practice, but I really to prefer the cam to start focussing when I half-press.
Your video is, without a doubt, a teriffic asset to anyone aquiring an R5. Thanks very much. When the current issue subsides, I will probably visit Australia and thank you in person..
That would be great!
@@jan_wegener Hi Jan, I have set up my R5 and went to a local area that is great for flying waterfowl, mainly Northern Pintail. Until now I have been using a 7D MkII with a 500/f4, (the initial one). When I used the 7D MkII, I would prefocus on an object that was at a distance that enabled me to view the birds as they came from the side, focus on the bird then shoot at an opportune time. I was very successful. With the R5 I am shooting at 1.6X and jpeg. My computer is an older Mac, which I am going to soon update to the latest OS. At the same time time, I will be going to the latest PS. (I am now using PS CS5 (snow leopard). That will enable me to start shooting RAW.
Today I would prefocus as before, but I was unable to view the birds coming in. Also, when I fired off a few frames, the camera would flash up the frames taken, blocking my ability to follow the birds further.
I know the R5 is capable of out preforming the 7D MkII.......what do you think that I need change/stop doing?
Thanks in advance,
John Lewis, Chico, Ca.
@@johnlewis4310 you have to turn off image review, so it won't be displayed in the viewfinder. In what way were you unable to view the birds in the viewfinder?
@@jan_wegener I have now turned off image review; that has helped. I have been photographing flying waterfowl for several years at the same location with my 7D MKii and a 500 mm/f4 with very good results. I prefocus at a distance that I would expect to be locking focus on incoming birds and hold the shutter-release button down as necessary. When I have used this technique with the R5, if the wait after prefocus is more than ? seconds, the screen has either turned off or I cannot lock focus on a bird(s) because they are far out of focus. At the advice of a Canon customer service person, I increased the length of time the screen remains on. (I have forgotten which screen I used!). Also, ambient light getting into the viewfinder impacts the screen adversely. Hoodman makes replacement eyepieces to fix this, but they are camera specific; I did not view one listed for the R5. What are your thoughts, Jan
John
Just switched my autofocus case based on this video and I'm very happy with it now. I always felt like it was jumping around too much with birds in flight. Thanks for this helpful video
Great to hear!
Many thanks Jan for this great video on setting up the R5. My new R5 came today, can't wait to try it out, you saved me so much time. I have been using a 1DX Mk2 with dual back button focus for a while now and wondered how I could set it up to quickly change from spot to animal eye for my wildlife shooting. The single button press to change from photo to video also helps a lot. Stay safe
thanks PhiL! Glad I could help
Absolutely excellent video. Thanks for the clear presentation of very good tips. Keep the good work!!!
Thanks for watching!
Revisiting this today Jan. Fantastic thank you. Had lost my way for a while now back on track.
Fantastic video and very educational. Just got my R6 and set up my AF as recommended. Agree totally that prefocusing before using eye AF makes sense.
Awesome 😊
This video was so helpful for me to both understand and setup my new R5. Thank you!
Glad it helped!
now thats really a decent setup. Thanks so much for sharing
Thank you so much for this video, I am thinking of upgrading my camera and getting a eos R5 and this will really help me
Great video Jan. My R5 was delivered today and watching your video was the first thing i did!
Fantastic!
Jan, thank you so much for putting this video together and sharing this fabulous information!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I have found that remapping C.Fn3 AF ON to "switch to registered AF func." and "Spot AF" while keeping AF5 "Initial servo AF pt" on AUTO works quite well for me. When face/eye detection doesn't work, I can simply override it by pressing AF ON and it focuses to the middle.
Nice way of setting it up!
Fantastic video! I will be using all your tips to optimize my workflow when my R5 arrives. I can't wait!!
Thanks, happy to help :)
Just waiting on my R5 being delivered and i`ll be returning to this when I start to set mine up! Thanks
Enjoy it
Thanks for this great tutorial, a very nice job putting it together. I found it extremely useful!
Great to hear!
I just received my R5 today and with the assistance of your video I made the suggested changes to the settings. Can’t wait to try them out. Great video. Thank you Jan!
Hope you enjoy it! Glad this could help
Incredibly helpful - picked up my R5 today and followed your video from start to finish. Many thanks
Great to hear! And happy I could help
Thank you, mate, your videos are spot on. Always informative and straight to the point! Cheers.
Thanks Robert!
Excellent video. Thanks for that, very helpful. I’m waiting delivery of my R5, but will certainly be using some, if not all of the settings you highlight. 👍
Great 😊
Thanks, Jan - another excellent video!
Nice and clear Jan. Our set ups are very similar. A couple difference/add-ons include: I prefer the RGB histogram to ensure I'm not blowing highlights in a channel - especially red, I have manual focus peaking on and manual focus guide on for when I do macro (both settings are very helpful!), and I've updated my custom menus with frequent things like format, sensor cleaning, etc so I don't have to dig for them when I want them quickly. My biggest problem with the R5 is now I have an even higher percentage of keepers that are so sharp that it takes me longer to go through the images! Enjoy your R5!
Great points Scott! I agree, it is definitely harder to look through images.
Very useful setting for birding. Especially the one point AF work together with auto eye AF. Thank you for sharing.
Glad it was helpful!
I was getting a bit frustrated over the last month with my R5 with the animal eye focus with birds, as it would at times struggle to find the bird and get lost on leaves and branches. Since switching to your dual back button AF systems my hit rate has gone way up, thanks Jan.
Glad to hear that. That's exactly why I switched that over
Just got my R5. Thank goodness I found this video! Auto focus was giving me FITS! Now I’ve set my camera with all your setting and can’t wait to try them out. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!
Yes, right out of the box it's a bit funny! Glad I could help
Great video. Thanks for sharing especially re customization for video modes.
Glad it was helpful!
Always at the end of the video you leave me with no doubts in my mind! When R5 got released some issues like heating and all prevented me to get it, but after your video now I’m getting it soon! Thanks a lot for Sharing your wisdom and it’s invaluable Jan. #Inspiration 🙏🏻😊
Glad you enjoyed it 😊
Thanks for the video Jan, had the R5 for 3 weeks now and am really loving it. I have taken your advice and gone to back button focusing. I too had that issue with camera getting confused when more than one bird was in frame. I have moved the EYE-AF to the AF point selection button (easier to find for me). This is a whole new way of shooting but I think it will pay off once muscle memory kicks in to new system. Thanks for this invaluable tip...and all the others!
yes, I am still training my fingers to remember where to go on the new camera as well. I am sure it will soon become second nature. A lot comes down to your hand size, which buttons work best I think.
Excellent video. Very helpful and clearly explained. Thank you Jan.
You're very welcome!
@@jan_wegener I waited 4 months for my pre-ordered R5 to arrive. I felt reasonably confident with a lot of the menus but was experiencing exactly what you described with AF for bird photography. I have now, with your help, set up double back-button focus which I didn't really understand until your video! I particularly love your videos on IG.
@@singingbuzz Great to hear!
Great video, very helpful. Keep up the great work. Thanks.
Thanks, will do!
Thanks again Jan. The place I buy most gear at finally got the adapter w/ring in so I ordered and received an R5 and a mess of accessories to replace my 5D. After reading the 1,000 page manual and making some adjustments (some of which I remembered from this and your other videos, but most I did not) I watched this video again and made most of the photo adjustments your suggested and is where I will start. Reading the whole manual was a bit time consuming (and very frustrating when it came to reading that Canon PDF manual... more on that at the end) but as expected, that effort AND your video saved a ton of experimenting and reading so that you very much for all that. The Canon manual adventure was... as I said... frustrating and I had to dig deep down in my back street vocabulary to express myself accordingly. I generally read manuals pretty thoroughly and bookmark, highlight and make notes on pages / items I know I'll have to come back to and not try to memorize anything other than what and where things are in a manual (I suppose that may be left over from my dinosaur age computer career with miles high stacks of reference manuals to deal with). Anyway, one can not do that with the Canon PDF manual as it has security that will only allow printing; no highlighting, copying, adding notes, editing and other functions that would make it easier to read and find info appropriate to one's self. A call to Canon got the response 'It is copyrighted so you can't do that'. So... anyone in the world can download it for free and read it, pass it on to others for free, but... Seems there may be a market for a hybrid Canon R5 manual that one COULD adapt to one's own use.
good old manuals....That's why I usually skip them, although they can be handy.
That protection seems very odd
That was a valuable video. I already had made some of your suggested changes and now did some you suggested. Setting up for a fast switch to video will help me a lot. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
You have no idea how helpful this is.
Awesome
This video has helped me so much! Thank you for taking the time to make it.
You are so welcome!
I just got my R5 and tried playing with the animal eye detection with my dog. Your suggestion of using the AF-ON button to initially lock a focus point is something I'll try!
Great, good luck!
Thanks so much for doing this video. I have transitioned from the 5D Mk4 to the EOS R and now the EOS R5, I mainly shoot weddings, portraits, events, fashion/runway, studio, and some video work.
I plan to create a TH-cam video soon (hopefully ready in September) to show my setup for the EOS R and how it would be different for someone coming from the 5D Mk4 compared to someone coming from the EOS R (because I've basically done both).
I really appreciate your point about the single button to get into video mode, that will help me a lot! Thanks, and I subscribed so I can see more of your videos!
Thank you, sounds great! I skipped the EOS R, but it sounds like an interesting camera
WELL DONE, NOW HAVE EOS R R6 AND R5
awesome
Great easy to understand and follow video. thank you
Glad it was helpful!
Well done, Jan! I'm so glad I found your videos!
My Canon EOS R5 is schedule to arrive today. Using your video, I created a 6 page document, explaining each setting to select. Assuming that it's easy to switch between custom modes, like it is on my 7D Mark II, I think that I'll likely use Photo C1 for birding photography and Photo C2 for people. Now I guess I need to read though your 430 other comments! Thanks!
Thanks! yes the custom modes work well.
Great video Jan. Thank you. I will try most of these settings when I get my camera.
Have fun!
Hola Jan :) Tus videos son muy buenos. Se agradece la claridad y detalles. Tengo la R5 con el RF 100-500 hace 4 meses, es una cámara fantástica. Ver tus videos me ayuda bastante. Me suscribo y continuaré viendo. Saludos desde Talca, Chile.
Great video as usual. Very helpful and very well done
Glad you enjoyed it
I need to go try out your "double back button" focus mode. My quest has been somewhat in the opposite direction. The pro Canon 1D, 1Ds, 1Dx bodies had face detection but they didn't have the horse power needed to drive it and it mostly didn't work. For me, personally, I had the same experience with the particular Sony's A7?? camera I had. So I've assumed that face detect and eye detect were just marketing schemes but it sounds like the hardware has finally caught up and is able to drive the software.
Also, as you mentioned, I wanted the ability to force the camera to focus on a particular spot if I needed it to and that also persuaded me to not mess with the face and eye detect methods.
As a result, the direction I've gone is to have the ability to assist the auto focus with manual. I like how with One-Shot mode, I can set the camera to allow me to manual focus after the camera has focused and it will also magnify the image in the view finder. I'm still playing and testing to see what works and doesn't work on this path. The peeking and focus guides in the MF modes are also very interesting.
But the dual back button mode definitely is interesting. As I'm writing this I'm wondering if a third or fourth bottom could be added to force the camera between one-shot mode and server mode and also force the camera into "full manual" mode.
As you said at the start, there are so many possibilities that it is hard to decide what works best.
Great video... I'm going over and watch how you set up the video next.
Thanks for the valuable tips. I too am just going through the R5 settings and trying to get accustomed to the mirrorless features. Your 2-button back focus will be a setting I am adopting.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you very much for sharing Jan. Much appreciated even though I never shoot birds ;-)
I have a small comment on the back button focus. I have the AF-ON button set for face/eye tracking as you recommend. But I have my single point AF on the shutter release button. When pressing the AF-ON button, it overrules the shutter release button, which is then only used for taking the picture - not focusing. In that way, I don't need two back buttons for different kinds of focusing, only one.
Take care,
Klaus
Hi Klaus,
yes, there are a few different ways to set it up. I set it up exactly like you describe for a friend the other day, but personally I like BBF anyways, so the two buttons work the best for me.
amazingly helpful. Saved me many hours of frustrating trial and error. You rock.
Great to hear :)
I've been using double bbf but I also set the the 3rd back button (af point select) to mode so I can quickly access my custom modes which are preset for hummingbirds or larger birds in flight. I've also changed the front depth of field button to cropping ratio in case I want quickly access the 1.6x crop to get extra reach
Good tip! So many ways to customize!
Great advice! Everyone should definitely customize their camera to their preferences and I think too many people just leave the defaults and learn to adapt to them, instead of adapting the camera to their own preferences and style.
I have a somewhat different approach to AF than you. Since I've found that Eye detect works for me probably 90% of the time, I just leave the AF-ON button for focus and have it typically set to tracking/eye detect, then I have the DOF preview button set to "switch to registered AF func." and have that registered to spot AF. So I use the AF-ON button to focus normally, and it's normally set to eye detect, but if eye detect fails I press and hold the DOF button to temporarily switch to spot, and the AF-ON button then works in spot until I release the DOF button. Then I have the AF point selector button set to toggle between AF modes, and I've turned off all modes but tracking, spot, and field. In case I need to use them for a longer duration. Works for me so far!
Thank you, agree with you!
Interesting set up. I have found myself using the Spot AF more & more.
Very informative and easy to follow. I was able to set the menu up on the recommended settings. Cheers
Great to hear!
The two back-button-focus tip is brilliant! Thank you for saving me a ton of frustration.
Glad it helped!
Great video, thx so much...
One thing: you do not need to remove AF from the shutter. Pressing any button assigned to eye focus will override focus from the shutter button. Consider using mfn button to change between the different focus mode, and you will have the very best flexibility the universe 🙂