You're a living user manual that actually has the answers. I gotta say, you're more informative and better than chatGTP 4o. So thanks again and I hope Canon will back up the money truck for you.

I was racking my brain trying to figure this out, reading and watching videos of people trying to explain this feature. The easiest way I found to remember is the INITIAL Servo-Face+Tracking (SFT) feature: 1) Initial "AF pt for Face" remembers the last SFT place "AF pt for Face" was set and will start AF from that INITIAL "point" again when set to SFT. 2) AF pt set for the four non-face AF points will remember and start focusing from those INITIAL non-face points when you change to SFT. i.e., the top two modes pick up where they left off. 3) [AUTO] automatically selects the INITIAL focus point when changing to SFT.

For use in crowds or or team sports, the auto setting is way too slow. The other versions that let you choose the target work great! Too many people are not using the face/eye tracking because they haven’t moved from auto and the h get discouraged like I did at first. Canon should make videos like yours and point people to them. Thanks for creating and posting this.

Thanks Jason. Your video is much more clear than the manual and lots of other “experts” on KZread. I now fully understand these initial af pt’s and know what my choice is and why. Thanks again. 👍

@PointsInFocus

2 жыл бұрын

Glad it helped!

Sir, you are a genius and an extraordinary teacher!!! Thank you

@PointsInFocus

3 жыл бұрын

I don't know about genius, but I'm glad you're finding the videos helpful.

Thank you, I have been trying ti figure out what these two mean and this is the clearest explanation I have found

Thanks Jason. I’m still experimenting with this myself. In AUTO I’ve found that when no face is present pressing the joystick causes system to track whatever is in the center of the frame, promising. Potentially what I like about auto is I can continuously track something without initiating focus, I think this could be useful but not convinced how reliable this will be. If you’ve tried and reached any conclusions let us know.

Very informative and precise explanation. I really love your videos. They are much useful for my R5. Thank You! Jan, DK

@PointsInFocus

3 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

Thanks a lot! I was looking for an explanation of this feature!

Beautifully explained thank you very much. I'm playing between the three and I find when using the middle option, I miss the ability to switch between eyes/faces with the control knob when it's detecting faces and gives you the left/right arrows... So i tend to use Auto and when I have multiple faces I place the cluster AF point on the face I want to focus on and activate eye tracking with a back button assigned to eye tracking, and then recompose...But I'm still figuring out....

Hi Jason. I wanted to let you know that I find these options useful when using dual BBF on birds in cover. I have my AF-ON button configured to use an AF area selection (usually one point). My * button is usually configured for all points auto. Sometimes I'll use the one point area selection (AF-ON) to get the AF in the 'zone' before switching to all points auto (*) for subject tracking. This works well if backgrounds could be tricky for a full auto subject search, but not overly complex. With complex backgrounds, multiple subjects, or when AF scenarios are otherwise less than ideal, tying where the AF starts looking for subject tracking with initial area selection is extremely helpful toward getting the AF subject tracking on target. I hope my explanation makes sense. Thank you for the videos.

@PointsInFocus

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing your tips. Always good to hear what works for others.

Thank you for attempting to explain. Its very complicated. Seems its easier for R7 where it tracks the flexible zones. I wonder which will work best for soccer

Hi Jason! I have tried to email you, but some "Please solve Captcha correctly" problem won't let me do that. Apologize the loner text, but it's needed to explain. I discovered your channel a couple of months ago, and I really enjoy every minute here and all your serious work. Working as an electrical engineer for many years, I respect your professional approach to e.g. the Canon R5 related issues. There is a lot of “noise” on the Internet, but I find your tips and information always useful! So - this is why, you are the only one to whom I can address this specific question. It concerns focusing on the Canon R5. I do a lot of wildlife photography, especially birds in flight, and a lot of people advise to customize two buttons on the back of the camera - e.g. the AF and the star buttons. I have worked with another setup, but I don’t know, if I am violating the focusing system. I have kept both the exposure and the focus on the shutter button, and (always in “servo-mode”) with only one active focus point, I can set my focus, where I want to. Besides this, I have dedicated the AF button to “Eye Focus and Tracking” with animal as chosen object. Then, if the birds are there, I press the AF button, and if the contrast is high enough, it will find the eye or at least the face/body of the bird, BUT then when I press the trigger: Will the focusing bound to the shutter overrule the “Eye Focusing”? In practice it seems to work, but I don’t know what is happening, when I press the shutter.

@PointsInFocus

2 жыл бұрын

My understanding, based on my testing and experience, is that any more specific AF operation set on a button other than the shutter release, will override the shutter release's behavior. So if you have a rear button set for eye-detect AF, then pressing that will cause the camera to do eye-detect AF, instead of whatever AF method the shutter button would have done. At least this is the case if you're holding both simultaneously. If you're pressing the eye-AF button then releasing it then pressing the shutter button, I believe the camera will refocus using the normal configuration for the shutter button.

@howardholtzman1331

2 жыл бұрын

Customize your AF-On button to "Switch to Registered AF Func", go to Details and select the Method "Eye Tracking". This will eliminate any conflict between the AF-On Button and the Shutter Button and gives you more flexibility. Your focus will only work when you press the Shutter Button halfway down.

You have to use face tracking in main menu with AED to use those initial point options. If you use the custom BB AED in the shortcut it always defaults to auto and will not use those options.

Hey, Jason. It seems worth pointing out that there is no difference between the first two options if you are using dual BBF with one button assigned to Eye AF and the other assigned to a different AF Method since there is no way to independently move the focus point for the secondary AF Method. I suspect this has resulted in some confusion for R5 shooters struggling to understand the difference between the first two menu options. A second, unrelated thought: If you have not done so already, it might be worth dedicating a video to the uses of the Switch to Registered AF Func option. It is a really powerful option that deserves more attention than it gets. It can be used to essentially add a third BBF option the the R5; and to nest a separate and independent custom mode within each custom mode; and to create a quickly-accessible preset that is persistent across all non-custom modes. Just a thought.

@PointsInFocus

Жыл бұрын

You're right, if you want to move the AF point you have to have the "movable" AF method as the primary method and Eye AF as the second AF on button. Sadly, no matter how many times I think I've got everything worked out for a good clear explanation I always find there's one more detail or situation that I miss or overlook. As for Switch to Registered AF point, I haven't done a video on that specifically, mostly since I don't really use it so I don't have a ton of familiarity with it and how to get the most out of it. That said, it sounds interesting so I'll throw it on the ever growing ideas/todo list and see what shakes out wit that.

Customize your AF-On button to "Switch to Registered AF Func", go to Details and select the Method "Eye Tracking". This will eliminate any conflict between the AF-On Button and the Shutter Button and gives you more flexibility. Your focus will only work when you press the Shutter Button halfway down.

@timothylinn

Жыл бұрын

You've repeated this advice a couple times in the comments here. It seems worth clarifying that your advice assumes that the R5's shutter button is still configured to trigger AF. While there is nothing wrong with this if it works best for you, most users who want to configure different buttons for different AF Methods are better off decoupling AF from the shutter button altogether and instead employing back button AF (BBF). This is really best practice for a number of reasons. That said, Switch to Registered AF Func is a really powerful option that deserves more attention than it gets. It really deserves its own video. It can be used to essentially add a third BBF option and to nest a separate and independent custom mode within each custom mode in addition to a quickly-accessible preset that is persistent across all non-custom modes.

Ok got the 2 options. Thanks for the info. Any use cases when to use option 1 or option 2 would be helpful?

@PointsInFocus

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Peter, The difference between the first and second options is that the first option stores the location of the box separately from where your spot/one shot AF point is stored. While the second uses the same position. I demonstrated the differences between the first two options in the video at 2:54 for "Initial AF point set for face/tracking" (the first option) and at 3:36 for "Same as spot/single..." (the second option). Notice how in first case, the AF box jumps from one place to another when the AF method changes from face/tracking to spot or the reverse, while in the second case it stays in the same place. It really is that subtle of a difference. Sorry if that's not clear enough, the difference in those options really is quite subtle and I'm not sure if there's a more clear way to show it. Hope that helps.

@isotechimages.9130

3 жыл бұрын

@@PointsInFocus I still struggling with option 1& 2 as l understand what you saying but cannot in practice find any difference in how they perform must be most subtle

@PointsInFocus

3 жыл бұрын

The difference isn't in how they preform, but how the position of the box relates to the position of your other AF points (in spot, one point, and expanded modes). With option 1 when you switch between face/tracking and spot/one point AF, the position of the point in the viewfinder won't be the same (unless by coincidence). With option 2, the position of the box and the spot/one point AF will be the same and moving the AF point in either mode will affect the position of the AF point in the other mode.

@PointsInFocus

3 жыл бұрын

@Peter Ding, Sorry about that I totally misread your question when I was responding the other day. My bad. I would say that choosing between option 1 and 2 comes down to whether you'd prefer to have the tracking pick up where your single shot mode was or have it separate. So less of a use case and more of a personal preference thing. I switch between auto when I'm shooting people and option 2, and basically don't use option 1 at all. I personally find it preferable to have the AF box stay in the same place when I switch between spot AF and face/tracking.

@isotechimages.9130

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah l get what you saying l am having trouble understanding the link between single point and eye detect and being able to set the first 2 modes and see the difference on the screen, oh well in lockdown plenty time to play around.

Clear as mud…..

I did not find in which menu to set up options

I’m having difficulty finding any other videos online covering this, as most all demos are just in full auto for showing eye detect, but so what I’m interested in is the behavior of the servo face+tracking focus mode with priority set to people and eye detection, and with manual initial af point used. So, with all that set, does this focus mode only recognize or meant for faces/eyes, or will it also still track other objects (around the frame) if you put your focus square over them? A Sony a7iv worked this beautifully with their real time tracking, just in one mode, no set up required, it would track anything you out your smallish square on, and if that square happened to be on a face, then bam, eye detect - no having to program an eye af custom button or anything. An example would be shooting a concert. I would want to move my initial af point little focus box (while in face+tracking AF mode) on the r6 on the guitar players face , let eye af come up and do it’s thing, but then say I want to aim lower at their hand on the guitar’s neck, dancing on the strings. Can I , in that same focus mode, release AF to stop it, then put the AF point square on their hand and engage focus and have it track their hand now across the frame? Hoping this makes sense. Want to make sure the camera works the way I’d want it to. Basically how Nikon dslr 3d tracking worked even. You pick a single af point, hit af on, and it’d try to stick with wherever, but with the added eye af when applicable if your focus area includes a face/eye. Thank you!

@PointsInFocus

Жыл бұрын

When the Initial servo AF point is set to either of the non "auto" settings, the camera will prioritize tracking whatever was under the AF box when you started focusing. It will, however, switch subjects if it loses that initial subject (such as if it goes out of frame). You would have to put the box over, or at least near a person, to get the camera to select that person's face. In auto mode, you can get the camera to tack anything simply by centering that in the middle of the frame and pressing straight in on the multi-controller (it'll double box the detected subject in the middle of the frame and follow it around as you recompose). There won't be a box until you press the multi-controller, and it's not as precise as using the initial AF point box though. In your application, you may also want to look into dual back button focusing too. Using that you can configure more specific AF settings for the AF-On and * buttons to match you exact use cases, and switch between them simply by holding the other button. If you're not a back button focusing user, you can also use the back buttons to override the shutter half-press settings as well. Hope that helps.

How do I enable Expand AF method on R5. I cannot find the setting . Appreciate your advise

@PointsInFocus

Жыл бұрын

You cannot expand the initial servo AF "box", as it's not actually a focus point, it's only an indicator to the AF system as to what it should start tracking. The actual focusing will use all of the sensor.

What’s the best settings for eye af and portraits?

@PointsInFocus

2 жыл бұрын

Face and eye detection bypass this setting. If you have them enabled, the camera will just find the faces/eyes directly.

So basically if I am only doing static photos, landscape basically then either 3 really do not matter?

@PointsInFocus

2 жыл бұрын

Yes. Bear in mind, this function also only applies if you're using servo AF, so it has no effect if you're using one shot.

@jameswestii454

2 жыл бұрын

@@PointsInFocus Ok. Thank you.

I have seen few reports on Firmware 1.5.0 bug. People wants to downgrade to 1.4.0. Any Idea what is the issue & how wide spread it is?

@PointsInFocus

2 жыл бұрын

The issue, as far as I've seen it is the complaint that the combination of setting the viewfinder performance to smooth and enabling the new "Suppress lower frame rate" option impacted autofocus performance. That's also been coupled with complaints that unchecking the setting doesn't actually disable it. From what I can tell, these are either not an actual issues or they're not widespread at all. To start with, I couldn't reproduce the issues when I tried. Though obviously I'm a sample size of 1, so if it's specific to some cameras and not others (though I have no idea why that would be the case) then that may not matter. Second, Canon has neither pulled the firmware, or released an update for it. Historically, if a firmware update has caused problems, even on a relatively small scale, Canon will both pull the firmware and release an update in pretty short order. FW 1.5 went up in early December, Canon's had 2 months to investigate and fix an issue if there is in fact a wide spread problem. Finally, most of the complaints I've seen have been people complaining about are expected behavior (described in the manual) for the lower frame rate suppression option. Specifically, the combination of Smooth viewfinder performance and the low frame rate suppression feature is called out specifically for potentially causing difficulty autofocusing. Hope that helps.

@hdmalith82

2 жыл бұрын

@@PointsInFocus thank you. Im about to get my R5. Just saw the matter on internet but couldn't find enough to say its an issue. Thanks for answering. Really helps.

But how do you manually move the white box?

@PointsInFocus

4 ай бұрын

The same way you move any other AF Point kzread.info/dash/bejne/a4GapLanqKS_h9o.html

@patriciaalexander-johnson4797

4 ай бұрын

I tried using the various dials but they don’t work.

@PointsInFocus

4 ай бұрын

The dials won't work unless you're in the AF method selection menu (press the button with the 5 points in a plus shape surrounded by a box on the right most side above the card door). I covered how to enable using the multi-controller in the linked video. You can also use the touch screen, just by touching where you want the box if you're not trying to look through the viewfinder, or by enabling touch and drag AF as I showed in the linked video.

I’m trying to understand but still don’t get it sir.

@PointsInFocus

9 ай бұрын

I think the best way to think about the setting is like this. You have two options, if you set this to auto the camera does what it pleases and you have no control over where servo AF starts focusing. For a lot of cases, you can leave it set to this and the camera will generally work fine. This is especially true if you're using subject detection. The other option (the top two settings) let you manually position an AF box where you want the camera to start focusing when you're in servo AF mode. If you use subject detection, and it's over a subject, then the camera will start tracking that subject. This is good when you want to have control or quickly need to get the camera to start tracking a specific subject or area when you start focusing. The difference between the first and second settings are whether the camera stores the position of the "initial servo AF point" separately from the single point AF box, or uses the same position. The different really comes down to whether you want your single/spot AF box to move when you move the initial AF point (and vice versa) or not. Ultimately, this one is tricky to talk about, and really you kind of have to play with it to really understand what the different settings do.

@gongyotpoomtago6111

9 ай бұрын

Thank you so much sir. Now, I get it:)

You are confusing me every time I see this video

@PointsInFocus

Жыл бұрын

I'm sorry to hear that. This is one of the few topics I've done with the R5 that I've never been completely satisfied with. Unfortunately, I've never quite figured out a less confusing way to explain the function, and to an extent I think it's just a confusing function to start with. 🙁