Shutter button AF vs. Back Button Focus

Giving this thread a 'bump', in the interest of getting additional POTN members to participate in this poll...

Wilt wrote in post #19055942
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Giving this thread a 'bump', in the interest of getting additional POTN members to participate in this poll...
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Is that because my "LIKE" last night got your attention back here to this thread?


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Yes, Tom, actually this is what caused me to come back to this thread! I should say, "Thanks"

I see that in the interim, since the pedantics about 'voters' meaning 'participating active membership, those people voting in this thread' vs 'members' being 'all who ever created accounts on POTN', there have been 20 more voters! Maybe this thread revival will get some more votes.

Glad to vote, I'm a big advocate of BBF for shooting sports. I like having lens focus and firing shutter as separate functions.

I shot using the shutter for years. I never had an issue keeping the shutter ½ presses between burst rounds. It was quite uncomfortable to adjust to the BBF but I forced myself to use it about 2 years ago. Now I use it all of the time.

digital paradise wrote in post #19056064
I shot using the shutter for years. I never had an issue keeping the shutter ½ presses between burst rounds. It was quite uncomfortable to adjust to the BBF but I forced myself to use it about 2 years ago. Now I use it all of the time.

After shooting with manual focus film cameras for years my first AF camera was my 300D in 2005. I was a little disappointed that many of the functions that I was expecting to use regularly were actually limited to use in just a few of the scene modes. Still I was able to mange using it without an issues even though I had to keep the focus control on the first press and was limited to using the AI Focus non-mode, as that was the only AF option in the PASM modes. Actually I even kept shooting it for a couple of years as an MF only camera when the AF Sub-mirror pin broke. Still once I got my 20D I very soon had it set up with BBAF and Continuous AF, and that is how I still shoot. I even have the AF on/* buttons revered on my 50D so that it all still works with the battery grip.

Since this is the way my cameras are set up when my daughter started using my DSLR it was what she learned from the outset, and again she has no trouble with it. In fact when she borrowed her boyfriends camera, a 550D, she could handle all of the changes in the controls between that and my two XXD series cameras, but the one thing she did have to have me do was set it up with BBAF.

Alan

When I learned photography, my first "real" camera was a Minolta SRT 101. It didn't have AF; AF wasn't even an option. So I had a long time to establish habits and preferences before things like BBF would even come into the picture. My first AF camera wasn't until the Canon Elan IIe, and that was pretty radical with the "eye tracking" thing. I used it for a short while (with AF on the shutter) before switching the eye thing off and swapping to BBF.

Someone coming into photography later, with BBF being an option and without yet having habits would be a different demographic for accepting or rejecting (or even knowing about) BBF. I think that a person's preference in adopting BBF (or not) is affected by the timing and technology available.

Also, is the camera ever used by others? With the camera I use most (5D3), I don't use the "M" setting on the dial. I usually use the "C1" setting, which is configured for BBF and where ISO is not on "auto" (and a few other settings). But my wife will often pick up my camera and she's not a fan of BBF (being a casual photographer). She will use that same camera in "Av" mode and the shutter button works as she expects. Also, when I'm just being lazy, or whatever, Av works for me too.

dasmith232 wrote in post #19060267
Someone coming into photography later, with BBF being an option and without yet having habits would be a different demographic for accepting or rejecting (or even knowing about) BBF. I think that a person's preference in adopting BBF (or not) is affected by the timing and technology available.

Before creating this poll, my suspicions were very similar to yours, 'It depends upon how/when they learned' The poll results so far do not seem at all to reflect that, however!

Wilt wrote in post #19060291
Before creating this poll, my suspicions were very similar to yours, 'It depends upon how/when they learned' The poll results so far do not seem at all to reflect that, however!

I've been through so many camera types since 1970 that "how/when" I first learned something has become irrelevant.

I learned how to integrate the Scheimpflug principle into my focusing; so I figure I can learn to focus anything.

If my next camera takes yet again some new technique...it's just one more.

I started using BBF for fun, I never saw much use for it until I found out I should have changed my half pressed shutter button to just meter. Even then, though, I often shoot in manual and know where the marker should be on the light meter in darker situations. Now that I'm shooting mirrorless, I don't see the point in BBF aside from having AI Servo on for focusing. It's just something I do now, but I don't particularly advocate/see much benefit to use.

I've been happy using BBF exclusively for about eight years, shooting mainly birds when I started. However, in the past two weeks, I've become increasingly frustrated missing focus when shooting warblers and other small birds. Getting a later than normal start this year, thanks to World War C, means foliage is thicker than I like, with birds darting in and out of cover quickly. So, I decided to give shutter button focusing a try, thinking it just might cut my reaction time by a split second. The result has been a surprising increase in my keeper rate. I'm using a 7DmkII, BTW.

So, I have a question. I'd like to be able to easily switch between BBF and shutter button focusing (SBF?). Right now I have the SBF settings as a custom function. Is there a better way for me to do this?

As for the voting: I don't use BBF. I personally don't see any real advantage with today's cameras numerous options in focus settings.

On the R6 (and 5D4) I use two completely different configured AF setups tied to the two back buttons, it's very nice to switch between Eye AF and spot AF by just changing the button I press for focus (and different AF configurations for each).

I still prefer to use one BBF button. Since I don't shoot video I assigned that button to switch between eye and non eye AF with the R5. I use Fv, C1-3 modes and use the M-Fn button to toggle between them. Fv is on Spot while C1-3 is for various zone AF modes where I can apply eye focus or not. I also prefer to toggle manually between the EVF and Display and assigned the * button for that.

digital paradise wrote in post #19137843
I still prefer to use one BBF button. Since I don't shoot video I assigned that button to switch between eye and non eye AF with the R5. I use Fv, C1-3 modes and use the M-Fn button to toggle between them. Fv is on Spot while C1-3 is for various zone AF modes where I can apply eye focus or not. I also prefer to toggle manually between the EVF and Display and assigned the * button for that.

Ain't it grand to be able to do so?