Hope this doesn't sound dumb

I've played with setting up my 7D to use back button focus using the AF ON button

How do I go back to the default way?

I went to the menu and selected clear all custom functions but it seems the AF on button is still Auto Focusing?

Am I doing something wrong?
What could the AF on button be doing now?

The AF on button does autofocusing by default, thats what AF-On stands for. I take it your shutter button no longer has focus function?

Shutter is controlling Auto focus too, if the AF on defaults for auto focus what is the purpose for setting up custom function for back button focus ?

Many of us want to make sure the shutter button does not involve itself in the focus process. For instance I often focus and recompose for portrait work. Its easier to turn the focus on and off and the back and not risk accidental refocus when pushing the shutter button.

Awesome, so basically that custom control just disables the shutter focus button correct?

MichaelLynn wrote in post #17074478
Awesome, so basically that custom control just disables the shutter focus button correct?

Yes, but with options. To decode what it does pay attention to the slash (or dash I cant remember which) The functions before the slash go the back button and the ones after the slash are controlled by the shutter button. Its been a while since I looked but knowing that bit of information makes it easier to understand.

gonzogolf wrote in post #17074481
Yes, but with options. To decode what it does pay attention to the slash (or dash I cant remember which) The functions before the slash go the back button and the ones after the slash are controlled by the shutter button. Its been a while since I looked but knowing that bit of information makes it easier to understand.

Actually it's the other way round. Shutter button/AF On button. Then you can switch AF On and the * button too. You used to have to use the * before they introduced the dedicated AS button. Why would you want to do that? Well some prefer the button position, but mostly if you use a grip it only has the * button, at least for a lot of cameras.

Alan

BigAl007 wrote in post #17074792
Actually it's the other way round. Shutter button/AF On button. Then you can switch AF On and the * button too. You used to have to use the * before they introduced the dedicated AS button. Why would you want to do that? Well some prefer the button position, but mostly if you use a grip it only has the * button, at least for a lot of cameras.

Alan

Thanks i should have checked it

You're mixing the setup methods here.
The 7D pioneered the new setup method for the buttons, the method now used for the 1DX, 5D Mark III and so on. Thus the lines with shutter button/rear button no longer exist, nor the relationsships between different buttons and their combined setups.
On the 7D, the button configuration menu dedicates one setup to each button.
Thus to set the 7D for back button focus only, what you do is that you remove the AF function from the shutter button. Then you're done.

If you for some reason want to exchange the functionality between the AF-ON and * buttons, you program each of them to do what you want it to do individually. There is no "swap" function between them. A better idea could be to have AF on AF-ON and AF with a pre-registered point on * button. If you still need AE-lock, you can assign that to the M-Fn button instead. Both the BG-E7 and WFT-E5 grips for the 7D supports both AF-ON and * buttons.

apersson850 wrote in post #17074939
You're mixing the setup methods here.
The 7D pioneered the new setup method for the buttons, the method now used for the 1DX, 5D Mark III and so on. Thus the lines with shutter button/rear button no longer exist, nor the relationsships between different buttons and their combined setups.
On the 7D, the button configuration menu dedicates one setup to each button.
Thus to set the 7D for back button focus only, what you do is that you remove the AF function from the shutter button. Then you're done.

If you for some reason want to exchange the functionality between the AF-ON and * buttons, you program each of them to do what you want it to do individually. There is no "swap" function between them. A better idea could be to have AF on AF-ON and AF with a pre-registered point on * button. If you still need AE-lock, you can assign that to the M-Fn button instead. Both the BG-E7 and WFT-E5 grips for the 7D supports both AF-ON and * buttons.

Can you just walk through the steps to set this up?

If you look through Canon's own tutorials, they have a great article describing this.

http://www.learn.usa.c​anon.com …ckbutton_af_art​icle.shtml

The user's manual does that pretty well. Look for C.Fn IV-1 and the detailed description which follows (on page 233 in my edition - your's may be different, depending on translation). There's a table with an overview of which functions can be assigned to which buttons too.

Press the "Q" button. Select the lower right icon. Select the item you wish to assign or change a particular function.

Just found this great video that walks you through the whole process and gives tips

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=Io4cEDtqdno

apersson850 wrote in post #17074939
You're mixing the setup methods here.
The 7D pioneered the new setup method for the buttons, the method now used for the 1DX, 5D Mark III and so on. Thus the lines with shutter button/rear button no longer exist, nor the relationsships between different buttons and their combined setups.
On the 7D, the button configuration menu dedicates one setup to each button.
Thus to set the 7D for back button focus only, what you do is that you remove the AF function from the shutter button. Then you're done.

If you for some reason want to exchange the functionality between the AF-ON and * buttons, you program each of them to do what you want it to do individually. There is no "swap" function between them. A better idea could be to have AF on AF-ON and AF with a pre-registered point on * button. If you still need AE-lock, you can assign that to the M-Fn button instead. Both the BG-E7 and WFT-E5 grips for the 7D supports both AF-ON and * buttons.

Excellent explanation. For clarity, however, the underlined statement is not quite true. The Rebels(xxxD models) still use the old system, as they have no AF-ON button.