MKIII 45 Point AF - Confused Big Time

MaDProFF wrote in post #4117734
Am I right in thinking you cannot have 2 active AF points, like one being the centre and another one say the one above ?

Well, no and yes. You can't "select" two AF points to be active at once,.. but when the camera is set to either all 45 or if expansion is on, the camera will certainly have more than one AF point active,. and when more than one AF point is "in focus" all of the ones "in focus" will light up as well (in Single Shot)

Myles7 wrote in post #4117315
I've always wondered why we weren't given the option to select *all* of the central ring. I only ever use a nominated point (with expansion) - but I'd have been interested to see how using the center 19 in Servo would work.

But which af point would get priority then?

Essentially with AF Expansion on , you already have this feature,. with obvious priority given to you chosen active point.

Even when you let the Camera decide on AF point from all 45,. initial priority is given to the center point.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #4118380
Well, no and yes. You can't "select" two AF points to be active at once,.. but when the camera is set to either all 45 or if expansion is on, the camera will certainly have more than one AF point active,. and when more than one AF point is "in focus" all of the ones "in focus" will light up as well (in Single Shot)

Thanks, Had a feeling that was the case

Well, the center point could remain as the lead. The point was that you could try to run the camera so that it did the usual handing-off of AF from the center point - but not all the way across the frame. This would give you more flexibility in terms of avoiding distractions around the periphery of the frame.

This is exactly what expansion does for you.
It is allowing the camera to use AF points past the center one when needed but set restricted to your choice of expansion limit.

By calling it expansion, Canon seems to have confused some, when in fact what "expansion" really is is "ring of fire" with a smaller predefined "ring".

So what you suggest is a good idea, it's just already been there on previous 1D models, and offered with more flexibility as you can use the entire center ring or less, (7 points total) or expand one more set of AF points out beyond the center 7 in the ring, also it works no matter what "priority" point you chose,.. it is not restricted to the center AF point only.
Despite the flexibility which may seem confusing or different from what you are asking for,.. this does not change the fact that by setting 7 point expansion with center as priority you get exactly the setting option you desire. The setting is already there and has been since the EOS 3.

It worked VERY well on the 1D and 1D2, not as handy on MkIII IMHO.