The Opposite of Back Button Focus

Maybe this is old hat to some, but since I only got a body with an 'AF-On' button a couple months ago this was new to me.

I've tried 'back button focussing' (BBF) as I understand the advantages and I have found that ergonomically it just does not work for me. I really, really like having my focus tied to a half press of the shutter button.

The one scenario of BBF that often calls to me is the ability to set the camera to AI Servo focus but still use 'focus recompose' shooting when needed by tapping the back button. When you use the shutter button to focus this does not work, and when you need to do it resetting the camera to 'One Shot' usually takes too long.

So I was scanning the menus on the 1D3 and I realized that you can set the 'AF ON" button to function as 'AF OFF'. Awesome! Now I can focus and shoot in AI Servo as I usually do, but I can also focus-recompose a shot by pressing and holding the AF OFF button.

This is a nice feature for anyone else that does not like to take their focussing function off the shutter button.

ah cool, never heard of this... will definantly try it out - i do use BBF but this might be a nice alternative as i find my thumb almost permanently on the afon button, tapping away to ensure re aquisition before quickly recomposing and taking my thumb off...

this makes sense to try as it means that while centering over the focal point anyway, the bulk of your pressing is done by the (more ergonomical) shutter button and while recomposing you press the back button .... makes sense as the recompose bit for me is the shorter time frame part of the process, with focus aquisition usually what i am ensuring...

might mean my wife can take a photo with my camera too - im pretty sure the 1d3 doesnt have a "my wife" green box mode

I've become so used to bbf that I never think about it anymore. It definitely has its advantages.

I don't have an AF-On button on my 5D.

I've got two back button focus buttons, one does center point, the other does ring of fire. I don't know if you can do that on the Mark III, but on the II it's very easy using registered AF points on the WB+/- button and BBF on the * button.

BBF is just... wrong.

JeffreyG wrote in post #7909754
I've tried 'back button focussing' (BBF) as I understand the advantages and I have found that ergonomically it just does not work for me. I really, really like having my focus tied to a half press of the shutter button.

Ahh, I thought I was the only one.

Cameras like the 40D also support the reversal of the AF-ON function (what's called AF-OFF above).

There's no "ring of fire" on a 40D, but if you set it to use the joystick directly for AF selection, you can have all points active by pressing the AF select button, center point by pressing on the joystick and keep AF-ON and * to work as you like them to do.

.....well....okay, while we are throwing ideas around, on my 1DS, I normally use the center focus point, however, in C.Fn you can set a 'registered' af point also. When shooting, I am defaulted to the center af, but like when the camera is rotated to portrait, I press the 'assist' button, and the active af point becomes the one that is now at the top of the viewfinder ( the 3 o'clock af point in landscape ). Perfect for being able to focus on a persons eye, for instance.

I don't know what other bodies support 'registered af point'....but check your manual. Very handy.

george m w wrote in post #7914360
.....well....okay, while we are throwing ideas around, on my 1DS, I normally use the center focus point, however, in C.Fn you can set a 'registered' af point also. When shooting, I am defaulted to the center af, but like when the camera is rotated to portrait, I press the 'assist' button, and the active af point becomes the one that is now at the top of the viewfinder ( the 3 o'clock af point in landscape ). Perfect for being able to focus on a persons eye, for instance.

I don't know what other bodies support 'registered af point'....but check your manual. Very handy.

I use the registered point all the time. I love toggling from the center point to the one that is top-center in portrait orientation.

JeffreyG wrote in post #7909754
Maybe this is old hat to some, but since I only got a body with an 'AF-On' button a couple months ago this was new to me.

I've tried 'back button focussing' (BBF) as I understand the advantages and I have found that ergonomically it just does not work for me. I really, really like having my focus tied to a half press of the shutter button.

The one scenario of BBF that often calls to me is the ability to set the camera to AI Servo focus but still use 'focus recompose' shooting when needed by tapping the back button. When you use the shutter button to focus this does not work, and when you need to do it resetting the camera to 'One Shot' usually takes too long.

So I was scanning the menus on the 1D3 and I realized that you can set the 'AF ON" button to function as 'AF OFF'. Awesome! Now I can focus and shoot in AI Servo as I usually do, but I can also focus-recompose a shot by pressing and holding the AF OFF button.

This is a nice feature for anyone else that does not like to take their focussing function off the shutter button.

I don't understand how this is different than keeping the focus on the back button. If you need to recompose in AI Servo, once you have what you want in focus, take your finger off the button, recompose and trip the shutter.

In One Shot... focus on what you want, hit the button until you get the confirm, then recompose and trip the shutter.

I have no issues with the back button set to AF ON, whether in Servo or OS.

bohdank wrote in post #7916303
I don't understand how this is different than keeping the focus on the back button. If you need to recompose in AI Servo, once you have what you want in focus, take your finger off the button, recompose and trip the shutter.

In One Shot... focus on what you want, hit the button until you get the confirm, then recompose and trip the shutter.

I have no issues with the back button set to AF ON, whether in Servo or OS.

Well, the common usage of BBF removes the focusing function from the shutter button completely. BBF shooters must develop the habit of pressing the back button on every singe shot.

What I am talking about is leaving the focus function on the shutter button and continuing to focus most of the time with a half press. Then, if the camera is in servo mode you can focus with that half press, hold the AF-ON button (now AF-OFF), recompose the shot and press the shutter again to take a picture. Without that AF-OFF capability you cannot do this in servo mode as the focus plane will jump off the subject as soon as you recompose.

In essence, AF-OFF allows focus-recompose in servo mode for people who use the shutter button to focus.

JeffreyG wrote in post #7916401
Well, the common usage of BBF removes the focusing function from the shutter button completely. BBF shooters must develop the habit of pressing the back button on every singe shot.

What I am talking about is leaving the focus function on the shutter button and continuing to focus most of the time with a half press. Then, if the camera is in servo mode you can focus with that half press, hold the AF-ON button (now AF-OFF), recompose the shot and press the shutter again to take a picture. Without that AF-OFF capability you cannot do this in servo mode as the focus plane will jump off the subject as soon as you recompose.

In essence, AF-OFF allows focus-recompose in servo mode for people who use the shutter button to focus.

Do you find your new setup superior to BBF in any way other than your preference for not moving focus away from the shutter button?

With my 20D, as soon as I discovered BBF I switched it and never looked back. How long did you try it before you gave up?

gooble wrote in post #7916458
Do you find your new setup superior to BBF in any way other than your preference for not moving focus away from the shutter button?

With my 20D, as soon as I discovered BBF I switched it and never looked back. How long did you try it before you gave up?

I used BBF for 3 weeks before I concluded that I only use it for a few specific things (later).

Why BBF is not for me:

1. I do not use the camera meter generally so splitting off metering is a non-issue for me.
2. When I shoot in servo mode I am continuously tracking and I find the shutter button is more intuitive for me to control focus.
3. I rarely focus-recompose in any mode, so the AF-OFF button is convenient enough for this rare instance.
4. My right thumb is typically very busy when I am shooting either toggling focus points or rolling the QCD. Re-locating the AF button is an additional hassle.

Where I do use BBF: Shooting water skiing from a boat. I can re-touch focus time to time as the boat bobs about without having problems trying to continuously focus while struggling in a wildly moving boat. This is so far the only place I have found BBF to be superior for me.

JeffreyG wrote in post #7916519
Why BBF is not for me:

1. I do not use the camera meter generally so splitting off metering is a non-issue for me.
2. When I shoot in servo mode I am continuously tracking and I find the shutter button is more intuitive for me to control focus.
3. I rarely focus-recompose in any mode, so the AF-OFF button is convenient enough for this rare instance.
4. My right thumb is typically very busy when I am shooting either toggling focus points or rolling the QCD. Re-locating the AF button is an additional hassle.

Same on all points for me. I can see a benefit of it if you're using one of the semi-auto modes and want to separate the metering from focus, but that's about it. For the time I tried it, it just seemed like an additional thing I needed to remember to do for no apparent benefits.

Ok. I understand. I prefer to have my buttons and reactions be consistent so... AF-ON on the back button only. Less things to remember.

Whatever works for you.