550D question on AF point selection

Hi, I own a 40D and to select the AF point is relatively easy. A friend from Australia paid us a visit and I noticed that a fair amount of her photographs were focused on the wrong subject. I suggested changing the point to help the camera. This was however at the end of her journey and she had to fly back before we could look in the manual. A quick Google:

"Holding the + key, look thru the viewfinder, and use the dial to change the AF point."

I downloaded the sales brochure to see the back of the camera and the only plus key is on the top right hand side. The one used to zoom in and out of pre-view shots. Is this correct and what dial do they talk about?

My 40D seems to work easier than this setup. When she lands on the other side I want to send an email over there with some advice. A page number in the manual will also help.

Thanks

Here is an example. The zebra are drinking water and was the main subject, but at closer inspection, the twigs on the far bank are in focus. The camera selected the grass and left the zebra out of focus.

You press the plus key (which has silver markings above it to show it's the AF point button too) then you can either look into the viewfinder or look at the screen on the back of the camera and use either the dial behind the shutter button or the arrow buttons around the SET button to select the points.
It's explained on page 68 of the manual.

It's more awkward than the XXD cameras because the XXXD isn't really aimed at people who'll be changing the AF point manually a lot.

Thanks a mil, DazJW. It saves me downloading the full manual to search for this option. Will send the page number and instructions across.

No worries.
One other thing I should add is that it has to be in a 'Creative zone' mode - Av, Tv, M or P.

Note that you have to venture into the land of the complex settings for this to work. In other words, the green box or any of the little picture modes will not allow you to select the focus points.

Use Av, Tv or whatever at that end of the dial.

I could have saved myself from writing this.

apersson850 wrote in post #10512396
Note that you have to venture into the land of the complex settings for this to work. In other words, the green box or any of the little picture modes will not allow you to select the focus points.

Use Av, Tv or whatever at that end of the dial.

I could have saved myself from writing this.

Thanks, I found the silver markings and it is good to know you need to be Av,Tv or M and so on. On my 40D I never go to the JPG only options. We already discussed the RAW option and I mentioned that she should go there. This will obviously provide AF point selection as well as the ability to adjust exposures and so on before making JPGs.

The newer cameras allow RAW in the symbolic modes as well.
As far as I remember, you can't select AF points in CA mode either.

I dont really touch CA, It looks basic yet appears complicated

I use P Mode

The initial step into that part of the dial should 10 to 1 be P mode. It reduces the amount of decisions and at least gets the exposure levels within limits. Another thing may be to select the centre focus point and leave it there for a while. The two thirds rule is something one can cover at a later stage.

In the zebra example, this would have showed in-focus zebras.

They'd still be striped, though.

And I thought the stripes were due to heavy banding as a result of the focus issues

Not a problem... it now looks more like Africa

Canon provide an additional accesory called the "Users Manual"
Sometimes that is a good place to start.

philwillmedia wrote in post #10517642
Canon provide an additional accesory called the "Users Manual"
Sometimes that is a good place to start.

Phil, no problem and I am the first one there My 40D manual in this case was of little value sorry. The situation was further complicated by my friend being in Australia and I am sitting in Africa

I thought I should download the 550D manual from Canon, but asked the questions first

My apologies