Canon R8 Help understanding auto focus

ctitanic said:

Totally agree. These exchange of experiences and methods are invaluable source of knowledge for both rookies and experts. Our cameras are complex tools and you can't pretend that you know everything about them. When you think that you know all there is somebody coming with a new trick to improve what you already know. Photography is not static it changes with every new feature or camera release. You are always learning.

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Photofarmer said:

And there’s no boneheads or smartarses in this group, no read the manual, no snarky comments no belittling or made to feel stupid heck if there was I’d be long gone

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Radical 1 said:

Hello Group, finally had some time to play with the R8 using a 100-400 canon lens. Having troubles understanding the auto focus area in automatic mode, I have taken 2 pictures both at the same objects, the one on the left is manually focused onto the large tree center frame, the second picture is fully auto focus and it will not pickup the same tree, only the branches in front of the tree. Is there a way to manually set the auto focus to center frame permanently or is the only way to achieve the left image by

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jcass said:

You're not alone. I switched to Back-Button-Focus (BBF) with my Canon 7D. It was a game changer primarily for focus and recompose, which appears to me to be the scenario in your original question... how to use AF instead of MF to "pick" the focal point of an image. Covered before in earlier posts, but on my 7D setup I would have a CenterPoint AF on a back button and would use that to focus and recompose. I have comfortably done that for years and it has become ingrained in my mind.

The game has changed again - for the better, but all change requires learning. I've had an R5 for the past four years which I used very much the same as my longtime 7D. Now I've upgraded to the 5D Mk II... The AF system in the camera is doing way more than I could have ever done myself with my 7D. I find that I am struggling with letting go of control and letting the 5D MK II do its work. And I can't imagine the impact of going from a DSLR to any camera in Canon's current line-up. Let alone the realization that my R5II can usually find and focus on a bird in branches faster and more accurately than I can.

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