Focus Point Moves When I don't Want It To

[Ed Cordes]

This may have been covered before, but I didn't find it. I use one of the back buttons for back button focus single point. I want the point to be in the center of the frame all the time. However my nose or something else seems to move it to other locations when I don't want it to. I have touch screen turned on, but have disabled touch and drag AF and to be sure have the active area in the lower right of the screen. The AF spot still moves. This is true for my R5 and my wife's R7. What can I do to lock the AF point to the center? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

I struggle with the same thing, Ed, and I've had to decide with accidentally moving the focus point when touching the screen inadvertently, and turning off the touch screen function all together, which I tried and was completely frustrated when making menu changes. Ultimately I've learned to just press in on the joystick to center the focus point once I'm looking through the viewfinder if it's not where I want it.

I didn't have the issue as much on my R7 as I do with my R5, which I just went back to for wildlife after other frustrations with the 7, and I plan on reaching out to my Canon guy when I get back to NJ to see if there's anything that can be done to keep the touch screen active without it altering focus points. For the life of me I can't find anything in the menus.

 

[Ed Cordes]

Thanks for answering, Jake. In a way I am glad I am not the only one. It does seem like a firmware fix can be done. I, too, do not want to disable touch screen as, like you said, it is so useful for so many other things. I do have a second button dedicated to centering the AF point. Problem is I don't always realize it is off center until I notice camera isn't focusing where I want. This sometimes results in lost opportunities.

 

[Hali]

I have this as well, and found the easiest and quickest way to move the focus back to the center is to press the "set" button in the dial. That makes mine jump back to center in my R5, R6 and RP. Was a surprise find for me after struggling with this issue.

 

[allankravitz]

Ed,
great to see you on this. Just got the R6 Mark II, last week. Did you try just pushing in the focus button? It re-centers the focus point on my r6II. allan k

 

[Ed Cordes]

Ed,
great to see you on this. Just got the R6 Mark II, last week. Did you try just pushing in the focus button? It re-centers the focus point on my r6II. allan k

Hi Allan, it is great to see you here as well. It's been a long time since PCO! On the R5 I did set up a button to auto center when pushed. Gail's R7 has a dedicated button for this. Issue is that it should have away to disable it altogether. BTW, I noticed we are friends on FB. For some reason FB doesn't show me your posts.

 

[JoeTheSnowPlowGuy]

I am reviving this thread. I have a similar issue with my R6. Single point, I move the point to where I want focus, press AF-On, and the selection jumps to something different. I’d like to be able to set my AF up with static points like a DSLR for certain types of photography. (Sometimes the simplicity of a DSLR is nice.) anyone know how to do this?

 

[AntonLargiader]

If the focus point jumps, it sounds like you have tracking on. What you describe as your preference is tracking off.

You can change it permanently in the menu, or set up a button to give you basis DSLR-style nontracking focus points,

 

[JoeTheSnowPlowGuy]

What do you mean by tracking? AI Servo?

 

[AntonLargiader]

AI Servo is a dead term. AF modes are now One-Shot and Servo (AI Focus went away).

Subject tracking is where the AF point moves to automatically follow a particular subject. It's only relevant in Servo, because the whole point is that the camera continuously focuses as it tracks the subject. I usually have it enabled, but it can be turned off and then you get the old DSLR-style stationary AF point grids (or AF Areas, as they are sometimes called).

If you are seeing the AF point jump to a different stationary point on the screen and stay there, rather than track a subject, then it's probably something else at play such as a registered AF point.