New camera, nube photographer.
In my R50 the autofocus area can be selected and moved around, but can it be locked to the center? I currently have it set to the point focus, so the smallest focus area, but I find that the box that shows where the camera is focusing moves around (no faces involved or vehicles) Usually the focus square jumps up and to the right, and sometime moves around while I am trying to compose the shot. Is there a way to lock it down so it will stay in the center?
Update: I tried several things and lost track of some of them. It seems my focus point is staying put now - it is just off-center but close enough to make me happy.
I put the focus marker on the subject where I want the focus to be, then I would hold the shutter button down part way and re-compose the shot, then press the shutter button the rest of the way to shoot.
I would have to find my 5D book, but the issue there is that holding the shutter button down halfway also locks in the metering. So when you re-compose you have both the focus and metering locked. With the focus on the back button, you can separate the two, lock them to what you want, and then still re-compose the shot. My background was shooting racecars, so holding the shutter halfway and tracking wasn’t exactly something I could do. I could hold the back button down, and then just fire the shutter when I was ready. Lots of panning, so trying to be delicate with the shutter button wasn’t really a good idea for me when things got moving.
I see - Getting that shot is a lot harder than mine - trees and flowers don’t move as fast as racecars. My eye is especially pleased by shots that use depth of field.
So there might be a way for me to designate a subject and then have the camera watch that subject while it moves through shadow or bright light and also maintain proper focus while I decide the proper framing and the moment to record?
If you are shooting nature and want things consistent, sounds like it might be time to try out going to manual mode on the exposure, and even on the focus. I have access to an EOS R, but I find that manually focusing with a dslr is way easier than with the new digital viewfinders, but that could just be from a lack of experience with them on my part. Either way, give manual settings a try, especially if you are trying to capture the differences between the shadows and bright areas. I believe you can move the exposure lock to the back button. That might be what you are looking for. Get the exposure you want, hold the button to lock it in, then recompose and use the shutter button half press to let it focus. Then you can play around with where the focus point is in the frame to help ensure it’s focusing on what you want. Shooting moving cars required the opposite where focus was key and letting it meter the exposure right at the time the picture was taken was important. In your case, the focus isn’t going to be moving, you just need to nail down what it focuses on, and the exposure is what you are “chasing”. Which is why I would try out just going manual on the focus.
Can I put focus on the “record video” button as I do not use the video features of my camera? Just not into video.
I don’t know what buttons you can remap the focus to on that model camera. I just know that I have my 5D mapped to the back * button, and have been doing that back to my 10D days.