select 19 of the 45 points, one at a time. With “Mark
IV” models you can manually select any one of the 45
points.
Regardless of whether the camera is set for One-
Shot AF or AI Servo AF, the AF point you manually
select will be the only one available. It should ideally
be the one closest to the area of your subject you
want tack-sharp and that will require the least amount
of re-framing. To manually select an AF point:
1. Press the rear AF Point Select Button. You
will then have six seconds to turn whatever
dial you prefer to use to select AF points.
2. Use either the rear Quick Control Dial, the
top Main Dial, or the Multi-controller to
navigate from one AF point to another.
Whenever you’re selecting an AF point, the one that
is active will appear red in the finder. If a “ring” of
outer points lights-up red, you’re in Automatic AF point
selection mode. Either way, you can stop selecting
when the point (or points) you want light red in the
finder.
Manual vs. Automatic AF Point Selection
As a rule, professional photographers prefer to
manually select the AF point closest to the area of
the subject where they wish to focus. This minimizes
the need to reframe as well as the risk of focus
shift caused by reframing. When shooting moving
subjects, you should set the camera to AI Servo AF.
As long as you keep the AF point centered on the
subject the camera will maintain focus.
There may be occasions when the area you’ve
picked doesn’t have enough detail or it’s difficult to
keep the AF point centered on the subject. The EOS
1D and Ds therefore have custom functions that can
be set to automatically adjust for such situations and
thereby increase the percentage of sharply focused
images. Custom Functions allow you to refine the
AF controls on your camera to suit specific needs,
preferences, and circumstances.
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