Back Button Focusing - Dead or Alive

[the durkarian]

With the advent of mirrorless cameras and their amazing focusing systems is there any reason to carry on using BBF.

 

[Anton Largiader]

It still helps to allow you to pause focusing while other things get in the way. For just focus & recompose, not so much.

You can also use a BB to stop the focusing rather than start it. Depends how your brain is wired, I think. Some supertelephotos have buttons to stop focusing.

I'm currently not using it.

 

[Jeff USN Photog 72-76]

For the last 7 months I have been using shutter button focus with my R7 and R6, I actually found it a bit easier than BBF, I am pretty sure Levina had moved to it.

However this past weekend I decided to go back to BBF. Why? well when I am shooting birds there are times when I want to focus on one thing and then recompose and shoot without changing the focus. Also when a bird is going to go behind a bush or tree I can prefocus and shoot through the brush and still get it. SO I think BBF is still useful.

 

[05xrunner]

I still use it, I tried to use shutter button focus and it just doesnt feel right to me. After so long i couldnt switch back

 

[Jeff USN Photog 72-76]

The only time I find BBF a pain is when a bird suddenly pops up and scoots, I am sometimes not fast enough

 

[Bill in Texas]

With Sony having programmable buttons, I use it for shots where the subject is static/still. For action, I use the shutter button. Both have their unique focus method. I have a third button programmed for tracking. BBF, single point focus. Action/tracking, zone or wide focus.

 

[LeeRatters]

Alive for me.

I shot BBF in my Canon days. When I switched to Sony in 2015 I was pretty much all manual lenses anyway so dropped it. I've now gone back to it though as I have mainly AF lenses now and I do like having focus and shutter separate. I also love having eye AF on the lens itself.

 

[i-G12]

Alive and well here!

 

[digital paradise]

With my Canon DLSR's I shot both ways. AF and Metering on the Shutter button and split - AF mapped to AF-ON and metering on the Shutter.

Since going Canon ML I've left AF and Metering on the Shutter button. Now I'm only using BBF to override Eye Detect if that fails. I came across this last night. Close to what I do but he has Expansion AF to hone in on the subject before going to full Eye Detect. I does not have to be Expansion. I use Single point and others like Spot focus.

You will notice has the white broken pre-focus button active. I also use it. I'm going to try this out but I'm sure. By just awaking the camera it uses Expansion AF (Single Point in my case) and continually focuses even if you don't press a button. I'm wondering about excessive hunting. You move your camera down it rest and tries to focus on the ground.

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[digital paradise]

After testing on Owen the test owl who does not fly I decided to go back to what I was doing. Reason being is for BIF I'd have to have that AF point, be it Expansion, Single or Spot on the bird for the camera to focus on. Using Whole Area to start the entire array of AF points in the EVF is looking for the bird.

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

With the advent of mirrorless cameras and their amazing focusing systems is there any reason to carry on using BBF.

I bought the Canon 40D back in 2009 and used BBF almost from day one. When I got the R6 back in 2020, after trying out all sorts of settings, I decided to put the AF back on the shutter button and everything fell into place for me. I haven't looked back. I love it. I do have an AF stop button though for when I don't want to have to refocus, like when I'm photographing reed warblers and shooting around and through reeds and grasses. Works for me.

 

[digital paradise]

I bought the Canon 40D back in 2009 and used BBF almost from day one. When I got the R6 back in 2020, after trying out all sorts of settings, I decided to put the AF back on the shutter button and everything fell into place for me. I haven't looked back. I love it. I do have an AF stop button though for when I don't want to have to refocus, like when I'm photographing reed warblers and shooting around and through reeds and grasses. Works for me.

Yes we have chatted about this before. I'm pretty sure we are in a monitory. I love it too.

 

[Jeff USN Photog 72-76]

now after a few days of using BBF I am torn, I am tempted to back to SBF with AF-ON as AF-OFF and the "*" as BBF Spot. I just have problems with it, I blame having had a stroke but it is also just coordination. I may switch back, we will see, decisions decisions

here is one from today with BBF, they flew behind the reeds and I released the button, If I was using the shutter button I would have hit AF-ON to shut AF off

R6 mk II RF100-400 w RF 1.4x

 

[Pagman]

I have used it for years on different camera makes - find it really useful, but my latest camera a Lumix FZ200 does not allow me to use it for continuous focus, only a focus lock can be used with it, so I am back to shutter focusing.

P.

 

[MakisM1]

Now more than ever! I have assigned your 'normal' BB AF to single point no Eye AF and the rightmost button to Auto Eye AF. So I can choose where to place the focus point with the BB AF and chose Auto Eye AF in a panic!... With all these programmable buttons, I feel like an amateur accordionist...

 

[C Scott IV]

Alive!

For landscape I don't want or need it to AF between shots. Compose, focus, expose and shoot or wait for the light.

For wildlife I use dual BBF. AF-On for eye detect and * for single point. Using half-press for focus is awkward for me in the cold when waiting for some action.

 

[paddler4]

As someone who has used BBF for years and switched to mirrorless recently (5D IV to R6 II), I don't think mirrorless/DSLR has affected my choices much. With my mirrorless, I mostly use BBF and shutter-button focus the same way I used to on my DSLR. Which is to say, I use BBF for most types of photography, but I switch to shutter-button focus when it will help, e.g., for candids of kids. The reason I use BBF so much is because I like the control--I like the AF to engage when I want it to, and not otherwise.

The only impact the change has had, I think, isn't because of mirrorless per se but because of the superb tracking on the R6 II. For example, because I can let the camera track kids as they move around, I can leave focus on the shutter button and not worry about stopping AF at the right time.

 

[Kasrielle]

First thing I did when I got my R10 was enable BBF - I'm so used to it that it felt really weird until I did...

 

[magicmikey]

It took me a while to get used to BBF. Now, it's awkward not to use it! I do have it disabled on my R10 because I hand that camera out to people to take photos of me when I am performing. (I'm a professional magician.)

 

[digital paradise]

It took me a while to get used to BBF. Now, it's awkward not to use it! I do have it disabled on my R10 because I hand that camera out to people to take photos of me when I am performing. (I'm a professional magician.)

It was the same for memo BBF. I'm not a magician. Only tricks I know is how to get a new camera without my wife knowing. I always blow that one.