Hello everyone, I'm contemplating the purchase of a Canon R7 and have a question regarding double back button focus. I currently use the AF-ON button for single point AF and the * button for animal AF with eye detection on my Canon R6.  It seems the * button on the R7 is in a position where it's a little awkward for my thumb to reach and hold for Servo AF and I wonder if I'll be able to hold the camera steady while tracking fast moving wildlife or sports action.  Any suggestions for a work around?

bruce4nature wrote:Hello everyone, I'm contemplating the purchase of a Canon R7 and have a question regarding double back button focus. I currently use the AF-ON button for single point AF and the * button for animal AF with eye detection on my Canon R6. It seems the * button on the R7 is in a position where it's a little awkward for my thumb to reach and hold for Servo AF and I wonder if I'll be able to hold the camera steady while tracking fast moving wildlife or sports action. Any suggestions for a work around?It is a bit awkward. Why don’t you go back to the shutter button for both AF and Metering. Use that for animal eye detection. Keeping the shutter half pressed is not that tough to get used to. Besides the AF is so good and fast these days even if you lift your finger past half way for a split second it doesn’t matter that much.You can also initiate purple AF menu page 3 - AF Preview. If you lift your finger off the shutter a white preview square comes up and will continue to AF. That pre-focus square also becomes active when the camera wakes up. No buttons need to be pressed.This leaves the AF-ON for the single point AF. It is actually better because you don’t have to lift your thumb off one button press another. Just press AF-ON  Think of it as an override button.

One possible option would be to leave the shutter button in its default metering and AF Start configuration and set shutter button for 1 shot.  You could then configure the AF On button for face/ subject detection... or visa versa.   I know this would work on the R5; I have no experience with the R7 other than looking at the button customization section of the manual.

Sorry for the bump. My iPhone was about to die. AF-ON was requested by pro photographers 15-20 years ago. How far has AF come since then. Yes lifting your finger past half way while tracking and burst shooting would often result in losing your subject.Not these days. I decided to go back to old school and repurpose the AF-ON to be inline with the modern day AF. Started a year ago with my R5 and now both my R62 and R7 are programmed this way.

VisuallyOriented wrote:One possible option would be to leave the shutter button in its default metering and AF Start configuration and set shutter button for 1 shot. You could then configure the AF On button for face/ subject detection... or visa versa. I know this would work on the R5; I have no experience with the R7 other than looking at the button customization section of the manual.That is the reverse of what I do. I just prefer the shutter to be in charge of eye focus and the AF-ON take over with single point AF we’d needed. Both methods work

Zeee wrote:VisuallyOriented wrote:One possible option would be to leave the shutter button in its default metering and AF Start configuration and set shutter button for 1 shot. You could then configure the AF On button for face/ subject detection... or visa versa. I know this would work on the R5; I have no experience with the R7 other than looking at the button customization section of the manual.That is the reverse of what I do. I just prefer the shutter to be in charge of eye focus and the AF-ON take over with single point AF we’d needed. Both methods workI just got my R7 and am learning and so I haven't set it up yet, but I think this is my conclusion and intention. For birds, it seems that the R7 usually does well with eye focus and tracking, but occasionally jumps to the background or otherwise loses the subject. Having AF-ON as a single-point AF override to re-lock focus on the bird and then reverting to tracking on the half-shutter seems to be a viable strategy that works with the R7 controls.I'll have to try it to be sure, though.

dwkdnvr wrote:Zeee wrote:VisuallyOriented wrote:One possible option would be to leave the shutter button in its default metering and AF Start configuration and set shutter button for 1 shot. You could then configure the AF On button for face/ subject detection... or visa versa. I know this would work on the R5; I have no experience with the R7 other than looking at the button customization section of the manual.That is the reverse of what I do. I just prefer the shutter to be in charge of eye focus and the AF-ON take over with single point AF we’d needed. Both methods workI just got my R7 and am learning and so I haven't set it up yet, but I think this is my conclusion and intention. For birds, it seems that the R7 usually does well with eye focus and tracking, but occasionally jumps to the background or otherwise loses the subject. Having AF-ON as a single-point AF override to re-lock focus on the bird and then reverting to tracking on the half-shutter seems to be a viable strategy that works with the R7 controls.I'll have to try it to be sure, though.Works for me. You don’t even need to get the AF point on the eye. Anywhere on the body and when you release the AF-ON the eye snaps in. You can even try spot  for that.

bruce4nature wrote:Hello everyone, I'm contemplating the purchase of a Canon R7 and have a question regarding double back button focus. I currently use the AF-ON button for single point AF and the * button for animal AF with eye detection on my Canon R6. It seems the * button on the R7 is in a position where it's a little awkward for my thumb to reach and hold for Servo AF and I wonder if I'll be able to hold the camera steady while tracking fast moving wildlife or sports action. Any suggestions for a work around?Almost aside from all that, I always suggest renting the camera first anyway, just to see how it works for you. Not only the BBF but try whatever lenses you will use on it, rent those too if you have to, and just see how well you do with it. How many keepers will it make for you ???Btw, you can get lots more info about BBF on the R7 from Whistling Wings Photography on YouTube 👍 Ron B, is an amazing photographer and he shoots  /  knows Canons inside and out 🙂👍