Canon 50D AF points.

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jameslongstrong

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James
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Is this a silly question or am I asking my camera to do more than it can?

If I let the camera set the focus points for me then it will set more than one.
When I am setting the AF points manually is it possible for me to set more then one?
 
You can only set a single point manually on the 50D.

The way that auto point selection works is that when presented with the scene to be focused on the camera will evaluate all of the available focus points. Given that info, it will "decide" where the subject is (usually by focusing on whatever is closest to the camera, although if there's light at the top and dark at the bottom it will usually understand that the bottom point is foreground). If several AF points cover things at the same focus distance, it will display that more than one point is at the same distance by lighting up all relevant AF frames.

So, there is a difference in the way the AF frame display is used between manual and auto - manual the AF point highlight shows which frame you have selected while auto it shows which are in the plane of focus that the camera thinks is correct for the scene.

Note that there are other bodies where things are a bit different, with hidden "assist" points (EOS 5D and 5D2) and AF area expansions (where multiple adjacent points are used as one big point - EOS 7D, 1D series, 1v, 3).
 
I-S said:
You can only set a single point manually on the 50D.

The way that auto point selection works is that when presented with the scene to be focused on the camera will evaluate all of the available focus points. Given that info, it will "decide" where the subject is (usually by focusing on whatever is closest to the camera, although if there's light at the top and dark at the bottom it will usually understand that the bottom point is foreground). If several AF points cover things at the same focus distance, it will display that more than one point is at the same distance by lighting up all relevant AF frames.

So, there is a difference in the way the AF frame display is used between manual and auto - manual the AF point highlight shows which frame you have selected while auto it shows which are in the plane of focus that the camera thinks is correct for the scene.

Note that there are other bodies where things are a bit different, with hidden "assist" points (EOS 5D and 5D2) and AF area expansions (where multiple adjacent points are used as one big point - EOS 7D, 1D series, 1v, 3).
Click to expand...
 
Cheers I-S. I guess there's not much to say about that then. I opt for manual focus everytime as I feel it allows me more freedom. I'll have to make do with the 1 AF point for the time being.
 
Sorry, for clarification, when I said "manual" in my post, I meant "manual AF point selection" - not manual focus.
 
If you are not aware you can also set it up by using the little joystick to toggle each focus point on the fly.
 
u8myufo said:
If you are not aware you can also set it up by using the little joystick to toggle each focus point on the fly.
Click to expand...

Does this also work on Ladybirds? :)
 
Doesn't work with centipede's though. Too many legs.
 
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