# Any update on 1DX / 5D3 AF point display?



## Zouk (Sep 25, 2012)

Canon's been pretty quiet on this one ever since CR reported that a fix that "might not be ideal for everyone" was in the works.

This has been annoying me more and more shooting with a 1D3 as a backup - with those wonderful autodimming bright red AF points...

Trevor


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## RuneL (Sep 25, 2012)

Zouk said:


> Canon's been pretty quiet on this one ever since CR reported that a fix that "might not be ideal for everyone" was in the works.
> 
> This has been annoying me more and more shooting with a 1D3 as a backup - with those wonderful autodimming bright red AF points...
> 
> Trevor



What I've heard from the shooters using 1D X is that there should be an update coming fixing it, but I hardly think a software fix can change it back to the red square goodness we know from the 1D's of old. That was the first thing I noticed too, when I tried out the 1D X, the AF squares, didn't like them at all.


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## instaimage (Sep 25, 2012)

Just a question... I have a 5D3 and two 1DX's... I back button focus (which really makes no difference other than I'm VERY conscious of focus...)

I've "roughly" followed this "problem" (I had two 7D's prior which had the same set up... so I really don't understand...) and I can kinda see people's concern... I am normally shooting at night, under horrible lighting at baseball and football stadiums (thus why the 1DX's...)... is there a focusing problem that you're experiencing because the focus points are dark or is there something else that I'm missing? I routinely shoot a school who's colors are black and orange... I use a single focus point that changes if I'm landscape vs. portrait... I know where the spot is, I know I have to get it on the player... I know the spot will grab focus where I need when I have the subject framed how I want... if there's nothing there for the camera to focus on it won't matter if the point is neon pink the camera won't grab focus... if there IS something, my three bodies are grabbing focus (albeit the 1DX's grab it far quicker than the 5D3...)....

Am I missing something? Are you moving the focus point around that much under that poor of lighting conditions that you can't find the point? If the lighting is that poor, are you getting it to focus? Or are you concerned if it's focusing? I'm just not getting it... I've been with the black focus points for two weeks shy of three years... I'm really not quite understanding the problem. Help?


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## gary (Sep 26, 2012)

instaimage said:


> Just a question... I have a 5D3 and two 1DX's... I back button focus (which really makes no difference other than I'm VERY conscious of focus...)
> 
> I've "roughly" followed this "problem" (I had two 7D's prior which had the same set up... so I really don't understand...) and I can kinda see people's concern... I am normally shooting at night, under horrible lighting at baseball and football stadiums (thus why the 1DX's...)... is there a focusing problem that you're experiencing because the focus points are dark or is there something else that I'm missing? I routinely shoot a school who's colors are black and orange... I use a single focus point that changes if I'm landscape vs. portrait... I know where the spot is, I know I have to get it on the player... I know the spot will grab focus where I need when I have the subject framed how I want... if there's nothing there for the camera to focus on it won't matter if the point is neon pink the camera won't grab focus... if there IS something, my three bodies are grabbing focus (albeit the 1DX's grab it far quicker than the 5D3...)....
> 
> Am I missing something? Are you moving the focus point around that much under that poor of lighting conditions that you can't find the point? If the lighting is that poor, are you getting it to focus? Or are you concerned if it's focusing? I'm just not getting it... I've been with the black focus points for two weeks shy of three years... I'm really not quite understanding the problem. Help?



I agree, I have been using the mkiii for around 5 months and to be honest i have got used to it now and don't find it a problem


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## Drizzt321 (Sep 26, 2012)

gary said:


> instaimage said:
> 
> 
> > Just a question... I have a 5D3 and two 1DX's... I back button focus (which really makes no difference other than I'm VERY conscious of focus...)
> ...



The majority of the time it's fine (5d3 coming from a 5d2), but there are certainly times when I'm shooting in really dim lighting that I find myself wanting the points lit up in red so I can position the one I want over the subject. I'll hit the button as if I'm going to change the point, but then put the one I want over the subject and do the focus then shoot.


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## Zouk (Sep 26, 2012)

instaimage said:


> Just a question... I have a 5D3 and two 1DX's... I back button focus (which really makes no difference other than I'm VERY conscious of focus...)
> 
> I've "roughly" followed this "problem" (I had two 7D's prior which had the same set up... so I really don't understand...) and I can kinda see people's concern... I am normally shooting at night, under horrible lighting at baseball and football stadiums (thus why the 1DX's...)... is there a focusing problem that you're experiencing because the focus points are dark or is there something else that I'm missing? I routinely shoot a school who's colors are black and orange... I use a single focus point that changes if I'm landscape vs. portrait... I know where the spot is, I know I have to get it on the player... I know the spot will grab focus where I need when I have the subject framed how I want... if there's nothing there for the camera to focus on it won't matter if the point is neon pink the camera won't grab focus... if there IS something, my three bodies are grabbing focus (albeit the 1DX's grab it far quicker than the 5D3...)....
> 
> Am I missing something? Are you moving the focus point around that much under that poor of lighting conditions that you can't find the point? If the lighting is that poor, are you getting it to focus? Or are you concerned if it's focusing? I'm just not getting it... I've been with the black focus points for two weeks shy of three years... I'm really not quite understanding the problem. Help?



It's not the the sidelit black 1DX AF point visibility being _bad_, it's the wonderful red LED light-source AF points on my 1D Mk. III being _absolutely wonderful_ to use.

Even when I'm shooting action in really low light at ISO 25,600, I can still see my AF point. I came from a D7000 and am used to this. But in the same conditions, the 1D3 is _much easier_ to use.

Moreover, when shooting somewhere that's almost pitch dark, such as a show, the bright LED AF points make it much easier to focus on your task, rather than working around a camera limitation.

It's not a dealbreaker and I love my 1DX, but the AF point visibility is prettymuch all that's holding it back from being basically flawless.

Trevor


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Sep 26, 2012)

instaimage said:


> Just a question... I have a 5D3 and two 1DX's... I back button focus (which really makes no difference other than I'm VERY conscious of focus...)
> 
> I've "roughly" followed this "problem" (I had two 7D's prior which had the same set up... so I really don't understand...) and I can kinda see people's concern... I am normally shooting at night, under horrible lighting at baseball and football stadiums (thus why the 1DX's...)... is there a focusing problem that you're experiencing because the focus points are dark or is there something else that I'm missing?


I would not call baseball stadiums and football stadiums as being horribly lit. They have reasonable lighting, unless the teams are playing in the dark.
The issue comes when literally using the camera in the dark with only extremely dim lights. 
The fact that the AF points are black is only a part of the problem. The other part is that they are tiny with a thin line around them. I've no issue with the 7D because the large points are easy to see.
I am fine with anything that is lighted.


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## instaimage (Sep 27, 2012)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> instaimage said:
> 
> 
> > Just a question... I have a 5D3 and two 1DX's... I back button focus (which really makes no difference other than I'm VERY conscious of focus...)
> ...




In your situation with dim lights, is the camera grabbing focus?

My worst situation is stadium lighting that is at best 12800 iso with white jerseys then throw in the home team wearing black helmet, black jerseys and black pants against the black sky of the night... But again, I'm not doing any "creative" framing at that point...

The reason I'm asking is because I have yet to take the focus points off cross type points and a lot of time am using the five multi-cross points up the middle with the camera in landscape... With 22k+ exposures on the 5d3 and 15k combined on the 1DX I've been pleased and haven't been comfortable venturing out to "test" my luck, ain't broken, nothing to "fix" mentality! 

Thanks for the feedback!


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## Drizzt321 (Sep 27, 2012)

instaimage said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
> 
> > instaimage said:
> ...



For me, the camera generally grabs focus. Heck, I was doing some night surf shooting (5d3) next to the Santa Monica Pier to grab some light from the ferris wheel, and while it'd take a moment to lock onto the surfer, once it did it tracked on AI-Servo just fine. I was floored that it managed to do that well! I was using the 135L at f/2.0, and nearly all my shots were in focus.

That said, I definitely was hitting the "change focus point" button in order to see where the heck the point was so I could get it over the surfer to start the tracking. It'd definitely be a lot easier and quicker to use if I could have it lit red by default at night, at least before it starts the focusing.


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## Zlatko (Sep 27, 2012)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> I would not call baseball stadiums and football stadiums as being horribly lit. They have reasonable lighting, unless the teams are playing in the dark.
> The issue comes when literally using the camera in the dark with only extremely dim lights.


I have to agree. I think stadiums have reasonable lighting. The problem for me is when photographing weddings in the evening, sometimes by candle light or the equivalent. The AF point display is the only detail that I would like fixed on the 5D3, which is otherwise excellent for my work.


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