# R5 - Best Custom Setup options for Buttons and Dials



## Whowe (Aug 7, 2020)

I know the best custom settings are very user specific. (What each person likes...) It also depends on User Needs/Cases.

I would like to see how people customize their buttons and dials. Please state your main use for the camera. This can be for more than just the R5, since many of the customization options are the same for EOS 5D and 7D series, R series, etc.

For example, I never use the AE lock button. What are my best options to assign to theat button for wildlife/ BIF?

thanks!


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## H. Jones (Aug 7, 2020)

Professionally I'm a photojournalist that primarily covers breaking news, but I also do a lot of landscape and wildlife photography in my free time for fun. Most of my custom control choices come from what I need the camera to do on a work assignment since I really don't have time to dig in a menu.

*Custom Buttons*

Shutter button: Default, Metering and AF start
Video button: Default, video start
Mode button: Default, mode


AF-ON: AF-off, I've always done this, I know people like back-button focus, but I photograph a lot of sudden, unexpected action at breaking news and I like knowing that the shutter is always linked to autofocusing, so that I don't end up hitting the shutter before focusing. Instead of back-button focus, I use the AF-ON button to turn off focus for times when I need a similar autofocus stop that you'd get using backbutton focus on a shot.


AE Lock: Cropping/aspect ratio, I love that this makes it as easy as pressing a button to get the 17 megapixel 1.6x digital teleconverter mode. I've loved using the crop mode on wildlife so far, and setting it to a button makes it easier to switch in a second if the subject gets closer. Lot easier than digging through a menu.


AF point button: Drive mode, with the different restrictions on FPS and bit-rate in drive modes in the R5 I find myself changing the drive more often, so I wanted a button dedicated to that.


DOF preview button: One-Shot / Servo AF, I've always had this set like this on all of my Canon cameras. There's just certain situations where you want the confirmation of knowing your focus is locked, and this is a lot quicker for sudden situations where servo focus won't work. Normally, on other cameras, I have it only use one-shot when it's held down, but the R5 doesn't offer the condition that it only switches when the button is held, unfortunately. That just means I have to remember to click it twice to get back to Servo focus.


Lens: Default, AF stop


My favorite: M-FN Button: Switch to Custom Shooting Mode, set to C1 only, other C modes turned off. C1: Shutter Priority, 1/1000th, 12 FPS, Spot meter, auto ISO. Again photographing breaking news means things can go very badly in an instant. I like this button as my "emergency" button, all I have to do is hit M-FN and I instantly know I'll have a high enough shutter speed and automatic exposure to get an image of whatever is in front of the camera. That gives me more freedom to use slower shutter speeds when there's not much going on, knowing that in an instant I can have the camera properly exposed at 1/1000th if something blows up.


LCD panel button: LCD illumination, I switched it to this because I never use the secondary display it offers by default, and this makes the button act more like the LCD light button on DSLRS.


SET: ISO, hold button turn shutter, I've always done this on all of my Canon cameras, I always hated having to fish for the ISO button to change ISO, so this makes it a lot faster to do. I know the R5 has a dial just for ISO now, but I've left this button as ISO because it's stuck in my muscle memory and I find myself doing this instinctively anyway. If I get used to the dial, this might find a new use.


Multicontroller, AF point selection
*Custom Dials*

Main dial, default, Shutter
Top dial(Quick Control Dial 2), ISO speed
Rear dial(Quick Control Dial 1), Aperture setting


Lens Control Wheel: Select AF method, this has been a new favorite of mine. I love the Subject detection tracking autofocus mode on the R5, it works awesome and finds eyes/people/birds/everything very well and lets me reframe as much as I want, or lets a bird fly through the frame while being tracked. The issue is, sometimes this mode gets wonky in weird conditions, and if you change to One-Shot focus, it uses the whole sensor as an automatic detect one-shot mode. That's super annoying, I wish it was still based off of your initial focus point for one-shot. I don't have time when I'm taking a photo to change focus settings to switch to one-shot mode, so the moment I need one-shot or the tracking focus isn't working well, I can quickly hit the dial on the lens left or right and switch between the AF point focus or tracking focus. I disabled most of the AF modes except subject detection, default point, and expanded point focus, which makes it even easier to switch. I'll also add that the nice thing with the direct method is that it has "hard stops" on the left and right ends of the settings list, so if I roll the wheel left it'll always stop at AF tracking, and if I roll the wheel right it'll always stop at expanded AF point. Super intuitive to me and I love this set up a lot.


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## Whowe (Aug 7, 2020)

Great ideas. I like mapping the crop mode. That's one of the reasons I got the camera. I can have full frame, but switch to crop mode for a lot of bird photography when I need the reach.

I also like the drive mode mapping, since it does look like something I will be changing more often.


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## john1970 (Aug 7, 2020)

This is an interesting thread, but for now my R5 is customized as follows:

*Dials:*
1) Dial next to shutter release: shutter speed
2) Mode Dial (on top of camera): aperture
3) Lens Dial: ISO 
4) Rear Dial: Select AF Method

*Buttons:*
1) Shutter: default
2) Movie: default
3) Mode: default
4) AF-ON: Drive Mode
5) AE Lock Button: Cropping / Aspect Ratio
6) AF point button: Select AF Method (yes it duplicates the dial). 
7) DOF preview button: Default (DOF preview), which I find very useful because the EVF adjust for brightness. Nice.
8) Lens: AF-OFF
9) M-Fn: Toggles Eye detection on and off
10) LCD panel illumination button: default
11) Set: Set AF point to center


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 7, 2020)

I make minimal changes, I prefer to leave defaults, but, I would turn on the joystick and set the shutter with no lens attached. I also turn off image review. I'm surprised no activates the joystick.


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## SteveC (Aug 7, 2020)

Presently, I'm in FV mode when in stills, and the lens control ring is set to aperture, big dial on the back is ISO, top two dials (front and back) are left as is, one of them selecting what the other will control (and it will redundantly be aperture or ISO sometimes). I can't seem to get away from that, and I'd like to set the big dial to do shutter speed, but IIRC you can't.

I've got back button focus set up.

Edit: I set the joystick to be ON all the time, since I've generally used spot focus mode. (Thanks for reminding me about that Mt. Spokane.)

I'd love to be able to reassign the Rate button (utterly useless to me) and I forget about the exposure simulation button--so I should think about doing something with it.

I've done nothing for the C1-C3 modes, though I might on the video side set them up with three different record setups (crop/not cropped, time lapse versus not) in some way.

Basically I'm still learning my way around a full frame 5 series--and in fact I'm realizing as I do this I don't know my other cameras all that well. (Neat feature--Oh, I had it on the other camera and never even knew it!) 

H. Jones has different needs than I do, but I like how (s)he shared his(her) rationale for the choices; they clearly serve him(her) well. And I may yet do similar things on my camera in some cases. I can see if I ever do serious wildlife shooting I might want to set up a C mode for that, different from the stuff I usually do (a lot less dynamic).


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## digigal (Aug 8, 2020)

Hey, H. Jones, thanks for that dynamite tip about linking the M-FN button to "Switch to C1 mode" set for Tv at Auto ISO, f 1000, spot focus, 12 frames/second, etc. I can't tell you the number of times when we've been out shooting wildlife and during a slow time I'll entertain myself by switching to doing some blurs or landscapey stuff when suddenly a cheetah, etc, runs by. Of course, since I'm shooting manual by the time I twist 27 dials and settings, everyone else is already sitting around chimping by the time I'm ready to shoot . This is the perfect starting place to give me a chance to jump right in to the action--I just set it up
Catherine


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## AlanF (Aug 8, 2020)

digigal said:


> Hey, H. Jones, thanks for that dynamite tip about linking the M-FN button to "Switch to C1 mode" set for Tv at Auto ISO, f 1000, spot focus, 12 frames/second, etc. I can't tell you the number of times when we've been out shooting wildlife and during a slow time I'll entertain myself by switching to doing some blurs or landscapey stuff when suddenly a cheetah, etc, runs by. Of course, since I'm shooting manual by the time I twist 27 dials and settings, everyone else is already sitting around chimping by the time I'm ready to shoot . This is the perfect starting place to give me a chance to jump right in to the action--I just set it up
> Catherine


Forgive my ignorance as I have never handled the R-series. Currently, I use the mode dial on my 5-series with my most used settings in C1-C2-C3, plus others in M, Tv and A, and can switch using muscle memory in a fraction of a second by feel and without looking. What I have read so far is that there is a more complex electronic mode dial on the R5. Can this be used in the same way or do you have to use H. Jones's trick?


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## Whowe (Aug 10, 2020)

You can use it the same way. It is more complex because you push the "mode" button in the center first, then rotate the dial to change mode. But, you can also use the dial for other settings, such as iso, etc. So, it does double duty, basically.


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## arbitrage (Aug 10, 2020)

Question for those using M-Fn for C modes. Does it work as a simple toggle without having to involve any wheel scrolling? Basically a single tap to switch from one mode to the next (depending on how many you have active). This is how it worked on the 1DX(II)(III) and was my favourite feature that wasn't available on any other DSLRs.

Also for the FF/APS-C switching...does that work as a simple tap to toggle or does that involve tap/scroll or hold/scroll? I'm a bit fan of simple tap to toggle functions when it makes sense.


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## Shaun Gibbs (Aug 12, 2020)

arbitrage said:


> Question for those using M-Fn for C modes. Does it work as a simple toggle without having to involve any wheel scrolling? Basically a single tap to switch from one mode to the next (depending on how many you have active). This is how it worked on the 1DX(II)(III) and was my favourite feature that wasn't available on any other DSLRs.
> 
> Also for the FF/APS-C switching...does that work as a simple tap to toggle or does that involve tap/scroll or hold/scroll? I'm a bit fan of simple tap to toggle functions when it makes sense.



Yes, it does. Each time you press the button it goes to the next C mode e.g. C1 then C2 then C3 and then back to whatever mode you were in before then e.g. AV.


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## steve126a (Aug 14, 2020)

Wondering if there is a way to map a button that will switch between two specific AF modes? I'd like to have a button that switches from Face Detect/Tracking to Single Point focus and vice versa. Is this possible?


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## H. Jones (Aug 14, 2020)

arbitrage said:


> Also for the FF/APS-C switching...does that work as a simple tap to toggle or does that involve tap/scroll or hold/scroll? I'm a bit fan of simple tap to toggle functions when it makes sense.



It does make you scroll for FF/APS-C crop mode switching, but it's the second option in the list, so you just tap, flick the shutter right once, and it's fully zoomed in or zoomed out. I would like this to be a simple tap to toggle too, but I understand this is a relatively new feature and Canon needs to see how it works into people's workflows.

It's grouped in with other crop options(1x1, etc), that don't actually delete data, just add cropping info. I think in the future it would make more sense to make the APS-C crop mode separate from the silly cropping info modes, since with the R5 it turns the camera into a tangible 17mp crop camera which is an incredible feature in a full frame camera.


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## Whowe (Aug 16, 2020)

steve126a said:


> Wondering if there is a way to map a button that will switch between two specific AF modes? I'd like to have a button that switches from Face Detect/Tracking to Single Point focus and vice versa. Is this possible?


Yes, you can select a button to switch through the AF modes. If you limit the AF modes available in the main menu, such as to only face tracking and single point, then each time you press the button you will switch back and forth.


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## vjlex (Aug 16, 2020)

I hear there's no way to switch to video mode with just one button? For me, that would be an ideal function of the M-Fn button. And the Rate button (smh) would be remapped as the Drive Mode (ie changing the rate of shooting). I haven't received my camera yet, but from what I understand, neither of these buttons can be remapped this way, right?


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## koenkooi (Aug 16, 2020)

vjlex said:


> I hear there's no way to switch to video mode with just one button? For me, that would be an ideal function of the M-Fn button. And the Rate button (smh) would be remapped as the Drive Mode (ie changing the rate of shooting). I haven't received my camera yet, but from what I understand, neither of these buttons can be remapped this way, right?



The answer depends on what you mean with 'switch to video mode' 

If you want to start recording immediately, press the record button, that will load the settings from C3(video) and start recording. If you want to enter video mode and *not* start recording straight away, you need to do the mode change dance.


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## VHAM (Dec 5, 2020)

koenkooi said:


> The answer depends on what you mean with 'switch to video mode'
> 
> If you want to start recording immediately, press the record button, that will load the settings from C3(video) and start recording. If you want to enter video mode and *not* start recording straight away, you need to do the mode change dance.



I customized the M-fn button (multi function button) to: "Still <--> movie switching". The M-fn button is the only button that offers this customization option. 

By customizing the M-fn button in this way for both stills and for video, the M-fn button will function as a toggle between stills shooting and video shooting. 

The camera does not automatically begin recording when you toggle from stills to video using this custom setting for the M-fn button. 

When you jump from stills to video, it will be with your predefined video C3 custom settings. When you jump from video to stills it will with your last stills settings you were using before you went to video.

I'm a video newbie and I'm still tweaking my customizations as I learn more about this camera and its nuances.


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## Aussie shooter (Dec 5, 2020)

Haven't got my R6 just yet but i know exactly how it will be set up. Main dial will be shutter speed. Rear dial on top will be ISO/exposure compensation (if in autoISO). Back dial will be aperture. Front button will be metering start. AF-ON button will be zone eye af BBF. Star button will be single point af BBF. Moat other buttons will be left as is. This will be set up specifically for wildlife photography.


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## shire_guy (Dec 5, 2020)

Aussie shooter said:


> Haven't got my R6 just yet but i know exactly how it will be set up. Main dial will be shutter speed. Rear dial on top will be ISO/exposure compensation (if in autoISO). Back dial will be aperture. Front button will be metering start. AF-ON button will be zone eye af BBF. Star button will be single point af BBF. Moat other buttons will be left as is. This will be set up specifically for wildlife photography.



I have set my R5 up pretty much the same except I have the M-fn button set for MODE so I can quickly change the custom shooting functions, and the MODE button set to DIAL FUNC with ISO and Drive Mode options selected. I do like the rear top dial set to exposure compensation as I generally use Auto ISO.


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## 47greyfox (May 3, 2022)

I've heard of people who have reprogrammed the R5 INFO button to toggle LCD ON/LCD OFF/INFO. For the life of me, I can't seem to figure out how to do it and the few people who claimed they did so aren't very forthcoming with the sequence of menu changes are necessary to pull it off. Any suggestions of how this would be done?


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