# Disable Touch AF



## jeanluc (Jan 31, 2019)

Anybody figure out how to turn off the touch AF yet?

I use back button AF, and want to use the touch screen to move the AF point, but not focus until I do it myself with the AF-on button. 

That way I can put the green AF square where I want (say the foreground in a landscape shot), focus with the AF button, then move the AF square to where I want the camera to meter (say the highlight/sky on a landscape) then take the picture without it changing the focus by itself.

This easy on the 5D4, since it doesn't have that annoying "touch AF" feature (at least annoying to me, it probably rocks for lots of users). But you should be able to turn it off. I have still not been able to figure out how.

Thanks for any help.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jan 31, 2019)

Its easy, there is a icon on the touch screen in the lower left corner that turns it on/off. Those icons appear based on your information settings, if it does not display, press the info button until it does. 

You can do it thru the menu as well, co to tab 5 in the basic setup and select touch shutter disable.


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## Kit Lens Jockey (Jan 31, 2019)

I think you're misunderstanding the original post. They don't want to disable the touch shutter, they want to disable the functionality where the camera automatically focuses when you touch a different part of the touch screen to move the AF point where you want it, when you're using the rear screen to frame and take your shot.

As far as I know, there's no way to do this. I'd like this too, because sometimes I use the rear screen to just touch where I want to AF point to be before bringing the camera up to my eye instead of messing around with the touch and drag AF after I bring the camera up to my eye. Unfortunately, just selecting an AF point location when using the rear screen also causes the camera to actually focus at that point.

As a solution to the original poster's problem, first, did we ever verify if the EOS R's metering is actually linked to the AF point?

Anyway, assuming it is, to the OP, I advise to do one of two things... Either switch your lens to MF before touching the screen to prevent it from autofocusing, or get used to using exposure compensation to meter the scene yourself instead of relying on the camera to do it.


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## jeanluc (Jan 31, 2019)

You’re right, I was not referring to the touch shutter. That’s easy to turn off. 

The work around I use is to program the four way arrows to move the Af point, then you can put it somewhere, it automatically focuses, you move it, and it will meter elsewhere but thankfully not re focus. 

Metering is not totally spot linked, but the metering is centered on the green square. If you move it from a dark to a highlight area, the exposure definitely changes. 

The problem with my fix is the camera is then LESS functional than my 5d4 for my style of shooting! It might be older, but it only focuses when I want it too!

Why, oh why wouldn’t they make it so you can turn the touch focus OFF. It seems like such a simple thing to put in the FW. 

Just wondering if anyone else has an issue with the inability to turn stuff off....


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## Karlbug (Jan 31, 2019)

Maybe you have turned on the Continuous AF?


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## jeanluc (Jan 31, 2019)

No, that’s off....


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## SereneSpeed (Feb 1, 2019)

Shoot manual, meter first?


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Feb 1, 2019)

jeanluc said:


> You’re right, I was not referring to the touch shutter. That’s easy to turn off.
> 
> The work around I use is to program the four way arrows to move the Af point, then you can put it somewhere, it automatically focuses, you move it, and it will meter elsewhere but thankfully not re focus.
> 
> ...



Yes, I misread your post.

The R works exactly like my 5D IV when in liveview. You can turn off the touch to AF portion only by disabling touch control, which I would not really want to do.

I also find it a pain, because my thumb inadvertently toughes the screen, and the point moves to the edge, not good.


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## stevelee (Feb 1, 2019)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> I also find it a pain, because my thumb inadvertently toughes the screen, and the point moves to the edge, not good.



Henny Youngman's doctor would just say, "Don't do that!"


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Feb 2, 2019)

stevelee said:


> Henny Youngman's doctor would just say, "Don't do that!"


I have a very large thumb. I like the slightly smaller camera body size, but there is no space the size of my thumb. It also rests on the M-Fn bar after I've been holding the camera for a few minutes. I don't have much strenght in my hand due to Carpal Tunnel, I had to give up my 1 series cameras, but manage with the 5D series by getting more of a grip


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## wockawocka (Feb 2, 2019)

Disable the rear screen display. The touch and drag AF will still work and then assign a button to switch between screens as need be.

If I'm reading you correctly, you don't want to be able to throw off your af point by touching the screen too soon. (It's an annoyance of mine).


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## Viggo (Feb 2, 2019)

If you choose the face detect tracking AF method, with the square around the edges and a small square in the middle, you can touch to move the small square, but it won’t focus until you press an AF button. Maybe that’ll work for you?


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Feb 2, 2019)

Viggo said:


> If you choose the face detect tracking AF method, with the square around the edges and a small square in the middle, you can touch to move the small square, but it won’t focus until you press an AF button. Maybe that’ll work for you?


Unfortunately, it still moves the AF point, but you may not discover it is at the edge of the frame until you press a button that activates af, like the shutter. At least, its a option. Of course, you can check to see if the square is in place before shooting, its just something that slows things down. It would be great to be able to have it stay where you want it. Perhaps not move until a double tap on the lcd.


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## jd7 (Feb 3, 2019)

The suggestion I've read elsewhere is to change the order you do things when you shoot, ie set your exposure (with your AF point set wherever you need to help get the exposure settings you want), use the AE lock button to lock your exposure, then set your AF point where you want to focus, then shoot.

Would that work for you?

Also, unless something has changed since I last looked into it (and just talking about Canon cameras), my understanding is if you are using evaluative metering then AF point does have an effect on the exposure settings the camera will choose, but the AF point does not effect exposure settings in any of the other metering modes, such as centre-weighted, etc. In other words, you can move your AF point without that impacting the exposure settings which the camera will choose in all exposure modes except evaluative. (Actually, that is not quite right. Some cameras have a spot exposure mode which is linked to the AF point, so moving the AF point will effect the exposure settings the camera will choose when you are in that mode. I believe that applies to Canon's 1 series cameras, but not most others - although I'm pretty sure my little PowerShot S45 from years ago had it.)

I generally use centre-weighted metering, and occasionally partial or spot, but almost never evaluative, because I've found the camera is more "consistent" in how it meters a scene with those modes. What I mean is, with modes such as centre-weighted, if you look at a scene and think about how much of it is bright and how much is dark, and the distribution of light and dark across the frame, you have a pretty good idea of the camera is going to "see" the scene (regardless of where you've placed the AF point) when it selects exposure settings, and therefore a pretty good idea of how much (if any) exposure compensation you want to dial in to get the exposure you have in mind. With evaluative metering, the camera tries to be more "intelligent" in analysing the frame and anticipating what is likely to be a "good" exposure for the scene ... which can be great on those occasions when it "thinks" about the scene in the same way you do, but makes it harder to anticipate how the camera will necessarily meter a scene because it doesn't always think about the scene in the way you do ... and can mean even a small change in composition - or moving the AF point - sometimes causes the camera to select substantially different exposure settings because the camera has interpreted the scene quite differently.

(I should add I haven't given really looked into metering modes in years, so I stand to be corrected if anything has changed significantly in more recent times.)


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Feb 3, 2019)

jd7 said:


> The suggestion I've read elsewhere is to change the order you do things when you shoot, ie set your exposure (with your AF point set wherever you need to help get the exposure settings you want), use the AE lock button to lock your exposure, then set your AF point where you want to focus, then shoot.
> 
> Would that work for you?
> 
> ...


If you move the AF point on a R, the exposure change, it changes differently based on the mode. However, most importantly, you may focus on infinity when the subject is 5 ft away.

Try it with your R and see.


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## jd7 (Feb 3, 2019)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> If you move the AF point on a R, the exposure change, it changes differently based on the mode. However, most importantly, you may focus on infinity when the subject is 5 ft away.
> 
> Try it with your R and see.


I'd be happy to try it with an EOS R, but I'm afraid I don't own one 

Can I double-check - you are saying that on the EOS R, the AF point effects exposure settings even when in centre-weighted average and partial auto-exposure modes, is that correct? If so, I'm surprised, but there you go!

I will have to put my 6DII in live view on a tripod, with centre-weighted auto-exposure (or partial or spot), and see if the camera changes exposure settings if I move the AF point but otherwise don't touch the composition. I assume the 6DII in live view will behave similarly to how the EOS R behaves, although of course that may not be a valid assumption!

EDIT: For whatever it may be worth, I just did a quick test with my 6DII in live view, using centre-weighted auto-exposure. AF was set to "live 1 point". So long as I did not move the camera, the camera chose the same exposure settings regardless of whether I put the AF point on an object which was near or far, or an object which was light or dark.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Feb 3, 2019)

jd7 said:


> I'd be happy to try it with an EOS R, but I'm afraid I don't own one
> 
> Can I double-check - you are saying that on the EOS R, the AF point effects exposure settings even when in centre-weighted average and partial auto-exposure modes, is that correct? If so, I'm surprised, but there you go!
> 
> ...



I have a R and a 5D MK IV. The MK IV does not change exposure when moving the AF point when in DSLR mode, my R does. So do recent M series cameras as has been noted. 

But ... When I put my MK IV in live view where it uses the dual pixel sensor to compute exposure, then exposure does change as the AF point is moved, same as the R. I did not notice that with my 5D MK III.

The exposure semi linked to AF point is definitely one of the things I like with the R. I've tested this before, but, since the camera is right here with me, I tried it again. Using touch AF, I keep the camera in the same place, and watch it change exposures as I touch areas of the screen with different amounts of lighting. It does not matter which exposure mode is used, exposure changes when the AF point is moved to a area lighter or darker while the camera is not moved.


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## jd7 (Feb 4, 2019)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> I have a R and a 5D MK IV. The MK IV does not change exposure when moving the AF point when in DSLR mode, my R does. So do recent M series cameras as has been noted.
> 
> But ... When I put my MK IV in live view where it uses the dual pixel sensor to compute exposure, then exposure does change as the AF point is moved, same as the R. I did not notice that with my 5D MK III.
> 
> The exposure semi linked to AF point is definitely one of the things I like with the R. I've tested this before, but, since the camera is right here with me, I tried it again. Using touch AF, I keep the camera in the same place, and watch it change exposures as I touch areas of the screen with different amounts of lighting. It does not matter which exposure mode is used, exposure changes when the AF point is moved to a area lighter or darker while the camera is not moved.


Interesting! I wonder why Canon has decided to link exposure to the chosen AF point in all auto-exposure modes on the 5DIV and the EOS R? I have to say it seems an odd decision, although maybe that is just because I've become used to how it not being that way. If I get a chance to play with an EOS R of 5DIV at any stage, I'll have to experiment with it.


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