# What is wrong with the AF speed of the M?



## Straightshooter (Jun 24, 2014)

Dear All,

My first post may be nothing new, but I was wondering if I am the only EOS M owner who is aware of the extreme benefits of Custom Function C.Fn IV / C.Fn-5 1: taking the AF function away from the shutter button.
This results in a world of difference when focusing and ever since setting up my wee beauty that way I feel that the criticism towards the AF speed of the M is, well, kind of unjustified! 

Anybody feels the same here?

Nice to have finally joined the CR forum...


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## Mellonhead (Jun 24, 2014)

Actually, I have not heard of this. Can you explain what you did and how it helps?

I've had the 'M' since it came out and love it, but am often frustrated by the auto-focus.


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## Straightshooter (Jun 24, 2014)

Wow, I am really surprised this is new for EOS M users! Well, I always take AF off of my shutter button on my other EOS camera's, always have, and when I tried this on my M it resulted in a completely different AF experience...nothing to be ashamed about anymore I think! Try it out asap! And let me know what you think of it...


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## JPAZ (Jun 24, 2014)

Hi.. Don't have the camera in front of me right now. Could you please go through the exact steps you used to do this? I am a "back button" focuser on my DSLR and the closest I've come to this experience on the M is to use touch screen focus.


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## DRR (Jun 24, 2014)

I've done this, you can set back button focus to one of the wheel buttons. (The leftmost part of the wheel). I am a DSLR backbutton focuser so this makes it a little easier for me.

My one complaint is that this is an awkward button ergonomically for backbutton focus on the M. The logical choice would be the movie record button, which is disabled while shooting stills anyway. It's a natural spot near your thumb, I don't know why they didn't think of this.

I don't find it makes the AF any faster or more reliable, but it suits my style of shooting more so I stick with it.


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## twagn (Jun 24, 2014)

DRR said:


> I've done this, you can set back button focus to one of the wheel buttons. (The leftmost part of the wheel). I m a DSLR backbutton focuser so this makes it a little easier for me.
> 
> My one complaint is that this is an awkward button ergonomically for backbutton focus on the M. The logical choice would be the movie record button, which is disabled while shooting stills anyway. It's a natural spot near your thumb, I don't know why they didn't think of this.
> 
> I don't find it makes the AF any faster or more reliable, but it suits my style of shooting more so I stick with it.



+1, it's a bit to awkward for me (on the M) and doesn't make the AF any faster. I've found the focus speed acceptable for my type of shooting anyway


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## dcm (Jun 24, 2014)

This doesn't really change the focus speed, but it reduces the shutter lag since it is already (you hope) focused when you press the shutter. The time it takes to achieve hasn't really changed, just when you are doing it. You just focused using back button focus before you pressed the shutter button. Similar to what we did with old manual focus film cameras.


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## wickidwombat (Jun 25, 2014)

twagn said:


> DRR said:
> 
> 
> > I've done this, you can set back button focus to one of the wheel buttons. (The leftmost part of the wheel). I m a DSLR backbutton focuser so this makes it a little easier for me.
> ...


ditto i tried it. hated the position and turned the function off. I would like a firmware update to enable assigning the movie record button to this function too


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## Mellonhead (Jun 25, 2014)

If I'm shooting my daughter's soccer game I follow the action and constantly 'pump' the half-pressed shutter release button to maintain focus (single-point, servo off).

Would re-assigning the auto-focus to another butten be better than what I'm doing?


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## twagn (Jun 25, 2014)

Mellonhead said:


> If I'm shooting my daughter's soccer game I follow the action and constantly 'pump' the half-pressed shutter release button to maintain focus (single-point, servo off).
> 
> Would re-assigning the auto-focus to another butten be better than what I'm doing?



I would just leave the focus on the shutter button. The M isn't really an "action camera"...however you could try shooting jpeg only, shutter priority set at 1/500, continuous burst mode, a fast card (UHS-1), continuous focus, single point, servo on, and hope for the best


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## DRR (Jun 26, 2014)

twagn said:


> Mellonhead said:
> 
> 
> > If I'm shooting my daughter's soccer game I follow the action and constantly 'pump' the half-pressed shutter release button to maintain focus (single-point, servo off).
> ...



Ditto this. Also if I'm in a similar situation I set fix my aperture as well knowing what kind of DOF it will give me at a certain focal length. Basically I set a mental "focus zone" and just start firing when my subject is in that zone.

It takes a little bit of testing and a little bit of setup, but once you do this, you know that when your daughter moves to a certain part of the field, you're preset to just start firing and you know you'll get good shots. A soccer game is long enough that you should be able to do this a few times from a few different locations. Mid-field, with a goal in the background, and if they let you you can shoot from behind and to the side of one of the goals too. This will give you a good variety of shots.

Again the M is not the best sports camera, but technique can help mitigate its weaknesses.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 26, 2014)

The M is known for slow AF, It can be very difficult to photograph sports when the autofocus is painfully slow. I believe that a good photographer can do it, the camera is way advanced over what we used in the 1960's and earlier, and we managed to capture sports with manual focus.


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## Rocky (Jun 26, 2014)

DDR's prefocus method is a "tried and True" standard way for sport photographer during the pre-AF era. Thanks for bring it up.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 26, 2014)

Rocky said:


> DDR's prefocus method is a "tried and True" standard way for sport photographer during the pre-AF era. Thanks for bring it up.


 
True, but its tough to prefocus the moment when a soccer kicker will kick a ball, so it does involve intuition, experience, and a bit of luck. We also used small apertures like f/8, or f/16 in those days, so we were often in the area of the hyperfocal distance. Just one of the things a photographer had to know to get his shot.

Now, with 400mm lenses at f/2.8, focus is a bit tougher.


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## dppaskewitz (Jun 26, 2014)

Straightshooter said:


> Dear All,
> 
> My first post may be nothing new, but I was wondering if I am the only EOS M owner who is aware of the extreme benefits of Custom Function C.Fn IV / C.Fn-5 1: taking the AF function away from the shutter button.
> This results in a world of difference when focusing and ever since setting up my wee beauty that way I feel that the criticism towards the AF speed of the M is, well, kind of unjustified!
> ...



Welcome to the forum (I take it you have been following for a while before you joined).

Thanks for the heads up on back button focusing on the M. That's generally what I use with my DSLRs, but I didn't realize I could set the M that way.

As to focus speed, it seems to focus faster when using the touch screen focus/shoot method (which I generally avoid). In my unscientific test, it seems to be almost instantaneous when focusing/shooting using the touch screen when the Cf is set to back button focus, and about a second when focusing using the back button to focus (about the same time as when the Cf is set to shutter button focus). Of course, you still get the advantage of pre-focusing using the back button). If this is true in the real world, then I may find myself leaving the Cf on back button focus and using the touch screen focus/shoot - at least when focus speed matters.

Another unscientific test last night: indeed the M shutter is very fast when set to back button focus and using the touch screen focus/shoot method. And it is no wonder, because apparently it doesn't focus at all when using the touch screen to shoot if set to back button focus. 

Conclusion: use back button focus if you like it, but no increase in focus speed (other than the usual advantage of pre-focusing with the back button and snapping when the scene (including any action in the scene) is what you want).


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## SoullessPolack (Jun 26, 2014)

I say stay out of it. First of all, it's self centered. Second of all, hardly anyone will be appreciative. You just come off sounding like the guy who thinks he knows everything and wants to let everyone know by telling other people what they don't know.


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## Straightshooter (Jun 26, 2014)

SoullessPolack said:


> I say stay out of it. First of all, it's self centered. Second of all, hardly anyone will be appreciative. You just come off sounding like the guy who thinks he knows everything and wants to let everyone know by telling other people what they don't know.



"You talking to me!?" 8)


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## Zv (Jun 26, 2014)

SoullessPolack said:


> I say stay out of it. First of all, it's self centered. Second of all, hardly anyone will be appreciative. You just come off sounding like the guy who thinks he knows everything and wants to let everyone know by telling other people what they don't know.



Did you mean to post in the "Should we tell them?" thread?


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## Straightshooter (Jun 27, 2014)

Dear All,

After running a few tests I was indeed surprised to find out it was kind of 'All in my head' this "the AF being faster with those settings" thing... :-[ Maybe it was the case before I updated my firmware?? Or maybe I was just dreaming: I am probably not the only M owner having this 'wet' dream about being able to make their baby focusing faster   

Anyways, sorry for making you guys excited for no reason.........don't hate me for it (you hear me Polack dude!)


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## wickidwombat (Jun 27, 2014)

Straightshooter said:


> Dear All,
> 
> After running a few tests I was indeed surprised to find out it was kind of 'All in my head' this "the AF being faster with those settings" thing... :-[ Maybe it was the case before I updated my firmware?? Or maybe I was just dreaming: I am probably not the only M owner having this 'wet' dream about being able to make their baby focusing faster
> 
> Anyways, sorry for making you guys excited for no reason.........don't hate me for it (you hear me Polack dude!)



different USM lenses perform very differently to each other on the M some are fast while other quite slow also the 22mm pancake is slow but the EF-M STM zooms are faster


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## daemorhedron (Jun 27, 2014)

No doubt we all wish for better AF speed, especially on the EOS M. I am a huge fan of this technique though, usually called backbutton focusing for those who want to google the pros and cons.


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## Straightshooter (Jun 27, 2014)

daemorhedron said:


> No doubt we all wish for better AF speed, especially on the EOS M. I am a huge fan of this technique though, usually called backbutton focusing for those who want to google the pros and cons.




We do indeed 

By the way, I ordered I very nice looking little grip for my M from Amazon Japan which seems to fit much nicer and Seems to give more of a balanced support than the one our dear friend Surapon was showing off some time ago... 
If it turns put well, and I can't find it on Amazon (US) I'll try to post a picture of it later!


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## DRR (Jun 27, 2014)

Straightshooter said:


> daemorhedron said:
> 
> 
> > No doubt we all wish for better AF speed, especially on the EOS M. I am a huge fan of this technique though, usually called backbutton focusing for those who want to google the pros and cons.
> ...



Or a link to amazon japan?

They probably have 10x more accessories for the EOS M than amazon US.


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