August 30, 2025

Canon R5 focus - overview

We confront issues of language right away. We can talk about: 
AF Modes -- they tell the camera when to focus
AF Methods -- they tell the camera where to focus

What I now do:

I set the mode to one shot AF instead of servo.
I use the 1 point autofocus method.
I set the multicontroller to directly change focus point position.

AF mode

You set this via the top entry in the first AF menu.

I select "one shot" instead of servo.

AF methods

I would call "methods" area selection, and some people do talk about AF areas. It pays to use the same language that Canon uses (and what most people teaching about all this use).

We have 8 AF methods to choose from:

One way to change/select which focus method you are using is as follows:

Press the button at the top right of the back of the camera -- just right of the * button. It has a funny box with + in the middle of it to mark it. When you do this, a menu appears at the bottom of the screen -- for about 4 seconds.

While the menu is up, press the M-Fn button up near the shutter button to cycle between modes.

Menus

There is a collection of 5 autofocus menus. The top entry on the first menu is "AF operation". I have this set to "one shot AF", but I could select "servo AF" instead.

Below this we have "AF method" and this offers the 8 choices I list above. I waffle between setting this to 1-point or spot. For now I go with 1-point.

Further down I disable Continuous AF.

The menu has "Touch and drag AF settings" that takes you to a submenu. You can enable this, then set relative, then check the "active touch area". For touch area, I will try "right" but there are other options.

Moving the focus point

Hot tip: The button on the back of the camera at the upper right that is marked by a box with a + inside is called: 
The autofocus point selection button
Nobody told me this. They would just say, "use the joystick to move the point around", assuming I just knew somehow. The joystick by the way is the odd button with 4 raised edges (like a knight from a chessboard) on the back of the camera near the top, right of the viewfinder.

Push the autofocus point select button.
By golly, now you can use the joystick to move the point up/down and left/right! Hot tip: Push the joystick straight in (like a button) and you move the point to the center. This is exactly what I have always wanted!!

If you don't do anything for about 4 seconds, the game ends and you will have to push the autofocus point selection button again to restart it.

Also note when you do this that a menu of focus methods appears at the bottom of the view along with a hint "M Fn" at the right hand side. This hint is telling you that you can use the obscure M Fn button up front by the shutter release to change the focus method.

If you don't like the joystick, you can use the dials to move the point around. The front dial goes left/right. Either the "top" dial or the back wheel moves up/down.

The next method is to touch the LCD screen where you want to focus. This works without first pressing the autofocus select button. It both moves the AF point and focuses on the new location. (You can also enable "touch shutter" and it will both focus and capture an image).

The next way is to enable "touch and drag", which you an do in AF menu 1. One you have enabled it, whenever you want to use it you need to first press the autofocus point select button to use it.

However, it is more tricky than that. It works without pressing the autofocus point select button when you are looking through the viewfinder! It is a bit awkward to look through the viewfinder and have your finger touching the screen next to your right cheek, but that is the game.

Another way is to set up the multicontrollers to always be active and controlling the location of the AF point. Here "multicontroller" is short for "multicontroller joystick" and is what we previously just called "the joystick.

The setup is done using "Customize buttons" in the orange menu group, menu 3 (Custom function 3) Note that there are 2 columns. Still shooting on the left, Movie shooting on the right.

Go to the bottom and find a symbol that looks like a big wheel. Beware! There are two things that look like big wheels. One is the DOF preview button and the other is the multi-controller.
Pay aattention to the text at the top to be sure of the right one. Change this to "direct AF point selection" and now the joystick can be used at any time to move the AF point around -- no need to first press the AF point select button first.

With this done, just pressing the multicontroller moves the point to center, just as I hoped it would.

I got all this straight by a combination of watching this video and experimenting with my camera.

Video tutorials

It gets tedious trying to explain menus and buttons in text. I have a book (by David Busch) that dedicates two chapters to focus. Videos really get the job done better.

The following video is short and well done -- it shows her setup:

The following videos look good, but are not the quick overview I am looking for right now:

The second video talks about "double back button setup" where you use the star button for Spot AF and the AF-On button for face tracking.

The next video gives a complete and exhaustive, if not terribly exciting, runthrough of the 8 methods:

I found his discussion of moving the AF point around very helpful and he has over 50 videos in a series on the R5 camera.
Feedback? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Digital Photography Info / tom@mmto.org