|
|
Post by squeamishossifrage on Feb 7, 2023 9:38:58 GMT
On the premise of programable back buttons being available on the majority of enthusiast and above level cameras, and those buttons being provided to provide fast access to shooting functions not otherwise available without going into the menu system, I am curious to know how other folk set up their PBBs.
My Sonys have three customizable buttons, AEL, AF/MF and C(ustom). With nearly all my pictures taken in aperture priority, I have programmed them as follows:-
AEL - unchanged, except that I set toggle, not hold, as I find that trying to hold it down while taking the picture reduces the stability of the camera. I use this quite often for panoramas and landscape focus stacking, and also those occasions where the exposure I want is not the same as the focus point.
AF/MF - I tried back button focus but couldn't get on with it, particularly as there is already a button to do that, and again, holding it down while releasing the shutter reduced stability. Now it is set to toggle focus lock.
C - Set drive mode - single, continous, bracket, remote etc. This, incidentally, is the one feature of the camera I don't like. By putting them all in the same menu item, they become mutually exclusive. For instance, I can't use the two-second timer and exposure bracketing at the same time.
What are your preferences?
|
|
|
|
Post by MJB on Feb 7, 2023 10:01:21 GMT
The only one I use is for back button focus. The ability to focus and recompose means I find it essential.
|
|
|
|
Post by peterob on Feb 7, 2023 11:02:40 GMT
I tend to not change them because I can’t remember what I’ve done. Goodness knows how folk cope with custom modes which let you store multiple choices. Must be a young person thing.
The main exception used to be BBF on my 5D which did not have an AF-ON button, so I remapped AE-L, but true BBF needs the focus disabling on the shutter release too which is a menu item. I have AE-L as a toggle on a bare programmable button on my 5Ds I think, that’s for those occasions when taking more than one shot at the same exposure. On my XH2s I’ve remapped the video button to something useful (can’t just remember what) and an unlabelled button now toggles bird recognition on and off. Out of the box it triggers EVF performance boost but I use the camera with a grip and the grip has a labelled boost switch.
|
|
|
|
Post by nickr on Feb 7, 2023 11:06:51 GMT
On the premise of programable back buttons being available on the majority of enthusiast and above level cameras, and those buttons being provided to provide fast access to shooting functions not otherwise available without going into the menu system, I am curious to know how other folk set up their PBBs. My Sonys have three customizable buttons, AEL, AF/MF and C(ustom). With nearly all my pictures taken in aperture priority, I have programmed them as follows:- AEL - unchanged, except that I set toggle, not hold, as I find that trying to hold it down while taking the picture reduces the stability of the camera. I use this quite often for panoramas and landscape focus stacking, and also those occasions where the exposure I want is not the same as the focus point. That's default behaviour on my Canons. Would hate to have to hold it. I don't like back button focus either. I use the dedicated button occasionally, but touch and drag AF on my mirrorless cameras means I very rarely have to. Bracketing isn't a drive mode option on Canons, so that's not an issue for me. My main camera is set to change that by pressing a button near the shutter release (M-Fn button) and turning the rear top plate dial. That dial accesses ISO normally as I've set it. Front wheel changes aperture in aperture priority, shutter speed in manual or shutter priority. Rear dial changes exposure compensation in auto modes, aperture in manual. Lens ring changes exposure compensation as well, even in manual mode - rarely, but occasionally useful. |
|
|
|
Post by geoffr on Feb 7, 2023 11:49:12 GMT
Back buttons? My D5 has customisable buttons all over the place, almost every control can be customised in one way or another and there are a lot of buttons on a D5.
The most useful feature is the ability to disable the live view button, not because live view isn't useful but because it is far too easily pressed when carrying the camera on a strap.
As for preferences, too many to list. I save it all as a configuration file so that I can apply it to another D5 when/if I get a second one.
|
|
|
|
Post by MJB on Feb 7, 2023 13:00:08 GMT
Back buttons? My D5 has customisable buttons all over the place, almost every control can be customised in one way or another and there are a lot of buttons on a D5. The same on my Canon 7d2. I do use one of the customisable modes on the mode dial. It's set up with the settings for birds in flight as it's far quicker than dialling in things like shutter speed and exposure compensation when I'm geared up for photographing something else. |
|
|
|
Post by squeamishossifrage on Feb 7, 2023 13:45:33 GMT
Back buttons? My D5 has customisable buttons all over the place, almost every control can be customised in one way or another and there are a lot of buttons on a D5. Most of the buttons on my cameras can be customized, but only from a single page from the main menu. The only fully programmable one is the 'C' button. |
|
|
|
Post by zou on Feb 7, 2023 16:32:51 GMT
Back buttons? My D5 has customisable buttons all over the place, almost every control can be customised in one way or another and there are a lot of buttons on a D5. Most of the buttons on my cameras can be customized, but only from a single page from the main menu. The only fully programmable one is the 'C' button. There's a handbag button?  |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2023 20:46:41 GMT
I set for back button focus nothing else.
|
|
|
|
Post by andytw on Feb 7, 2023 21:04:38 GMT
My supposedly entry level Sony A68 has 9 (+1 on lens) customisable buttons but as most are already set for functions that I'd normally use, I only tend to change what's on the two custom buttons if I need fast access to something else.
|
|
|
|
Post by stevewmh on Feb 9, 2023 14:33:12 GMT
Have found very little need to change any of the buttons apart from using the Fn to call up ISO on the little XE's or the level overlay on the XT cameras
Back button focus sort of takes care of itself on Fuji cameras by switching to manual focus and aquire using the focus lock button
Tried changing some of the functions on the nikons, trouble was, I'd forget what was allocated to what button and ended up wondering wtf was going on so set them all back as factory
|
|
|
|
Post by mark101 on Feb 9, 2023 15:38:27 GMT
Still searching for the back focus button on my smartphone ;-)
|
|
|
|
Post by MJB on Feb 9, 2023 17:57:24 GMT
Still searching for the back focus button on my smartphone ;-) Technically, unless you're taking a selfie, the focus button is separate from the shutter release and on the back of the smartphone camera. |
|
|
|
Post by geoffr on Feb 10, 2023 12:17:08 GMT
I counted the buttons on the D5 yesterday (waiting for my wife to take a photograph).
There are:
Top plate 7 of which 2 are programmable
Back 19 of which 7 are programmable
Front 3 All programmable
Sides 2 of which 1 programmable
This doesn't include mechanical buttons such as lens release, memory card door, shutter mode lock etc.
Picking up a modern camera it is a lottery as to whether one will be able to actually use it without a full reset.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kath on Apr 26, 2023 6:43:27 GMT
I did move to using back button focus and find that much more useful than half-pressing the shutter button which all too frequently involved taking half focused images too soon. Otherwise I haven't felt the need to change anything else.
|
|
