Confused by 5DM3 C1 C2 C3 settings

[HeavenHell]

This may be a dumb question, but I'm going to ask anyway.  I recently purchased a 5DM3 and while attempting to set up my C1 C2 C3 setting this morning, I noticed that the aperature and/or shutter speed were not selectable.  What am I doing wrong?  Maybe I need to read the manual? 

Thanks,
Mike

[keithfullermusic]

I think you're doing it wrong.

First, go into one of the shooting modes - av, tv, m, b

Then, set it up the way you want it.  This includes everything from exposure compensation to AF system.

Finally, go into the camera settings and register one of the Cs to your current setup.  Then, when you switch to whichever one you saved it as, it will pull up those settings.

You can't use it unless you've set it up yet.  Pretty sure this is how it is on all the cameras, not just the 5D3.

[mdm041]

If you want C1 to be aperature priority then turn the dial to Av and pick all the settings you want and then go into the Custom settings menu and set custom settings and then pick C1.  IF you want C2 to be manual mode you can do the same thing go to M and pick the settings you want and then go the menu and choose C2.

[HeavenHell]

OK, I'll try that.  On my 7D, I can have the dial turned to C1 C2 C3 while programming them and the aperature and shutter speed are still selectable.  Perhaps the 7D's C#'s were pre-progammed in manual mode.

[neuroanatomist]

Perhaps the 7D's C#'s were pre-progammed in manual mode.

I think they are pre-set in P mode on all cameras (including the 1D X).

[Chris Burch]

On the 1DX, the custom presets aren't even selectable until you save something into the profiles, so no defaults at all.  You even have to go into the menus to make C3 selectable...by default only C1 and C2 are selectable.

I noticed the inability to select other shooting modes while in the custom settings when I started using the 5D3.  It surprised me and took a few minutes to figure out, so I am assuming it wasn't that way on the 5D2.  I use the custom setting pretty much all the time during event shooting to swap between shooting with flash and shooting with ambient only...instead of making a bunch of changes to the flash, ISO, shutter, aperture, etc., I just make one turn of a dial.  The 1DX has a button for it, which will take some getting used to, but it might even better, since I can now see the C number through the viewfinder.

[bkorcel]

Once you register settings to one of the C modes you can still make further changes once you are in that mode.  You aren't locked to the settings you registered.

There is also an option to save changes to that mode when they are made or to reset them back to the settings you registered when you change back into that mode (default).

I prefer to go back to my registered settings each time I select a C mode so I always know where my starting point is.

I use C1 for bird in flight settings and C2 for roosting birds.  My C3 is still unused but I'm sure I will find a purpose for it soon.

[neuroanatomist]

On the 1DX, the custom presets aren't even selectable until you save something into the profiles, so no defaults at all.  You even have to go into the menus to make C3 selectable...by default only C1 and C2 are selectable.

I noticed the inability to select other shooting modes while in the custom settings when I started using the 5D3.  It surprised me and took a few minutes to figure out, so I am assuming it wasn't that way on the 5D2.  I use the custom setting pretty much all the time during event shooting to swap between shooting with flash and shooting with ambient only...instead of making a bunch of changes to the flash, ISO, shutter, aperture, etc., I just make one turn of a dial.  The 1DX has a button for it, which will take some getting used to, but it might even better, since I can now see the C number through the viewfinder.

IIRC, only C1 is on by default on the 1D X.

You've never been able to select a different shooting mode for a C# setting.  On a camera with a mode dial, you're in P, Av, Tv, M, B, or a C#.  Yes, they could make a firmware option, but they haven't so it's always been locked to the mode (P, Av, Tv or M) you picked when you first registered the setting.  You can change just about anything else and re-register the same setting, but if you want to change C2 from Av to Tv, you have to start from scratch.

Since the 1D X is the first camera to offer C# settings that doesn't have a mode dial, it should have been pretty easy for Canon to allow you to change the base mode, but you still cannot.

Once you register settings to one of the C modes you can still make further changes once you are in that mode.  You aren't locked to the settings you registered.

I use C1 for bird in flight settings and C2 for roosting birds.  My C3 is still unused but I'm sure I will find a purpose for it soon.

Further changes except the base mode.

FWIW, I like C3 for BIF - often, you want to get into that mode fast (shooting a perched bird which suddenly takes off, for example).  With C3, you just spin the dial to the end without having to pay attention to the setting, no matter where the mode dial starts from (same logic on the 1D X, except there you're spinning the main dial, which doesn't stop, but still no need to pay attention, just give it a finger length's spin and you'll be on C3).

[Richard Lane]

I use C1 for bird in flight settings and C2 for roosting birds.  My C3 is still unused but I'm sure I will find a purpose for it soon.

FWIW, I like C3 for BIF - often, you want to get into that mode fast (shooting a perched bird which suddenly takes off, for example).  With C3, you just spin the dial to the end without having to pay attention to the setting, no matter where the mode dial starts from (same logic on the 1D X, except there you're spinning the main dial, which doesn't stop, but still no need to pay attention, just give it a finger length's spin and you'll be on C3).

Speaking off quickly changing shooting Modes, I found a nice quick setting adjustment that I would like to share, however I'm not sure if the 5D MKIII has this but take a look in the "Custom Controls Menu" (I tried to look in the 5D3 manual, but it only goes so far).  Maybe someone with the 5D3 can check this and report back.

But for the 1DX, in the C.Fn5 Operation Menu, choose Custom Controls, then scroll down to AE Lock Button, press Set scroll down to the "Camera Icon"  and press "Info Button." Now you should be in Register/recall shooting functions.  Choose the settings that you want and then when you're done, and you press the AE LOCK* Button you will be switched into your new settings as long as you continue to hold in the AE button*. The AE button also Auto-focuse so you just have to press AE* and shot with the shutter button. 

The menu is a bit confusing and it looks like you have to press Register Current Settings for these new settings to take affect, however, that button refers to the settings that are already currently set in the camera and not to the new registered choices that you have just selected above.

Once you release the AE Lock* button you will be returned to your previous camera settings.  I think it's great if your shooting a stationary bird in AV mode and then all of a sudden a BIF or Big Foot comes along, and you have to quickly change your settings.

I think this is a great setting and I hope the 5DIII has it, so I'm also going to post this under its own 1DX thread for the 1DX owners.

Rich