Starting to configure the new R3 and I'm unable to find a menu item for Touch and Drag Autofocus, one of my favorite features of the R and R5. Am I missing something or did Canon disable touch and drag on the R3?
No touch and drag autofocus on R3?
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One of the early YouTube reviews, Vanessa Joy it think it was, says yes, that does not exist on the R3. Not sure why that wasn’t left as an option for those who want it.
I know some love it, but it never worked for me. I’m a left eye shooter, right thumb is on the AF buttons and left hand is supporting the lens. I’ve always used the joystick, looking forward to trying the new smart controller.
I know some love it, but it never worked for me. I’m a left eye shooter, right thumb is on the AF buttons and left hand is supporting the lens. I’ve always used the joystick, looking forward to trying the new smart controller.
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Thanks. Kind of unfortunate in my view. My problem with the smart controller on the 1DXIII was that it was a) way too sensitive even at it's least sensitive setting and b) linked to the autofocus on button, so you had to be very careful not to move your thumb when you pressed the autofocus or it would shift the focus point. I'll see how it works on the R3.
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Not sure what you mean by "you just have to look."
This has been a feature since the R and has been highly touted as an advantage of mirrorless. The smart controller on the 1DxIII was implemented as a DSLR substitute but it isn't nearly as intuitive or useful. There are many features that are redundant. That's so people can turn on the ones they want and turn off the ones they don't to adjust the camera to their preferred workflow.
Now, I will say that the smart controller on the R3 is not nearly as "jumpy" as it is on the 1Dx III. I've turned the sensitivity down to the least sensitive setting and it is a bit more useful. But, it's still not as smooth as the R5 and R touch and drag.
It's just a shame that Canon would remove touch and drag from the R3, especially since it can easily be turned off for those who don't want it. I hate it when people accuse Canon of "crippling" certain features, but this certainly seems like a case of that. I guess they wanted to reserve a few features for the R1.
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Certainly everyone is entitled to their own preferences. In just trying out the R3, as I said, the implementation does seem better than the 1DxIII. But, I still prefer to have my buttons do one thing. Shutter button to release the shutter. Focusing button to focus. I use back button autofocus so I can select when to start autofocus without linking it to other operations. With the smart controller there is a risk of changing the autofocus point with a slight slip of the thumb when you begin autofocus.
I'm wondering how this will work with gloves on.
But mostly I object to Canon disabling a standard feature on mirrorless for what feels like arbitrary reasons. They already have a touch screen, so enabling touch and drag seems pretty simple and not costly.
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I’ve been trying to find out this, how easy is it to move the AF point when hitting the smart controller to engage AF. Sometimes, or very often, something happens fast and I just slam the AF-ON button and if the point then suddenly is way off my subject it would be unusable…
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I haven't had enough of a chance to really test it, but as I said, at its lowest sensitivity setting it is much more stable than my 1DxIII, which even at the lowest setting was way too jumpy. I turned it off for shooting sports and of course, that is an option with the R3 as well.
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They do listen to user feedback, although I think the best choice is to contact them directly.
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Yeah, I get that. My original reason for starting the thread was not so much to complain, but to see if I had missed something in the menus because I couldn't believe they would have disabled it. I guess we now have another feature that will show up in the R1.
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Could be. Honestly, I've never found either the Touch and Drag or the Smart Controller of much use when shooting sports and since this is a sports-centric camera they may have gotten similar feedback from others. For events, people, etc., the Touch and Drag is very handy, but I think the Smart Controller may work for that as well, with the less responsive setting.
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