D850 - Custom Control Assignment

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MalcolmP

MalcolmP

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Seeking assistance in customizing controls for AF & Exposure Metering.

(NOTE: I have several images and associated questions so please scroll down. Thank you)

I think I have:
a1:AF-C Priority Selection
and
*a8: AF Activation : OFF
to provide AF-On Back Button Focus.
What is the significance of the Star * included with *a3 & *a8 ?

220520 D850 Custom Controls IMG_2464.jpg
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I also think I have:
PV button : Center -Weighted Metering
and
Fn1 button: Spot Metering
and
Fn2 Button: My Menu

220520 R1 D850 Custom Control IMG_2463.jpg
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I would also like to set up buttons to be able to toggle between

AF SINGLE POINT
and
AF 9 POINT DYNAMIC

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

I also experimented with
*a3 Focus Tracking with Lock On. I tend to agree with Steve's video that questions it's value. I am uncertain as to how to make sure this feature is shut off. (See also *a3 in first shot ---)

Thanks in advance for your help.
220520 D850 Focus Tracking IMG_2465.jpg
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Last edited:
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The asterisks or stars indicate that you have modified that item from the 850’s default value. If you reset the camera back to its baseline, the asterisks would not be there.
 
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Thanks, Doug. I just edited my post to indicate the need to scroll down for additional questions. Appreciate your response to the first and hope you'll take a look at the others.
 
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MalcolmP said:
I would also like to set up buttons to be able to toggle between

AF SINGLE POINT
and
AF 9 POINT DYNAMIC

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

I also experimented with
*a3 Focus Tracking with Lock On. I tend to agree with Steve's video that questions it's value. I am uncertain as to how to make sure this feature is shut off. (See also *a3 in first shot ---)
Click to expand...

Let's start with the easy one. A3 Focus Tracking with lock on. It's not an ON/OFF feature. It just tells the camera how long to wait to refocus if something gets between the subject and the camera. You have it on quick which means the camera won't wait at all (so imagine photographing tennis and the ball crosses the focusing point... you lose focus on the player, same thing if for whatever reason the focus point overlaps with the net... you lose the player) - that's a good reactive setting if you don't expect trees and branches oto come in the way, and terrible if you have objects getting in the middle often. There is no right / wrong answer, I typically leave it in the middle or slightly delayed to have a mild delay in refocus (and if I need it to change faster, I just release the AF button and press it again).

On the question of toggling AF modes, it depends on what you mean by toggle.
On a D850 you can set a button that you need to press at the same time as AF-on to override the default AF mode. It requires to press 2 buttons at once (usually Pv or Fn1 gets assigned that function).
The other common option is to have one mode on the shutter button and one mode on the AF-on button if you want to do it with 1 press
One last option is to assign the alternate AF mode + AF-on to the joystick "center click" but the big downside is that you may move the AF point while trying to press down the joystick (it works but it takes practice)
There is no way that I know of in the D850 to just press one button and circle through the AF modes for each press, or to press a button to toggle an alternate mode on/off.
 
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Thank you everyone. I have all Steve's materials and easily follow Steve's presentation of the theories involved. I struggled with translating the theory to the field implementation. So this is very helpful. For Focus I'm going to try assigning AF - Single Point to Pv & AF -9 Point to Fn1. For Metering use the Metering Button on the Release Mode Dial in combination with the Command Dial. With a little practice think may be able to do that without leaving the Viewfinder.
 
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Steve will be the first one to tell you that while these settings work for him, you may find others that work better for you. I started with his and then tweaked them for my needs. Currently I use BBAF with AF-C selected to Grp as a default. Depressing PV shifts me to AF-C in Single point, and Fn1 + the rear dial changes from FX to DX if I need to crop. Subject motion is kept in the middle and blocked shot AF response is at 4, but these change as needed.
My learning with camera settings has been that one size doesn’t fit all, and that what works for me in my shooting may not work for others. YMMV.
 
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