sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

Another thread A great disturbance in the force referenced a blog post about a guy who's selling off all his Canon gear and switching to Nikon. He goes on to say "Some of the AF stuff with Nikon — such as switching the AF patterns — is horrifically designed."

Being a Nikon user I think it's really simple, on my D7000 I hold down the button in the center of the Manual/Auto focus switch with my left thumb and use my right pointer and thumb to spin one dial to change focus mode or another dial to change the pattern. I thought it couldn't get much more simple than that... How do you do it on canon bodies?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The details of his issue were covered in the same linked post:

The Nikon D5 — the bad
To switch from Group AF to d9 AF you need to press a tiny button on the front left bottom of the camera and then turn the index finger dial. It is manageable when you are working horizontally but is ergonomically almost impossible when hand holding a relatively heavy telephoto lens … The engineers might coulda shoulda thought of something simpler

To change the AF pattern on an advanced Canon model, all of them, is two fingers from the right hand even when the camera is held to the eye in a shooting position, both portrait and landscape. Given Artie is unfamiliar with Nikon in general, maybe the D5 model also can have various buttons / dials reprogrammed to move the control process to a set-up requiring just one hand while the camera is held in a shooting position.

In the coming weeks Artie is sure to discover several of the subtle design features of the Nikon platform ...

Old Timer Loc: Greenfield, In.

It depends on the model but I have not found any to be that bad. My 7d and 5dii both are about the same. With your right thumb press the button and with the fore finger or thumb you can rotate the dials. On the 7d you can use joy stick. It becomes second nature with some practice, especially on the the 7d with the options you have to practice some.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Canon cameras, depending on model, have various Focus area modes. On my Canon 7D Mark II, for instance, there are seven different focus area modes all easily manually movable around the viewfinder using a button and wheel in a single movement. They include single point spot AF, Single point, AF single point expansion with 4 assisting points, AF single point expansion with 8 assisting points, Zone AF using 15 points, Large Zone AF using 25 focus points, and 65-point AF using all 65 focus points. The patterns also work differently depending on whether you're using one shot or AI servo. Within each area mode there is also additional selection criteria. Sounds confusing but very easy to use in practice, and each mode allows you to easily move the area around. I have no idea how to compare it to Nikon's process.

foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

So why the hell is this guy switching to Nikon then? I'm confused. that's been happening a lot lately on here. LOL

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

So sorry, I did read both your thread and the post you linked to and didn't find the quote you reference. I'm not saying Nikon is better, this was a genuine question wondering how Canon made it easier. Why do things have to become offensive. I wasn't saying he's a fool, I understand he's a pro with a great deal of experience and readily admit I'm not, just asking a question...

Thank you for your detailed response, it helps me understand his statement.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

You're right. The more provocative version wasn't edited fast enough after rethinking the thought ....