Basil Loc: New Mexico

Another thought is, why not temporarily change the AF back to the shutter button half press. It only takes a couple secs. In fact you could put the custom function feature as one of your "My Menu" items (Star Tab) for quick access.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I also have Custom Functions in My Menu and I do the same since my wife and son are familiar with Av mode and changing apertures, etc. its only 5 or so very quick button pushes. I just tried it and it took less than 5 seconds. If I give it to someone else, which is very very rare, I'll put it on full Auto

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

I handed my wife my 7d which is set for bbf and the 1/2 press is disabled. I just showed her where the focus button is. No problem. BTW she doesn't know anything about cameras.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Gal, just do what I did...., I sent everybody in my family as well as everybody I know to an accredited professional photography school.
Now, in those situations, I can hand my camera to anybody within arms reach and they simply just yell out, "what's modes it in", and away they go.... , snap, snap ,snap!
There's a real benefit as well, if I overbook weddings, I can send any of them out to shoot the weddings, AND, I always have enough 2nd shooters!!!! :lol: :lol:
SS

AR Farm Gal Loc: Piggott, AR (NE AR)

Thanks for all the suggestions. I found a good solution for me, I think. I set C1 on my camera on manual with settings I normally use for inside shooting with flash (family/church gatherings, etc.) with the shutter button in the traditional focus/meter setting. I usually use one spot focusing, but I changed it in C1 to a more expanded focus section. Now all I have to do is hit the flash on button. I have been experimenting inside my house with this, and it seems to be working really well. Once I got that registered to C1, I went back and set up my back button settings the way I like them so that is my default. One benefit of all this brain work is that I'm now WAY more familiar with the controls and can also change settings much more effectively. It's been a positive learning curve.

BTW, if someone would like to share their birds in flight settings for this camera, I might just set C2 for that! I'm on a roll now. :)

AR Farm Gal Loc: Piggott, AR (NE AR)

Unfortunately, I don't have anyone interested. lol. When I mention things of this nature, they pretty much do a nice eye roll.

AR Farm Gal Loc: Piggott, AR (NE AR)

At a church gathering recently (no tripod with me), I handed my camera to a professional photographer (Nikon shooter) and showed her how to use BBF. You would have though I was speaking a foreign language! So, I set it on Auto. Sure enough, nice photos, but an ISO of 6400 with lots of noise. They were usable with some work, but not what I would have liked.

AR Farm Gal Loc: Piggott, AR (NE AR)

After I've fiddled with all this for a good part of the day, I understand that would be a good solution, also. Now that I have all my settings on C1, I'm going to try that for awhile and see how it works. Thanks.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Gal I didn't have anybody interested either, but it's amazing what a little(or a lot) of blackmailing can do! And everybody has DIRT to hide!!!
BTW, I'm glad you got the problem solved. A "C" setting is the best solution. ;-)
SS

AR Farm Gal Loc: Piggott, AR (NE AR)

Great suggestion, and this is exactly what I did. Thanks for the tip!

Kanbdun

Use the Q menu and navigate using the 5-way button to the camera icon on the right. From here you can reassign functions to the buttons, but you only have the functions Canon decided to offer for that particular button. I've remapped my back button focus.

AR Farm Gal Loc: Piggott, AR (NE AR)

That was my original plan, but couldn't make it work with the options for the buttons. I now have the settings I want registered with the C1 mode, and everything seems to be working the way I want. Thanks for the suggestion.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I agree with two earlier suggestions:

1. Just set the camera to the fully automatic "green box A+" on the mode dial and it will revert to the standard method of AF with All Points/Auto Selection. It will also basically be fully auto exposure, according to whatever picture style mode you have set (one of which is Portrait) in the menu and you'll probably only be able to shoot JPEGs.

2. If you want to be able to use other exposure modes, save RAW instead of JPEG, etc. instead set up one of your Custom modes to revert back to standard (default) method of focus.... Your choice of C1, C2 or C3 on the camera's mode dial. You could also have this switch the camera to using one of the more automated AF patterns, such as All Points or one of the Zone Focus options. See the instruction manual regarding how to set up C1, C2, C3.

However you also could just temporarily undo the BBF setup... it's really not all that involved or difficult to change back and forth. You just have to go into the control customization menu and change the setting for the shutter button back to it's original setting. Probably the hardest thing about it is remembering to set it back!

With 7D-series (and many other recent Canon models), BBF is actually already almost completely set up by default. It's already set up to use the AF On button on the back of the camera. To use BBF, all you actually have to do is remove the "AF start" function from the shutter release. Pop into the control customization screen, first item is the shutter button, and the 2nd or middle setting of it is "Meter start". Select that and you're one. Switching it back normal AF temporarily is just the opposite.

If you (like me) swap the function of the AF On and * (AE Lock) buttons, it's a little more involved to switch back and forth. But it's still not a very big deal.

AR Farm Gal Loc: Piggott, AR (NE AR)

Thanks for the suggestions. I set up C1 to manual indoor settings to use with flash and shutter button to traditional focus/meter usage. So, now all I need to do is switch to C1 in these circumstances and turn the flash on and good to go. Maybe tweak settings if necessary.

Trouble with auto is it sets ISO too high and makes noisy photos. So, I'm glad to find a solution. I will find it useful to have this set up even if I'm not handing off to someone else.

Default is my normal back button focus settings.

foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

how about adopting me??? I even have my own 7DII!!!! LOL