Back button AF

[Mike Hawley]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Just started using BBAF with my Q. I always used it for wildlife with my Nikon but have come to appreciate it more with the Leica for general photography. It gives that element of control that almost replicates manual photography without slowing down the process of creating the image. My question is how many of you use it?

[Ingo]

I always use BBF on any camera including the Q. 

When the Q2 was released this feature wasn't available for a while and that's why I sold my copy after a couple of weeks. I had to hold the button down all the time.
Is BBF now enabled on Q2 with a Firmware update? This would be great news.

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[axio]

I set the back button for AF, but it only use it occasionally, such as for stationary subjects.

When I need to refocus due to subject having moved, the back button means an extra button press compared to shutter half press, so a tad slower.

[PhoToad]

I never use it. I can't see any advantage, rather disadvantage due to cumbersome handling.

[RoySmith]

3 hours ago, Ingo said:

I always use BBF on any camera including the Q. 

When the Q2 was released this feature wasn't available for a while and that's why I sold my copy after a couple of weeks. I had to hold the button down all the time.
Is BBF now enabled on Q2 with a Firmware update? This would be great news.

The Q2 problem with needing to hold down that tiny flat button has been fixed. I now use it all the time.

I cannot recall which firmware update corrected it.

[acg69]

Never found the slightest reason to use back button focus, or an explanation of any benefit from the people who use it. Shutter half press feels very natural to me (ymmv of course). I focus and recompose as required and that’s it. I find a lot more use for the back button as AEL, especially now that I don’t have to hold it down to lock exposure.

[axio]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

7 hours ago, PhoToad said:

I never use it. I can't see any advantage, rather disadvantage due to cumbersome handling.

The advantage for me would be to decouple AF and AEL.

[acg69]

21 hours ago, axio said:

The advantage for me would be to decouple AF and AEL.

True, but there is another way of doing this when needed. You can assign the back button to AEL and still half-press to AF. The point being that you always need to AF (unless you shoot MF) but you only sometimes need to AEL. I am using spot so I usually do it, but I find the other way round too counter-intuitive. Of course, it does come down to personal preference and what each one of us is used to. For example, I come from the old analog days of photography and I NEED an EVF, there is no shooting with the monitor for me! (unless the angle call for it somehow that is)

[SrMi]

I use BBF on all my cameras with AF. It allows me to switch between AF and MF quickly, and the shutter release is faster as the camera does not wait for focus acquisition.

Unfortunately, Q2 does not support BBF. What a recent firmware has added is a focus-lock (AF-L). Pressing once focuses and locks the focus (shutter does not initiate focusing). Pressing a second time unlocks the focus, and shutter release activates focusing. The focus lock is released after each image and must be relocked by pressing the rear button.

That is why I am increasingly using MF instead of BBF on Q2. 

[Peter Gallagher]

13 hours ago, acg69 said:

True, but there is another way of doing this when needed. You can assign the back button to AEL and still half-press to AF. 

Yes, that's my routine, too. I find that (in the majority of cases) an exposure locked to the brightest (meaningfull) details of the frame with an EV set to +1.7 will give me a reliable exposure-to-the-right without overblowing what I need to preserve. I then set the focus by half-pressing the shutter, re-compose the frame and shoot.

The big problem with this routine on the Q2 is that tiny flat button is very hard to find with your thumb. Leica's obsession with simplifying visual design has made the ergonomics of the Q2 worse than they should be. I've tried adding the thumb-rest attachment, but that makes the button press harder, not easier. After 6 months of experience with my Q2 I'm still not comfortable with this control: so I'm guessing I never will be.

[Ingo]

vor 14 Stunden schrieb SrMi:

I use BBF on all my cameras with AF. It allows me to switch between AF and MF quickly, and the shutter release is faster as the camera does not wait for focus acquisition.

Unfortunately, Q2 does not support BBF. What a recent firmware has added is a focus-lock (AF-L). Pressing once focuses and locks the focus (shutter does not initiate focusing). Pressing a second time unlocks the focus, and shutter release activates focusing. The focus lock is released after each image and must be relocked by pressing the rear button.

That is why I am increasingly using MF instead of BBF on Q2. 

Good to know. So it's still not solved. 

 

[Leica Guy]

On 3/19/2021 at 6:29 AM, PhoToad said:

I never use it. I can't see any advantage, rather disadvantage due to cumbersome handling.

There are advantages but IMHO not very much with the Q/Q2. I’ve used BB Focusing for 15 years. Mainly for wildlife and especially birds with long telephoto lenses. It’s definitely an advantage around complex situations where other distraction elements are near the focus point desired. For instance a tree branch between you and a bird. It’s even more complicated when a bird is moving or flying. It separates the function of focusing from the shutter. For me with wide angle lenses it’s not very necessary. With telephotos it is worth it. 

[M11 for me]

I use that function on the 5er of Canon all the gime. There are so many detailled setting options that one can apply. And you get used to that way of focussing. Imagine that on the release button you have single shot focus and continuous focus on back button. Or at events inside when you want to decouple exposure from focus. There are quite a few essential use cases. But I think that the Q/Q2 is not the camera for me where that function is essential with its 28mm lens. The Q2 is our traveling or hiking camera. Normally I use the release button for both focussing and exposure. Still in my personal settings I have the little back button set with the focus function. Maybe its just the habit.

[M11 for me]

What just comes to my mind: With the Q I do not like to move the little focus field around. I have it normally in the middle. Then when focusing I choose the point in the scene where I want to have the focus and then press the back buton. After that I take my time to compose and set the exposure right (I do not trust the Auto Exposure because of blown out sky etc, so I normally correct).

Edited March 21, 2021 by M10 for me

[RoySmith]

16 hours ago, M10 for me said:

What just comes to my mind: With the Q I do not like to move the little focus field around. I have it normally in the middle. Then when focusing I choose the point in the scene where I want to have the focus and then press the back buton. After that I take my time to compose and set the exposure right (I do not trust the Auto Exposure because of blown out sky etc, so I normally correct).

That is my routine as well. Focus first. For the exposure I use the histogram to be sure I’m not blowing the highlights, and finally compose and shutter release. 

[4peterse]

Am 19.3.2021 um 13:58 schrieb RoySmith:

The Q2 problem with needing to hold down that tiny flat button has been fixed. I now use it all the time.

I cannot recall which firmware update corrected it.

Huh? No, it's not fixed. Real BBAF means, that only the AF-ON button activates AF, but not the shutter release. With the Q2, you can activate AF with the AF-ON button (back button), but you cannot disable AF activation on shutter release.

[RoySmith]

Yes technically this is AF-L, but at least one does not have to continually try to hold that tiny flat button down.
This works for me, but I understand that some prefer true BBF. A menu choice would be ideal.

[JoeinLA]

I used BBAF with NIkon and find it an extremely natural way to control focus and to focus/recompose. I’m currently struggling with the  q2’s AF and came here hoping there was some solution - True BBAF control would at least help alleviate what I feel are some of the weaknesses of the Q2’s AF. 
 

if Leica is reading this, it would seem (admittedly perhaps a bad assumption) that this would be an easy menu option?  The poor (at least for me) AF of the Q2 is honestly making me look at selling it. 
 

does anyone know if the Sl-S AF is markedly better?

Edited April 3, 2021 by JoeinLA
Removed dumb question I answered via google :P

[jaapv]

All cameras have different ways of operating - those are design choices. Either the photographer learns to use the camera in the manner intended (or finds workarounds ) or he/she moves on to a tool that fits his/her needs better.

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica Q

[mikelevitt]

On 4/4/2021 at 5:11 AM, jaapv said:

All cameras have different ways of operating - those are design choices. Either the photographer learns to use the camera in the manner intended (or finds workarounds ) or he/she moves on to a tool that fits his/her needs better.

In this case, I think they need to have at least an option to implement BBAF the way that the rest of the camera world - Canon, Nikon, Fuji, and others do.  A press of the back button instantly focuses the lens, which stays where you leave it no matter how many times you press the shutter, until you push the back button again.  The current system with the AF-L that holds for one push of the shutter is silly.