Setup Triple Back Button Auto-Focusing on the Canon EOS R5 or R6: This Is How You Really Do It!

NOTE: I have made an updated version of this video (2024) which shows you how to do 1) triple back button auto focus AND 2) triple front button auto focus, which is what I use exclusively these days. Here's the link: (just look in the table of contents to find these setups):
• 2024 Canon R5 Setup Gu...
In this video, I'll show you how to set-up Back Button Auto-Focus on all three back buttons on the canon EOS R5 & R6, in a way that dose NOT require you to double-press two back buttons. I'll also talk about the three Canon auto-focus systems on these cameras, in a way beginners can understand.
Note: Using firmware 1.5.0
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[@boxofknives]

I use back button exclusively but haven’t used 3 yet and wasn’t aware of the detail set. Looking forward to even more flexibility when shooting birds, thanks!

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Glad I could help! Let me know how it works out :-)

[@boxofknives]

@@lets_go_birding9096 I tried it at a state park this past weekend! The ability to add center zone AF on-the-fly was awesome for tracking birds over the lake. I feel much more prepared for any situation with that extra choice, and that is so important when switching from songbirds to heron to gulls to birds of prey from one moment to the next. Thanks again!

[@rcarder2093]

You can setup the right button using "Register-Recall" in the customize buttons menu. I have it set for 2500th sec, auto ISO, f1.8 (which will automatically set the lowest possible f-stop for the lens) metering mode to evaluative, servo, large area. My af on is spot focus and the * is face/eye. That way if I'm walking around and need to get a quick shot of something happening I use that button to make sure I freeze the action. Programmable buttons are so cool!

[@davidchmelik3328]

Exactly, the method in the video is not the only way to set the triple back button focus. The registered settings give you even more settings to fine tune the focusing.

[@meokusoso]

Have just changed my settings and looking forward to trying this. This is first I heard of the detailed set menu.

[@lets_go_birding9096]

I do have a newer video on the R5 that describes two set up methods: Triple back button autofocus (which I no longer use) and, the more practical, triple front button autofocus which is the one I use exclusively these days. I suggest checking those out as well to see which method works best for you :-) studio.kzbin.infoDKw5A9fE2M8/edit Just use the table of contents to find them - they are toward the end of the video, which is over an hour and 1/2.

[@jackbaratta5722]

Thank you! There are a lot of opinions on KZbin & varying levels of detail provided for the actual set up steps. For me, your explanations & detailed illustrations were perfect!!

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Glad it was helpful!

[@stheil777]

Trying this setup for a week now - and it works like a charm. Thx for this informatioen

[@billkuhlemeier9120]

ThankYou for the great “third” option for back button. I am glad you explained the limitation for the one button to enable zone.

[@peterb.7437]

I appreciate your videos 😊 I learned a lot on my R7 with almost 2 hours video on it. Thank you very much. I am excited to apply this settings too on my r6.

[@wandacollier7128]

I’m already using triple BBF, but the 3rd button is the DOF at the front for birds in the bush. It’s too cumbersome and doesn’t use the small spot focus. I’ve been looking for this setup. Thank you for your detailed explanation. I’m excited to try this new setup tomorrow.

[@kevins8575]

I use left for tracking AF, right to toggle through all choices from spot to large, and middle to focus for which I've set with the right. That way, I can easily choose the right focus spot/zone for the situation. I use tracking most of the time and the left is easiest/ most natural thumb position for me.

[@greadore]

Very good and interesting video. I have my R6 set for dual back button and didn’t know I could set it up for triple back button. Am going to try this. Thanks!

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Great! Let me know how it goes :-) you might also want to try setting the AF On button to toggle between the autofocus methods. I just made a video on that one. Easier than back button focusing for sure. I have a bad wrist that acts up sometime; when it does, I switch back to this AF On method for a while to give my wrist some healing time :-)

[@billshepherd40]

Thank you so much for your clear explanation of how to set up the back button focus system. It was great to find out one simple thing that has helped me enormously and that is the orange marker that highlights which button you are working with. By following this simple action I was able to follow the steps so so much easier. I also like your clear rather sft voice- not too quick also Thany thank you Sue Shepherd New Zealand. Do you other how to set other buttons.

[@K9malinois_dog_love]

Thank you so much wow I feel like o have brand new gear with this setting.

[@unclebuck5957]

Thanks this works great love your videos

[@steviebye1]

Great clear and well explained. Thank you

[@PatVu]

Never really got around to giving back button focus a try. Set it up as per your settings, walked outside and immediately nailed an eagle in flight! Too high altitude to be of much use but I’m calling that the universe giving approval :)

[@lets_go_birding9096]

An eagle! That's awesome! I'm so glad it work for you! There are some modified versions of back button focusing that are also useful for some people. I'm working on a video right now to describe those as well :-)

[@Fluefiskeavs]

Love the clear explanation, thanks a lot

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Glad it was helpful!

[@JPLamoureuxsTravels]

Adding the Zone focus is a quality idea! never thought of that 🤦‍♂ 😂 Top man have a sub 😉👍🏼

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Thanks for the sub!

[@CarterCrew-d1p]

I set my R5 with all the settings and was very happy with the results. Thank you for the tips. How do I set the back button focus to rapidly shoot with a flying bird? Thanks

[@peterb.7437]

This is my back button settings on my r6 too except that I have the eye detection AF on the middle back button

[@virginiabarnes9716]

Appreciate this very concise video. Question. How does one access the other A/F options which are not assigned to one of the three back buttons? Thank you!

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Hello, if you are using back button AF, you can't access/apply any of the other AF function, unless you put them on one of the back buttons (re-assign it). If you use front button AF, then you can access anything you want. I describe how to set that up in this updated R5 video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/enzaZnRvm6plg5o Go to the table of contents to find the front and back button AF setup.

[@stevepritchard3970]

I think you can also increase the size of the 3 flexible zone AF areas, at least on the R6 mark II - press the 'Rate' button and use the dials to adjust, then set. Press info to restore default.

[@lets_go_birding9096]

On the R6 mark ii, to adjust the size of a flexible zone AF point, you have to first press the rectangle button (officially called the AF point selection button), and then the Rate button:-)

[@RVNmedic]

I have the right button set to Register/recall shooting and there is a detail set option on the R5.

[@kenjavier8603]

Thank you!

[@alanmason_za]

What focusing would you use for say, landscape of still life photography?

[@TheRandomOpera]

Thanks for the tips! I'm a beginner, do we lose any important functionality when remapping those three buttons?

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Hello and thanks for commenting. Note, you don't use those buttons for anything and you can always put them back if you want. I am editing a video right now that you might be interested in. Showing how to set one of the back buttons up so you can cycle through whichever Canon autofocus system you want with one click of the button, yet this is not back button focusing. You get to keep using the shutter button as usual. Stay tuned!

[@Joe-u4m2p]

Thanks!

[@lets_go_birding9096]

No problem!

[@terrysmith810]

The statement that the only way this will work is setting the 3rd button to eye detect is incorrect. I have been using triple back button every since acquiring the R5. Mine are single spot, eye detect and then single point surrounded. The difference is the 3rd button has to be setup in the main menu where the other 2 are info menu setup. Great information but felt like I should add that fact.

[@sudhirkalapala]

Makes perfect sense. I just set mine accordingly. I want to keep eye focus on ‘*’ AE button just like my other camera. This way, I only have to remember one button. Thank you.

[@rcrinsea]

Do you customize the buttons in the right column, the one for video? If so, how are those ever honored? When I customize them, and then push the red record button, these settings are ignored. Instead, the setting for the C3 movie mode is honored.

[@JBChurchill]

I set this but I don't see how to move the AF point manually now since that right-most button was how I would enable that. Sorry if that is an easy one (and hopefully it is) but its my first day with this thing in my hands.

[@lets_go_birding9096]

The joy stick (multi-controller) is what manually moves the AF point/box/area around the screen. Maybe you set that up instead of the AF on button? Check to make sure it's setup to move the joy stick.

[@Chen-gl9hm]

Just started birding on budget .

[@chuck7415]

How do you move the focus point with these settings? I can't hold the buttons down AND use the joystick at the same time.

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Hello, because your thumb operates the back button and multi-controller (joy stick), you can not move around the focus point while engaging autofocus. This is one of the reasons I prefer using triple front button autofocus where you use the shutter button to start autofocus. Learn to set up front button auto-focus here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/enzaZnRvm6plg5o [go to 1:24:00]

[@adrianyallop2880]

Thank you

[@lets_go_birding9096]

You're welcome

[@gossedejong9248]

thank you!!

[@lets_go_birding9096]

You're welcome!

[@kathyscutt6744]

I'm wondering if you could shed any light on my back buttons not wanting to work after the latest firmware update which was done at the service center. I used AF On for faces and * for spot focus and during an outing or wedding or rodeo, etc I would switch back and forth easily. Not anymore. The buttons all fight and don't stay set. 1.7.0 firmware on R5 & R6. Thank you.

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Perhaps try reinstalling 1.7.0 again and see if that fixes it. (it's really easy to go-many youtube Videos on the subject.) If that doesn't work, you'll have to send it into Canon :-(. When I first installed 1.7.0, I did have some strange things going on the first time I took it out shooting (it wouldn't go into full manual mode). But after I pulled out the battery and the ST card and restarted it, the problem disappeared. Seems like 1.7.0 is a little buggy.

[@CZOV]

My BB AF is configured a bit different. I only use AF and * at the back and DOF in front as a 3rd button. I find it easier that using the last button to the right. One problem - DOF button on R5/6 is a bit dodgy, cheapo version and gets jammed and hard to press sometimes. Why Canon put some cheap buttons on those expensive cameras is beyond me, as it only saves pennies. Same is true for the ON/OFF button, crappy cheap plastic like DOF. I guess they didn't consider those to be used too often.

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Thank you for your comments. That's why I don't use DOF button-- mine gets stuck as well and you just can't rely on it. Unfortunately, the same is true for the R7's DOF button. And talk about cheap, how about that joystick (Multi-controller) on the R7! Really disappointed in that.

[@susanburkholder]

I shoot sports, will this work? You seem to know more about the camera settings than all the so called sports settings experts have shown.

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Yes, Will also work just fine for sports. This is an older setup video and I have a new one (2024) that will show you two different setups: triple BACK button autofocus and triple FRONT button autofocus, which is what I use exclusively --no more back button autofocus for me. Check it out here (look in the table of contents and jump to autofocus setups): kzbin.info/www/bejne/enzaZnRvm6plg5o

[@simonryan6850]

Back button focus settings

[@gossedejong9248]

Sir, could i please ask you. I saw a video by Fabian Fopp on the R7. He claims you can set the shutterbutton to metering and autofocus, and use backbutton autofocus as well. If you use backbutton focus like this, it overrides the autofocus from the shutterbutton. Thus, in effect it gives you an extra button! Would you know if it is true, and would it be like this on the R5 as well? Thank you...

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Hello, this is absolutely true. I'm actually doing this on the R7 right now because the autofocus point select button (I call it the checkerboard button) cannot be set up for any type of back button focusing - very disappointing. I was a little worried about double engaging the metering/autofocus start (Via the shutter button and whichever back button you set up), but there doesn't seem to be any problem that I can see with this approach. It also works on the R5 and R6. I'll be talking about it soon in my Soon-to-be-released, "how to set up your R7 bird photography." :-)

[@Laiquatan]

@@lets_go_birding9096 You might check out a video by ISO Wildlife Photography on triple back button focus for the R5. He describes a way of getting the right button / checkerboard to run zone AF (looks like it should work for others as well). Basically it seems to work by assigning that button to register/recall function (the icon of the camera with arrows going into and out of it) and using info to select: AF Method (set to zone), Metering mode (set to center-weighted in his example), and AF operation (set to ON). Unfortunately I haven't been able to test this as I haven't yet acquired my R5, but I hope to be prepared when I do. :) Thanks for the great video!

[@frankstark3036]

Does using the right button hurt anyone else’s thumb after a while?

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Yes! This is the main reason I gave up on back-button autofocus and now just use the front shutter button to shoot with. The R5 is so fast at grabbing focus, there is really no reason to use the back buttons anymore to start autofocus.