Having trouble focusing with 5D when shooting live music HELP!?

[Niz]

Hello,
[FONT=&amp]Iv'e recently brought a Canon 5D mk ii after deciding to sell my Nikon D90. I primarily shoot live music and found even for a non full sensor DSLR the D90 delivered really good results. Alot of this was due to having my AE lock as my focus button and my shutter button as exposure , because before that when both were set to my shutter button a microphone would of be in focus instead of the singers head.

Since iv'e had my canon 5D i cannot seem to get the singer in focus despite focusing on his/her cheek for exposure the camera is picking up the microphone!!! I am honestly pulling my hair out over this because i seem to be regressing since getting this camera! Here are my settings i'm using.

Manual selection
Spot metering
one shot AF

Basically i'm just confused about how i can set either my AF-On button or the '' * '' button to focus and my shutter to lock exposure also in C.Fn III (Auto Focus/ Drive Lens AF stop Button function) im not sure which is optimal for my style of photography out of these

O:AF stop
1; AF Start
2 AE lock
3; AF point M - AUTO/AUTO- cntrl
4: One shot AI SERVO

and C:fn IV

0: Metering + AF start
1 Metering +AF start/AF STOP
3 AE LOCK/metering +AF start
4 Metering AF start/Disable

Sorry but this is all really confusing for me and any help would be really appreciated!

Thanks in advance[/FONT]

 

[TCampbell]

The notation in the custom function menu is that anything left of the "/" is handled by the shutter button and anything right of the "/" is handled by the back-button.

On a 5D II the back button is the AF-ON button... not the "*" button.

I think the setting you are looking for is in C:fn IV, option 1 to mode "2:Metering star/Meter+AF start"

If you allow the camera to auto-select it's focus point, it will ALWAYS select the point which is able to lock focus at the closest distance. You are right to force it to use one specific focus point, place that point on your subjects face or eye, lock focus, and then re-compose and shoot. If you're using a particularly low focal ratio then make sure the camera isn't front focusing or back focusing (which is something you'd need to test with a focus chart at your home or studio). The 5D II will allow you to adjust the AF for a specific lens to compensate for focus error. I think it can remember the AF micro-adjustment for up to 50 specific lenses and it uses the lens serial number... so even if you had two identical model lenses you could adjust the AF micro-adjust different for each and it would remember.

 

[o hey tyler]

Are you using a 5D2 with a cheapo 50/1.8? That's probably your culprit. The AF on the 50/1.8 is not great

 

[Robin_Usagani]

You can set either AF-ON and * to back button focus. I recommend to stop using semi auto though. Just use manual so you dont have to do exposure lock. Tcambell is correct. Custom function IV to 2. I also like to use AI Servo along with backbutton focus.