Canon 5D3 AF point illumination?

[FrankG]

I know I'm late to the party but I just traded up to a 5D3.

Unlike my 5D2, there does not appear to be a 'red' illumination of the selected focus point/area at the moment of focus (I use back-button Af-on).
None at all in Ai Servo and in OneShot all the available points light up instead of the selected af area only.
This is a problem in dim light where you cannot see the black points against a dark background.
I need to see it, the beeping option is not for me.

Any way to 'fix' this?

the camera firmware is 1.2.3
AF5>AF point display during focus=All (constant)
I set this is so i can see where i can move the point to.
The Selected (constant) doesn't help any.
VF Display = ON
AF4>Selectable AF point= Only cross-type.

Thanks in advance for any remedy or links

[ThomasR99]

Hi, Frank:  If you have the Owners Manual, page 103 may offer some help.  It looks like you have the settings right, but at the top of page 103 you'll see one of the gray "note" boxes.  It states that if "[selected (pre-AF Focused]" or [Selected (Focused)] is set in AF5, the AF point will not be displayed even when focus is achieved with AI Servo AF.  Try setting a different focus mode if this is the one you're using and see if the focus points illuminate then.  Based on your post it looks like you have the other settings correct, so this is my only thought.

I just drug out my old 30D to compare (I never had a 5DI or II).  There does seem to be a difference in that with the 30D only the little viewfinder box indicating the focus point achieving focus illuminates.  On my 5DIII, also using rear-button autofocus, the light for the entire viewfinder window flashes for about 1/10 second, rather than the individual focus point(s) achieving focus.  After that you're right, just the black outlines of the AF points (and the VF grid if you enabled that) are visible.  I never really thought about this before.  If you constantly work in low light it might be nice to have only the AF point(s) used stay illuminated, and for an extended time.

[FrankG]

constantly work in low light it might be nice to have only the AF point(s) used stay illuminated,

I do.
And am having a bit of a struggle getting a grip on setting up the AF menus/submenus

[Simon J.A. Simpson]

Frank, you'll love the 5D3.  I upgraded from a vanilla 5D and I'm extremely pleased with it.  However, it is monstrously complicated even though the menu system is well designed.  I sat down with the manual, four times the thickness of the 5D, and played with the camera for six weeks over the summer to get to grips with it (probably forgotten a lot by now though).

I believe the answer to your question is under AF Menu 5 “VF display illumination”.  There is a choice of “Auto”, “Enable”, “Disable”.  I have mine on “Auto”.

Enjoy.

[FrankG]

it doesn't help, but I'm glad I'm not alone 

[FrankG]

I have mine set to ON just dont want to leave it up to the camera to decide when to illuminate the af points

[ThomasR99]

Having thought about this more, it may not be feasible to have our 5DIII focus points individually illuminate when focus is achieved.  Here's my reasoning.
1. There are 61 AF points.  I'm not sure internally how Canon makes the individual one(s) illuminate in other models, but that potentially takes a grid of 61 LED lamps to achieve.
2.  This grid of lamps may not physically fit w/in the body dimensions.  If there's less than 61 then the mechanics to illuminate some points while leaving others dark may be prohibitively complex and/or expensive.  I'm sure as with any consumer item, every cent of production cost is scrutinized closely.  Canon may have had an ulitimate (retail) price target and including this may have driven the cost above their goal.
3.  The firmware needed to make this function may not be practical w/in the CPU performance of the camera...the processing power used to drive this function may make other functions unacceptably slow (namely autofocus tracking, exposure calculation, clearing the buffer of any remaining images, etc.) without dual digic chips which the 5dIII does not have. Perhaps the 5dIV or 3d will have dual digics??

Bottom line is, except in AI Servo mode (if you're using that particular mode) it appears either the entire viewfinder illuminates (low-light or always, depending on your setting) or not.  But not the individual focus points...

Thomas.

[FrankG]

The question was resolved with this workaround - posted on another forum by bhollis.
I'm very grateful.

5D3 no selected af point illumination??    

FWIW, here's a workaround that was posted on DPR shortly after the 5D3 was released. Far from ideal, but I've found it to be helpful:

"This DOES work on the 5DIII, though it gets a bit deep into the menu system:

Before you can set you camera to do this, you must first make sure that Spot AF is checked as one of the registered AF Area selection modes!

1: Press the Q menu button
2: highlight Custom Controls and pres SET
3: scroll down to DOF Preview button and press SET

4: scroll over to the "AF" box (at the top it should say: Switch to registered AF func.)
5: Press INFO button
6: Check mark: AF area selection mode
7: Now highlight "AF area selection mode" and press SET
8: Select Spot AF (the left most one)

Done.

Now any time you want to see your AF point, simply tap the DOF button and it'll blink red. It'l' actually blink when you press the button, then again when you release it, so a quick press will blink twice. The other benefit is that, unlike other workarounds, this will not change which AF point you're using. If you're using the far top-right point, it will stay as the active point.