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EOS S.O.S

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CANONSCHOOL

The Canon Magazine 89

BRIAN WORLEY

CANON PRO

Brian is a freelance photographer

and photo tutor, based in

Oxfordshire. He has unrivalled

EOS DSLR knowledge, after

working for Canon for over

15 years, and is on hand to

answer all your EOS and

photographic queries

Is it possible for spot metering

be linked to the AF point?

Keith Thompson, Plymouth

BRIAN SAYS... When spot

metering is used, EOS

cameras don’t automatically

lock the exposure when the

focus locks. In fact only

evaluative metering locks the

exposure when the focus

locks in One-Shot AF. You’ll

need to use the camera’s

exposure lock button,

the one with a * icon on it.

Some cameras, including

the EOS 6D Mark II, EOS R

and EOS RP have a custom

function that changes this

behaviour, and you can

choose which method

automatically locks the

exposure with the focus.

You could also consider

using exposure lock with hold,

if your camera has it. This

would let you lock exposure

from your subject initially

then recompose and take

photos all with the same

exposure as the first shot.

EOS cameras set to spot

metering, only measure from

the centre of the frame. The

exception is the EOS-1D

series which can be altered to

meter from the location of the

active AF point.

For this wildlife shot, the Spot meter was pointed at the owl’s darker

feathers, then locked with the AE-lock button for this photo

The meter was directed to her

face to give a good exposure and

let the background overexpose

BRIAN SAYS... The camera

has three settings in the AF

menu to determine which is

the initial AF point for AI Servo

AF with the 65-point AF area.

By default, the camera

automatically makes the

choice for you, so you don’t

know until it shows in the

viewfinder. You can choose

one of the other settings to be

able to choose the initial AF

point yourself, or to have the

starting point determined by

the position last used for one

of the other AF areas.

I suggest you choose the

specific initial point, with the

centre point selected if you

tend to concentrate on

getting your subject in

the centre of the frame.

How do I know which AF point the EOS

7D Mar k II s t ar t s t r ack ing w i t h w hen

using all 65 AF points?

Lee Maynard, Maidstone

Choosing the initial AF point helps when concentrating on the centre

of the frame with the 65-point AF area