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Canon 5D Mark III Experience
35
61 Points - All 61 AF points are available to manually select. This is obviously a
lot of AF Points to click across to reach your desired AF Point, but it can be
relatively quickly done and will potentially allow you to find a point at or near your
subject, thus minimizing any required recomposing of the frame before taking the
shot. The 61 Points setting should be taken advantage of for shooting action
situations and tracking moving subjects. Use it in conjunction with the AF Area
mode that best fits the subject and situation (AF Area Selection Modes will be
fully explained in the Autofocusing chapter). When working in AI Servo Focus
Mode, setting for all 61 Points will also allow you to accurately locate your subject
and initiate focus tracking while retaining the framing and composition you desire.
Only Cross-Type Points - Obviously, just the more accurate cross-type AF
Points will be available to choose from - up to 41 points depending on which lens
and/ or aperture setting you are using. This may help you to work faster than
choosing among all 61 points, and will helpfully limit your selection to the most
accurate AF Points. If you find 61 points too many to deal with for your shooting
style or a specific situation, step down to this setting.
15 Points - 15 AF points will be available for manual selection (see Figure 20).
Limiting the selectable AF Points to 15 may enable you to work faster to select
your desired AF Point, but may also result in you having lock focus and
recompose more often, or alter your composition in order to locate your subject
at an AF Point. But if your situation requires you to quickly choose and commit to
an AF Point, or even allows you to work slowly and carefully with still subjects, 15
Points may work very well.
9 Points - Similar to the 5D Mk II, only 9 AF points will be available for manual
selection, however not in the traditional diamond pattern (see Figure 20). This
offers the same speed and ease advantages of 15 Points, while increasing the
disadvantage of not always having an AF Point at or near where your subject is
located, causing you to recompose or alter your composition.
Figure 20 - Simulated view of viewfinder, showing Selectable AF Points limited to 15
Points (left) and 9 Points (right).