Star button on Canon for rear focus AF??

[shane shacaluga]

I was watching some of Arties videos on Youtube last night and noticed that he programs the star butto,n beside the rear AF ON button, to activate AF.

I also realised that when I used a friends Canon 1dmk4 a while ago and he had the same setup.

Is there a reason for this when there is already an AF-On button available?

I am a Nikon user but am puzzled by this!

Thanks

[David Cowling]

Hi Shane. I am no Artie but I also use the star button. The reason for me is that it is slightly larger and is positioned very handily, it almost invites your thumb to be there.

[Don Lacy]

Same here I have small hands and my thumb just falls naturally there

[Diane Miller]

Don, you think YOU have small hands... I'm 5 ft tall and 120 lbs. I programmed both buttons as I can hit the wrong one when I'm excited, but the * is the one I hit most often.

[Jim Neiger]

On older cameras the AF ON button did not exist and * button was the only option. Many photographers got used to using the * button. I use it for AF lock, not focus, but I use it instead of AF ON because it became a habbit from use when AF ON wasn't there.

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks for your info. So its an ergonomics issue for some and what you are used to from older camera models

Glad you cleared up that niggling question I had