Star button on Canon for rear focus AF??

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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