Help on R5 focus area handoff

As usual, english is not my mother tongue. So I guess I'm having a hard time to get the purpose.

Anyway, if you don't have half shutter for AF, nothing will happen with half shutter for focusing.

On the other hand, as far as I used it, if you have both AF-ON and shutter AF, they will both work exactly the same way you customised your AF settings.

So, I'd ask some questions then :

• what do you mean exactly by "the other way around" and - by the way - by "it seems to work" ?
• how do you manage having tracking under half shutter and spot under AF-ON at the same time (I really can't figure out how it's possible, and it's probably because I don't know) ?
• or maybe I simply need a definition of what you call "spot"? Is it spot AF or spot metering (or once again just me that don't get it ;))?

Maybe listing your button settings (or showing them) and menu options settings too would make it clearer.

I want to try a new way, I'm asking if it is possible, not if it is wise (currently use triple BBF but want to give this a try). I want to  move AF back to the shutter half press set to tracking, but while holding the half press also press the af-on button set to spot autofocus, in hopes I could use tracking to position the af point and then hand off that location to  spot AF at that same location.

I find I can set shutter half press to spot and set af-on to tracking and this works fine. I hold the shutter half press and at the same time af-on and wherever spot focus is that is where the camera looks to start tracking. But if I try to put tracking on shutter half press and spot on af-on if works but it puts the focus point back to the center not picking up where I left off. 

I believe in Nikon this is called focus point hand-off.  

"I find I can set shutter half press to spot"

Please answer my question : by "spot" do you mean "spot metering" or "spot focusing" ?

I don't think you can have different focus method depending on buttons in fact.

I can do that with my D500, having full auto AF on lens button and 3D tracking on AF-ON, for instance, but I really don't understand what you mean by just "spot" ? So please, elaborate.

Or, however, if it can help further, can you describe exactly the settings with a Nikon camera (D500, D850, Z6 or Z7 II will do) ?

@pierre-lagarde

Spot AF

The camera focuses in a narrower area than 1-point AF.

Ok, I'll do it random :D

Is "AF-OFF" option on AF-ON button what you're looking for then (and/or what you call "Hand OFF" ?

If ever it's what you're looking for too, have you seen those options :

AF-5-1 : Initial Servo AF pt for (face/autofocus detection/tracking) ?

It allows you to choose which type of starting point you want to set for AF tracking :

• specific AF point for tracking
• the same point as Spot, normal, expanded areas
• Auto : any option of what you choose as animals, cars, people

@pierre-lagarde No problem, but maybe a non-camera example will help. By hand off I mean for example I'm carrying a package and I meet you on the corner and I give you the package. I hand off the package to you.

In the camera I want to switch to spot focus area by pushing af-on but have the focusing start at the same position in the frame where I had positioned the tracking focus area using the shutter half press.

It works if I start with spot AF under the shutter half press and use af-on to switch to tracking AF (because of the settings of the first item in menu AF5 the tracking starts to look for an eye at that same position). But it doesn't want to work if I try to start with tracking under shutter half press and press spot focus area under af-on. In that case it does switch but it puts the spot af in the center. 

Perhaps it is not intended to be possible. 

I don't even get how you do that.

I can't figure out how you do to have spot AF on shutter button while having AF tracking on AF-ON button at the same time. It seems I need more than a package to be hand off to me :D 

Only thing I can do is having the same AF method on both buttons (shutter and AF-ON).

Can you indicate me what are the settings, I'm curious ?

Ok, maybe I finally got it : you use the "AF method/registered AF func." set to Tracking assigned to AF-On button. Is it that ?

So you're not really in BBF then, just switching method on this button and use the shutter to focus.

@pierre-lagarde I would save your current setup to the card using the 'wrench' menu 5 before messing with it.

if you want to do it using back button focus only you would go into the menu and choose the  camera settings tab (camera icon with dots under it) and find customize buttons under item 3.  For the shutter you would choose metering start (so the shutter doesn't focus). For AF-on you would choose metering and AF start. This will use whatever focus area you have set. For the ☆ button you also choose AF on but this time you press INFO detail set. From the submenu you pick the tracking option and leave the other options alone. Then go to menu AF5. Click the first menu item and  choose the 2nd option. 

Now wherever you position your af point, when you press ☆ it will start to look for something to track at that spot. 

Well, I already use BBF since years on Nikon and Canon's cameras.

To me, BBF is just defining a general shooting usage, not precisely describing a specific set of settings.

BBF means you focus with whatever button you choose that is in the back of your camera but don't focus with the shutter (only metering BTW).

So yes, assigning only metering to shutter button and AF start+metering to AF-ON button is a setting corresponding to this method.

But that's not what you do ! Aren't you ? Not only at least ?

So I repeat :

Ok, maybe I finally got it : you use the "AF method/registered AF func." set to Tracking assigned to AF-On button. Is it that ?

So you're not really in BBF then, just switching method on this button and use the shutter to focus.

Ok, forget it : I just saw what you're really doing... and sadly it can't be set the "other way around" indeed.

The only reason being that shutter button can't be assigned with a focus method setting, only start focus and metering is allowed.

Interesting anyway.

@pierre-lagarde the shutter button would use whatever method is assigned by other  means, such as the Q menu, so that is not the issue.

To my sense, it is, as the problem is that you can't make it work as you do for AF-ON button or other buttons on the back of the camera.

If it was possible to assign directly a specific focus method as for AF-ON button - I.e. without the need to use Q menu - it would be possible to simply invert shutter button and AF-ON functionalities.

It's certainly not the same as being forced to use Q menu to change those settings.

This is as simple as that. 

Or else, I really still don't get what's your problem with it... that's a possibility :D