Thanks for the video and OMG, what a mess!!! It was not broken before…what they heck are they thinking!

OK, I normally use single point and turn off searching…no AF assist. Does that do the same strobe flashy blinky thing?

Sheesh, I mean really, I can just imagine a bunch of engineers that don't get out of the basement vault much deciding how to make something really neat that photographers above ground use…now they need to give us a firmware version to get rid of all the fancy stuff. Ugh.

teebat wrote:
Why can't we just get a red af box like previous 1d models...

Because they removed the ability to address individual AF points with illumination. That's the whole source of the debacle and only a hardware change will fix it.

stanj wrote:
teebat wrote:
Why can't we just get a red af box like previous 1d models...

Because they removed the ability to address individual AF points with illumination. That's the whole source of the debacle and only a hardware change will fix it.

Do you know what it does with selecting single point and the AF assist turned off entirely and in servo mode?

MSC wrote:
Do you know what it does with selecting single point and the AF assist turned off entirely and in servo mode?

It blinks just the one single focus point when you half press the shutter button. Basically whatever focus points you have visible/selected will blink when in AI Servo mode when half press the shutter button (and for 10 seconds afterward).

arbitrage wrote:
Can someone check if the new flashing works if you use back button focus. I'm hoping it will flash while holding down the AF-ON in AI Servo.


Yes, it works. Either the back button (AF-On) or the shutter button will start it blinking.

I have CF2 setup for AI Servo setup, BUT I can't seem to have the flashing focus point working in this CF. Do you know if this is possible? It works, if I'm just in AV mode and AI Servo, but not when I'm using my CF2?

Thanks, Bob

Thanks got it now.

Here's a tip. Don't try to update the firmware when you only have 10 minutes before you have to leave for a shoot, it will always take 1 minute longer than you have.

arbitrage wrote:
Can someone check if the new flashing works if you use back button focus. I'm hoping it will flash while holding down the AF-ON in AI Servo.

Well actually, I'm really hoping it gets delivered for the 5D3 as I don't have a 1DX

I back button and yes it flashes.
Andy

man.. the 1DX is soooo close to a perfect camera for me, and yet it definitely isn't.

how very frustrating

..

I really don't get what people don't like about this. Turn the brightness down and it's a complete non-issue and boom, you have a red AF point whenever you want it.

Canon probably reads these threads and collectively shakes their heads.

What Will said.

Will Patterson wrote:
MSC wrote:
Will Patterson wrote:
Installed it on mine, and I'm happy to see the little red boxes back Thank you Canon!

Cool! Do they stay red or just red on half press? If only on half press, can you see them at all otherwise?

They flash whenever you half press the shutter, they're not on all the time which is what I like. Show me the AF point then go away so I get a nice clear view, but I still know where the AF point is because it was just there.


+1

Will Patterson wrote:
..

I really don't get what people don't like about this. Turn the brightness down and it's a complete non-issue and boom, you have a red AF point whenever you want it.

Canon probably reads these threads and collectively shakes their heads.

it isn't a terrible firmware fix & i've been told that Canon can't do much else given the hardware implementation, but it doesn't make me forget about how Canon inexplicably decided to go against the former 1D-series viewfinder design that worked PERFECTLY for everyone. i don't think i've read any comments from 1DX users who said "wow, the new AF point illumination system is an improvement over my 1D_ body of old!"

pains me especially because i love the new larger/brighter actual viewfinder of the 1DX..

(don't get me wrong, the 1DX is still an amazing tool & almost perfect.. i just wish that it was.)

Where is the illumination option setting in the Menu for AF AI Servo?
Be nice if Canon would show that other than the menu picture

Got it thanks to Will's video...

Will, I see you got a "fantastic" comment on your video about optical and brain damage

Will Patterson wrote:
Turn the brightness down and it's a complete non-issue and boom, you have a red AF point whenever you want it.

Yep, my perspective exactly. Brightness on low setting is ideal IMHO.

rscheffler wrote:
A little OT, but since we're all discussing 1DX firmware.... did anyone notice degradation of AI-Servo tracking consistency with the update to 1.06 from the previous version (1.02, I think)? I updated to it a few weeks ago and have had a notable number of sports action sequences where the AF totally lost the subject mid sequence, which was much less of an occurrence at pre-update events...

Can anyone confirm this?

Will see when it gets here Monday. But I watched that video and I have never seen such a distracting visual experience. I'm shooting a lot of theater any more. These shoots are usually four to five hours nearly continuous with eye the viewfinder. I'm constantly spinning the AF point (I use single point…where I don't want the camera working to figure out the focal point…I know what that should be more than the camera and close enough is not good enough so having the camera search for nearby points is not a realistic option). This is to try and make it so that the photos are interesting and unusual through framing and selective exposure. So having owned and used extensively every 1D camera, when I select an AF point…it stays red. Heck it is even red on the playback in the camera. But it stays red…easy to ignore and perfect because I know exactly where the AF point is and it is just a steady color and the rest of what is in the viewfinder has no color. Also I shoot in servo because people move. That also mean constantly half press and back button to require as the move, people move in front of the subject, etc.

At first blush, the idea of a strobing AF point and in fact the entire viewfinder strobing that I saw in the video that some person shared (that was an excellent example) for five hours sounds nuts to me.

That said, I will give it a try. But I beg to differ with people that don’t think it is a big deal. It may not be for many kinds of the shooting…that I can see, but not everyone shoots the same kind of subjects or event. I’m a member over at Sports Shooter as well. Shooting sports is similar in many ways, being on the AF all the time and wanting to see the AF point is standard practice for many. However there is not enough time to flip AF points a lot so that part is different. This has been discussed there as well, I don’t hear happiness over this feature, that the whole viewfinder strobes…most there that it bothers turn it off so they can’t see the focus points at all. That to me, as a fix, is a big lose from every other 1D camera.

So I will try it out before commenting more. It may not be distracting in use. I have a show to shoot next weekend and chime back in then with experience. Also there seems be a lot of combinations of functions so perhaps that will make a difference individualizing the camera to theatre shooting.

But I have to say watching that video, it made me even more insane that normal. Here is another video http://www.sveino.no/blog/2012/10/18/ny-firmware-til-canon-eos-1dx/ linked off a thread there. I mean really…five hours of that? Say it ain't so…ugh.

The LED light spill around the edge of the viewfinder is definitely an annoyance. It's like constantly looking at firetruck lights. I can see myself getting a headache after shooting for any length of time.

It's sad that this is the best that Canon can do in a $7000 body. You would think that the photographers ability to see the AF points would be a fundamental concept that Canon would not want to screw with. I really would like to know who in Canon development thought this would be an improvement over the previous viewfinder. Staggers the imagination as to that thought process.

MSC wrote:
At first blush, the idea of a strobing AF point and in fact the entire viewfinder strobing that I saw in the video that some person shared (that was an excellent example) for five hours sounds nuts to me.

Turn off the viewfinder grid, move the AF indicator down to the bottom green LCD area out of the viewfinder area, and set the illumination level to low. These settings will really minimize the strobing effect that you see in the video.

MSC wrote:
Will see when it gets here Monday. But I watched that video and I have never seen such a distracting visual experience. I'm shooting a lot of theater any more. These shoots are usually four to five hours nearly continuous with eye the viewfinder. I'm constantly spinning the AF point (I use single point…where I don't want the camera working to figure out the focal point…I know what that should be more than the camera and close enough is not good enough so having the camera search for nearby points is not a realistic option). This is to try and make it so that the photos are interesting and unusual through framing and selective exposure. So having owned and used extensively every 1D camera, when I select an AF point…it stays red. Heck it is even red on the playback in the camera. But it stays red…easy to ignore and perfect because I know exactly where the AF point is and it is just a steady color and the rest of what is in the viewfinder has no color. Also I shoot in servo because people move. That also mean constantly half press and back button to require as the move, people move in front of the subject, etc.

At first blush, the idea of a strobing AF point and in fact the entire viewfinder strobing that I saw in the video that some person shared (that was an excellent example) for five hours sounds nuts to me.

That said, I will give it a try. But I beg to differ with people that don’t think it is a big deal. It may not be for many kinds of the shooting…that I can see, but not everyone shoots the same kind of subjects or event. I’m a member over at Sports Shooter as well. Shooting sports is similar in many ways, being on the AF all the time and wanting to see the AF point is standard practice for many. However there is not enough time to flip AF points a lot so that part is different. This has been discussed there as well, I don’t hear happiness over this feature, that the whole viewfinder strobes…most there that it bothers turn it off so they can’t see the focus points at all. That to me, as a fix, is a big lose from every other 1D camera.

So I will try it out before commenting more. It may not be distracting in use. I have a show to shoot next weekend and chime back in then with experience. Also there seems be a lot of combinations of functions so perhaps that will make a difference individualizing the camera to theatre shooting.

But I have to say watching that video, it made me even more insane that normal. Here is another video http://www.sveino.no/blog/2012/10/18/ny-firmware-til-canon-eos-1dx/ linked off a thread there. I mean really…five hours of that? Say it ain't so…ugh.


I shot with it for 3 hours last night at a soccer stadium. It wasn't a both or annoyance, actually. I have it set to "low" where it's just enough where I can see the blinking red square but that's it during AI Servo. It does stay blinking for what seems like 4 or 5 seconds after I've let off the shutter button, kinda like how the IS keeps alive for a few seconds after you've touched the shutter half way or all the way.