WHY the PROS use BACK BUTTON FOCUS and why YOU should too!

Very clear & to the point!
Thank you so much for sharing the tutorial :)

Thank you pulled up your video on the sidelines of football game

Pro level tip for a total beginner, and its simple! 🤯😹🖖

Thanks Kirk. Consider me inspired. I've been wanting to try Back Button Focus for some time now (I've only dabbled in the past). Living in San Francisco, there's a lot of high contrast shadow situations where I want to set my exposure for a bright scene but set focus on a moving subject in a dark scene but headed to the bright. I can see this being very handy in those tricky lighting situations.

Thank you so much for sharing this! This is very valuable info!

I will just add on my Fuji XT5 I also have the rear wheel assigned to AF-ON so that I two choices to focus with. Sometimes I just push the rear wheel to obtain focus!

For me on my Panasonic GX880 it's 'top button focus' as I re-assign the 4K button next to the shutter button and I can use my index finger to hit both as needed. Similarly on my OMD E-M10 I reassign the x2 zoom button next to the shutter, and index finger for both again. Can't do the continuous shooting tho.

Thanks I will try this. Attempted my first basketball game with my XT-5 and my Viltrox 75mm. Ok results. That lens was a little long when I was on the floor for close shots. Will try the BB focus next.

Glad Back Button Focus works for you Kirk. Definitely does not work for me. I tried over and over because I have friends that do it and other videos online that suggest it. Having to use thumb then finger for every photo does not make sense for me. I just use half press to focus, I can re-compose at that point if I need to and then continue to full press to take the shot. I also have Pre AF enabled so my camera is already focused on whatever I'm pointing at and then half press to lock, then full press to shoot. I found Pre AF made focusing quicker to get the shot. I can still use the AF-L with a press to lock the focus if I want and recompose. With the AF-L lock the half press to focus is ignored so you get best of both. If using a tripod I will often use touch to focus on the lcd then shutter button to take the shot which will not re-focus because I alread selected focus on the screen.

Thanks so much! I’m going to reset the shutter button and then turn it off again just to try it! Merry Christmas!

I may have missed it, but did you show how to assign the AF-L button to focus? I saw you turn off the shutter button, but I think I missed the assignment of the AF-L button. Also, when you’re talking about using continuous focus after that, you’re referring to using the AF-L button, correct? Thanks. Keep up the videos! Geoff

Always enjoy you videos…Great reminder as I have been using BBF in many of my cameras. I have a Fuji XT5
which I have set back to BBF now. My other Ricoh GRIIIx mostly is set to focus & shoot by screen so that
it is already set so anyone can use it for candid shots and I can as well use it for street photography!

I've been playing with back button focus, I see the benefit but changing habits are hard. I like using it manual mode best. Don't have to menu dive and gives you the option for manual or auto focus. It's like a "semi-auto" focus mode.

Coming from Nikon to XT3 I couldn't hack the back buttons - my thumb never sat anywhere close. But I've reset the front function button as focus and my middle finger falls in exactly the correct spot..

You are right, once you go to back-button focus you never want to go back to using the shutter button to focus and snap the picture … that is until you give your camera to someone else to snap a picture for you. That’s the only drawback!
As for using the back-button focusing in manual mode on my X-T30, I use it almost exclusively. Really great when taking close-up photos of lotus flowers here in Thailand 🇹🇭 (quite common) that I could put that square right on the spot in the center of the flower. It works great. Sometimes though, that square needs to be resized to accommodate your subject.

Been using it for years. Especially useful for wildlife.

Thanks, this video is actually timely for me. I shoot middle school sports with an X-T4 and 50-140mm f/2.8. It's been frustrating to come home after a game and have to throw out some good compositions because of missed focus. Just this year, I reassigned the rear command dial to AF and it seemed to do wonders for my football and cross country shooting. Basketball has also been improved somewhat, but I sometimes still don't get the shots that I want. We have our last boys game tomorrow, then girls basketball starts in January. I'll keep working on it. Thanks again for the tips here.