Canon EOS-1Dx Manual Book page 16

AF area selection mode [Spot AF]
Focusing on a small or narrow area
It is possible to focus on pinpoints such as the eye when a helmet is being worn
When set to [Single-point spot AF], a small rectangle is
displayed inside the manually selected AF point.
[Single-point spot AF] mode can be used to
focus on a small area of the subject. This option
makes it possible to focus on the exact area
even when there is an obstacle near the area
you want to focus on. A common example
30
Snapshot of a BMX
r i d e r w e a r i n g a
helmet. Focus was
pinp ointed on the
e ye us in g [S in g l e -
point spot AF].
[Singl e - p o int sp ot
AF] is effective when
there is something
like the edge of the
helmet, or visor near
the eye you want to
f o c u s o n . W i t h
standard AF systems
this can result in the
AF system focusing
o n t h e s e e d g e s
rather than eye of
the subject.
when shooting sports is when you want to
focus on the eyes of a rider wearing a helmet
(see photos above). With normal settings, the
AF point can easily get caught on the edge of
the helmet near the eye, resulting in the camera
focusing on this edge. In situations like this,
[Single-point Spot AF] makes it possible to focus
more accurately on the rider's eye. As [Single-
point Spot AF] only focuses on one very small
area, it is not really suited to capturing fast
moving subjects when set to AI Servo AF and
may take longer to focus than other AF area
selection modes.
31
Blue color of focus point is for illustration.