What To Do with the Focus Hold Button Now, Sony?

The focus hold button has been the obvious choice for Eye AF in the past. But with the introduction of Sony's continuous Eye AF in 2019, it's become mostly irrelevant.

There was a short period of time when I enjoyed the interim before continuous Eye AF. Back in the days when one of the few actual lenses to have a focus hold button would become the home to the Eye AF feature. But once again, innovation has made certain physical architectures obsolete, or nearly so.

In early 2019 Sony introduced its continuous Eye AF feature via firmware upgrades to its third-generation full-frame cameras. After the upgrade, a Sony shooter would no longer have to press a programmable button to engage Eye AF. This essentially unlocked the focus hold button for some other feature.

But here's the problem I have now. There's no one obvious contender to program into the focus hold button. Eye AF had been such a big deal when it was introduced that not only did Sony shooters program it into the focus hold button, but we also programmed it to our favorite buttons on the camera body itself for those times when we were using lenses without focus hold buttons. In other words, many of us would have done anything to enact Eye AF. And now, the focus hold button is like a vacant lot in the middle of a run-down neighborhood: nobody knows what to do with it.

It's not that the Sony A7iii lacks features; firmware version 3.10 alone offers 87 settings. However, I find most of them not worthwhile to assign to the focus hold button for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the programmable custom buttons on the camera are more easily accessible, regardless of the lens attached. Secondly, very few features benefit from being activated by holding down a button continuously. Additionally, it’s hard to recall which less critical feature was assigned to the focus hold button after a few weeks. I already struggle to remember the functions assigned to other custom buttons due to my reliance on Sony's custom menu pages and the Fn menu for essential settings. An exception is the Live View Setting Effect, which I’ve assigned to Custom Button 3 for studio use—a feature I wouldn't relegate to the focus hold button, as I need it accessible with any lens in the studio.

The million-dollar question: what feature is so essential, that one must program it into the focus hold button?

I guarantee one thing: there's no obvious answer anymore in Sony's post-Continuous Eye AF world. So what are the options that make sense?

This is where any Sony shooter with a focus hold button-rich lens will have to strike out on an adventure of discovery, I believe. The question becomes, what feature do I need with this lens based on what I use it for the most?

For me, I photograph a lot of people, whether out in the cities shooting street photography or shooting portraits. Continuous Eye AF is a feature I make use of almost every time I shoot. So I'm going to use as an example one of the Sony lenses I own that has the focus hold button: the Sony 85mm 1.8.

What do I use this lens for? Obviously, for portraits, in-studio, or on location. But like a true heathen, I stray quite far from the traditional purposes of the lens and use it in my street photography work, too. Practically speaking, I've got a great range of options to consider for the focus hold button. But it's not that easy.

Here is a list of contender features I'm considering, based on what I use the 85mm for:

1. APS-C 35 / Full Frm Sel.

2. Face Prty in Mlti Mtr

3. Metering Mode

4. Silent Shooting

To be perfectly frank, I struggled to come up with these options out of all offerings. Additionally, I rarely use two of the features and never even tried one of them. Here are my thoughts.

APS-C 35 / Full Frm Sel.

There's potential here, at least for those times when I feel like shooting 85mm in my street photography. It's fair to note that I'd never use this setting for portraits because of the massive hit taken to resolution in Super 35 mode. But there are times when I wish I had some extra reach and a 127.5mm focal length would likely help bridge the gap between myself and my subject. But as a prime lens-only shooter, I rarely touch this. I frame with my feet as a matter of practice. However unlikely, this is my best guess currently as to what I'd consider for my focus hold button.

Face Prty in Mlti Mtr

I had no idea what this meant though I suspected that it would be useful for portraits or perhaps for street photography. What it does is take into account any face detected while you're in multi-meter mode - which is my default setting. Though I've never even tried this feature I suspect I'll be testing it out soon to see if it even makes a difference or not when shooting subjects against backlit or low light conditions. I'll update this piece once I test it out.

Metering Mode

To be clear, I included a third option just for the sake of rounding out the list. Honestly, I’ve never needed to switch the metering mode in the studio or even when shooting on the streets. The reason is that using a mirrorless camera, like mine, makes this feature somewhat obsolete for my style of photography. I rely on the LCD screen and the exposure indicator to gauge how many stops I'm over or under-exposed. Thanks to post-processing, metering modes don’t concern me much—I just set it to multi meter and forget it. For street photographers, tweaking settings on the fly isn’t practical; it's how you miss capturing moments. And I can confidently say I’ve never ruined a shot because I was in the “wrong” metering mode. It’s a non-issue for me, so it certainly isn’t something I’d assign to the focus hold button.

Silent Shooting

Silent shooting is a strong option, particularly for street photographers or when quietness is essential on a video production set. There are numerous reasons why someone might need to switch between silent shooting and the audible click of taking photos. While it's a top choice for me, I often don't find myself needing to quickly toggle this feature. However, the urgency to use this setting can vary greatly among different photographers.

What feature could I see being used with the focus hold button?

I'm of the opinion now that the focus hold button is nearly obsolete, a throwback to another era in photography architecture. I doubt that there's any one feature that belongs solely on the focus hold button that shouldn't already be programmed into any of the customizable buttons on the Sony body.

Oddly enough, there are several features that weren't available to be programmed into the focus hold button. The one that would have been of interest to me was the Face Registration feature, currently found on the first menu tab on page 14/14. Why isn't this an option for focus hold, Sony?

The best option I can think of for myself is a zoom feature, which frustratingly can't be programmed into the focus hold button if you're shooting in RAW. Why zoom? Well, the ability to closely examine a model's face before taking a shot could save a lot of time in post-processing. For example, spotting and removing stray hairs could be handled on the spot rather than later. This issue highlights a broader problem with several Sony features—they're unavailable when shooting in RAW, which is quite absurd given the advancements in their technology. At this point, Sony should be outpacing not only other camera manufacturers but also smartphone makers.

So here's my dream list, not in any particular order. But any of these features would be best-served as programmable to any of Sony's custom buttons since a vast minority of lenses, including offerings by third parties, have focus hold buttons.

1. Zoom

2. Send to Cloud (sends last shot taken to pre-determined Internet options, like cloud storage companies like 500px, Flickr, etc.)

3. Send to Phone (sends last shot taken to phone for editing/sharing/storage backup)

4. Send to Client (a mode that sends the last shot taken to a specific client as email or another method)

Conclusion?

I'm not suggesting that the focus hold button is useless for photographers. Different shooting styles and specific needs might make this feature invaluable for some. However, in the era following the advent of Continuous Eye AF, the focus hold button may not be as crucial a programmable option as it once was. That said, it's important to be aware of whether your lens has a focus hold button and to check what is programmed there before starting a shoot. Consider if there is something specifically beneficial that could be programmed to the focus hold button to aid during your session. Additionally, as photographers, our experience and needs evolve over time, and certain features may become more valuable to us. What we choose to program into the focus hold button may need to adapt alongside our growing skills. I’d love to hear how you utilize the focus hold button in your photography practice.