Canon 7D: Orientation Linked AF Point

After a long analysis of my photos through Lightroom, horizontal/landscape vs vertical/portrait. I’ve found that I need to change my focus point in the vertical mode. I’ve always known about the Orientation Linked AF Point, but I’ve never bothered with it.

What a mistake! It’s great, so much faster and so much better than doing by hand by selecting the AF point manually. The problem is that the documentation is not clear on how to do it.

1. To configure the orientation linked AF point you need to be in single point AF or Zone AF. (I’ve never tried the spot or the expansion since I never use them)
2. Go to the menu/C.Fn III-12 Orientation Linked AF Point
3. Set the option to 1
4. Press on the AF point selection button at the back
5. Hold horizontally and select the focus point or the zone with the joystick
6. Hold vertically up and/or down depending on your preferences and select the focus point or the zone with the joystick. The Canon 7D will keep track of the horizontal point, the vertical up and the vertical down points.

Then the Canon 7D will switch to that point when in vertical mode even when using the focus point AF or the zone AF.

Now it’s so much simpler. It’s a hundred times faster than me doing by hand. Or, horror of horrors, only using the center point and cropping when vertical.