# Exposure lock on Canon 7D



## eagledad (Aug 20, 2014)

I've been reading forums and watching youtube videos, and am confused about the process of locking focus on my Canon 7D.  If I point the camera at the portion of the scene on which I want the camera to lock exposure, do I need to hold down the "*" button until after I recompose and press down the shutter button, or can I point the camera at my exposure area, press and release the "*" button to lock exposure, then recompose and press the shutter button down?  Thanks in advance for any help on this.


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## JohnTrav (Aug 20, 2014)

eagledad said:


> I've been reading forums and watching youtube videos, and am confused about the process of locking focus on my Canon 7D.  If I point the camera at the portion of the scene on which I want the camera to lock exposure, do I need to hold down the "*" button until after I recompose and press down the shutter button, or can I point the camera at my exposure area, press and release the "*" button to lock exposure, then recompose and press the shutter button down?  Thanks in advance for any help on this.



Yes. Make sure you are in one shot AF also it it will refocus. As long as you hold the shutter release half way the focus point will remain the same and the exposure should stay the same too. 

You can always shoot in manual mode and it will definitely insure that your expose won't change.


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## eagledad (Aug 20, 2014)

I'm sorry, I think I miss-typed a word on my original post.  I'm concerned with locking exposure, not focus.  My concern is that I have my camera set to back button focus on the AF On button, and if I want to lock exposure but have to keep my thumb on the "*" button the entire time, I run out of thumbs to both lock exposure and focus the camera.


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## ronlane (Aug 20, 2014)

I haven't read the manual for the 7D but on the T3i with back button focus, I use the shutter pressed half way down to lock my exposure and then I can recompose and back button focus. I use my thumb and index finger.


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## JacaRanda (Aug 20, 2014)

Here you go 

Canon DLC: Article: Using Auto Exposure (AE) Lock


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## eagledad (Aug 20, 2014)

Thanks for the link.  Read through it once, will need to do so a few more times for it to sink in.


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## Dao (Aug 21, 2014)

For exposure lock in 7D,

1. Point your camera to the spot where you like the camera to meter on.
2. Press the exposure lock once (not hold)
3. Re-compose and shoot (back button or regular shutter button)

If before you hit the shutter button and like to re-meter and lock the exposure again, just repeat from step 1.  Also, if you hold the exposure lock button and move the camera around, you will see the locked exposure will change  until you either release the button or meter scene stop changing.


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## TCampbell (Aug 21, 2014)

As other have pointed out, you only need to tap the "*" key to lock the exposure.   The exposure will remain locked until either (a) you take the shot, or (b) you wait long enough for it to expire the lock (about 4-6 seconds), or (3) you deliberately "cancel" the exposure lock (if you tap the AF selection button it automatically cancels the exposure lock even if you didn't change the selected AF point.)


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