As good as the Canon autofocus system is, there are times when it just isn’t doing the job for you. Often you’d like to compose a scene and specify where the actual point of focus should be. This can be especially true when you are using the camera on a tripod, where you can’t pre-focus and then recompose before shooting (as discussed earlier). To take care of this problem, switch to manual focus by pressing the MF button (Figure 1.4).
A large “MF” appears in the center of the LCD, and a bar showing a distance display appears along the right side of the screen. Using the Control dial, adjust the focus as necessary—using the distance display as a rough guide—and take your picture.