Don’t Miss the Moment: How to Use Focus Recall for Wildlife Photography
Wildlife rarely gives second chances. Whether it’s a golden eagle swooping into a fjord or a shy leopard approaching a waterhole, you need to be ready the instant the subject enters your frame. One often overlooked but incredibly powerful feature that helps with this is Focus Recall (called Focus Preset on Canon lenses).
This tool is built into many professional telephoto lenses and can radically speed up your response time—something every serious wildlife photographer will appreciate, especially during our photo tours where things often happen fast.
What Is Focus Recall?
Focus Recall allows you to pre-set a specific focus distance and then instantly jump back to that distance without any delay. Instead of relying on autofocus to find the subject again, your lens returns to a locked-in position with a simple twist of a ring or press of a button.
This can be a lifesaver when you’re set up in a hide, waiting for a subject to land on a perch or appear at a known location like a waterhole. Rather than fumbling with the focus in low light or when there’s clutter in the frame, you’re dialed in and ready.
Real-World Tour Examples
- In the Eagle hides in winter: Pre-focus on the carcass or favorite branch where golden eagles often land. If the camera loses focus or can’t find focus in flight, twist the preset ring and you have focus on the expected landing point.
- Hides in the Pyrenees: Waiting for vultures to land on a carcass site? Use Focus Recall to lock onto that distance and stay ready even when scanning other areas.
- Zimanga or Mana Pools: Save a foreground focal point for where a predator might pass, and quickly switch back and forth between close and distant zones.
How to Use It (Canon Example)
If you’re shooting Canon’s RF or EF super-telephoto L-series lenses, here’s how you activate it:
- Turn the Focus Preset switch on the lens to ON.
- Manually focus on your target zone (e.g. branch, trail, carcass site).
- Press and hold the SET button on the lens until it beeps or blinks.
- To recall the focus, just rotate the preset ring—your lens will jump instantly to that saved distance.
Some lenses even support two directions (left/right) so you can save two different focal distances.
Other brands like Sony and Nikon also offer similar features under different names, usually available on their long, high-end telephoto lenses.
Why It’s a Must-Learn Tool
Many photographers focus on getting fast with back-button autofocus or configuring custom AF tracking modes—and those are important—but Focus Recall is different. It’s a manual override that works instantly, even when AF would struggle.
During a tour, where you’re balancing long days in the field, rapid action, and uncertain lighting, it gives you a real edge. Once you learn to use it, it becomes part of your muscle memory—just like anticipating a subject’s behavior or adjusting ISO by feel.
If you’re joining an upcoming FocusRAW expedition and you’re using a lens that supports this feature, we highly recommend practicing it in advance. It could be the difference between a missed opportunity and a portfolio shot.
Let us know in the comments or on tour if you want help setting it up—we’re always happy to share tips in the field.
