When you set the arrow pad to 'direct function' (menu>gear>B>Button Function>arrow pad function>direct function) you can reprogram the right and down arrow buttons to a limited set of functions. The main one I knew of, and use extensively, is to control power-zooming the 12-50mm kit lens. That is actually the default action in movie mode. It means you don't need to buy a zoom gear. I actually have the zoom gear but still often use the arrowpad as I find it easier than twisting the zoom gear knob. I mainly use the zoom gear in manual zoom mode when I need to select a focal length more precisely.
The limited choice of functions that can be assigned to arrow pad buttons didn't have another particularly useful function for me and, for lack of something better, I had the down arrow button trigger manual focus. It was not that useful because much of the time I am already in manual focus. I can also get MF by triggering Preset MF (drives lens to closest focus distance and switches to manual focus). However, I just discovered that if you are already in Preset MF mode, but no longer at the closest focus distance, then pressing the down arrow to trigger manual focus actually drives the lens to the closest focus distance.
Knowing this undocumented feature I think I will simply be using Preset MF instead of MF all the time. It will do everything MF was doing but a single down-arrow button press will now give me instant focus at minimum distance. Great for guaranteed 1:1 life size reproduction!
Finally, I used to have a button programmed to trigger Preset MF. This works great but there are always competing functions looking for a button to trigger them. The highest priority are important functions that can only be triggered by a button. Next highest are important/frequently-used functions that are cumbersome to access with the Super Control Panel (SCP). Preset MF can be triggered with the SCP but I found it tedious enough to dedicate a button to it. I just discovered that a press of the AF/metering button, an easy to access button on the top left of the housing that I have never used, is equivalent to pressing OK to bring up the SCP, use arrow keys to select the AF selection tile, and press OK again to get the list of AF modes. That makes it so much faster and easier that I think I no longer need a dedicated Preset MF button. One more thing to test on my next trip.
