topic Re: Low light focusing in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS R6 Mark II - Low light focusing

wrk4no1 — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 20:28:55 GMT

I have a R6 mkii and last night I was photographing in very low light at a Halloween theme park. I had the hardest time with the auto focus. I had to add more time so that the focusing system would pick up, then back it back down so that I didn't blow out the shot with my flashes. My canon 5Dmkii could pick up focus in very low light with little problem. Anyone have this issue and know best approach for this?

Canon R6 mkii, 24-70mm F2.8, off camera flashes.

The image below you can see the use of my flash. This area had little ambient light, I decreased shutter speed so that i could get focus, then increased the shutter speed so that the flash didn't blow out the image.

The image below I had trouble getting focus without having to bump the shutter speed to allow me to get focus or use a small flashlight.

Re: Low light focusing

Tronhard — Sat, 26 Oct 2024 17:13:22 GMT

What you describe could be the result of multiple factors: let's start with:
What lenses were you using on each of the cameras?
What settings were you using on each of them?

Re: Low light focusing

March411 — Sat, 26 Oct 2024 19:02:22 GMT

Chances are there isn't enough contrast for the camera to accurately gain focus but a couple things I do in these situations help.

Use single AF point focus to directly on your subject to improve accuracy
If the focus beam is off, turn it on temporarily in these circumstances.
Use a lower f-number, wider aperture manually to let in more light.
Increase the ISO to allow more light to reach the sensor but know doing this will create noise that will need to be resolved in post production. I've pushed mine as far as 25600 and was able to recover the detail using denoising applications.

Re: Low light focusing

wrk4no1 — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 14:09:11 GMT

Thank you for your response, i added some photos and setting to my post.

Re: Low light focusing

wrk4no1 — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 14:18:33 GMT

Thank you for your response, I added some photos and setting to my post.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II - Low light focusing

March411 — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 14:46:53 GMT

Your aperture looks to be wide open, the ISO could have been bumped up but it would have resulted in noise which would need to be resolved on post. Both shots @ 1/60, pretty nice for hand held.

It's a tough environment to shoot in beyond higher ISO or flash I'm not sure I can offer many suggestions but some here have more knowledge then I do and will jump into the conversation. I did a little post on the images in PS with decent results.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II - Low light focusing

Waddizzle — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 15:17:43 GMT

@March411 wrote:

Your aperture looks to be wide open, the ISO could have been bumped up but it would have resulted in noise which would need to be resolved on post. Both shots @ 1/60, pretty nice for hand held.

It's a tough environment to shoot in beyond higher ISO or flash I'm not sure I can offer many suggestions but some here have more knowledge then I do and will jump into the conversation. I did a little post on the images in PS with decent results.

These two images seem to be entirely different shooting and lighting scenarios. One cannot reach any definitive conclusions without some common reference. For example, a light meter reading for the two scenarios would have been informative.

These photos are outliers. It would have been nice if the two shots were the same scene and lighting conditions.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II - Low light focusing

wrk4no1 — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 20:27:38 GMT

Thanks for the input, the two example were just to show what I was dealing with out in the field. These were taken during the event as i would have to stop and let them scare people hahaha.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II - Low light focusing

Waddizzle — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 20:41:30 GMT

Please don’t be offended by what I have to say. Please indulge me as I present your issue in a different context.

“I think I have a problem with my new baseball. Look at the photo of a pitch using my old baseball. It’s a strike pitch inside the strike zone.

“Look at this later pitch with my new baseball. It’s a ball. The ball is outside the strike zone.

“What could be wrong with my new baseball?”

————-

I don’t know. I need more information. These two examples are interesting, but inconclusive.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II - Low light focusing

wrk4no1 — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 13:55:13 GMT

What does your response offer to my question? If you can't offer any good suggestion, then I would appreciate you don't reply.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II - Low light focusing

jrhoffman75 — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 15:30:30 GMT

@wrk4no1 wrote:

I have a R6 mkii and last night I was photographing in very low light at a Halloween theme park. I had the hardest time with the auto focus. I had to add more time so that the focusing system would pick up, then back it back down so that I didn't blow out the shot with my flashes. My canon 5Dmkii could pick up focus in very low light with little problem. Anyone have this issue and know best approach for this?

Canon R6 mkii, 24-70mm F2.8, off camera flashes.

The image below you can see the use of my flash. This area had little ambient light, I decreased shutter speed so that i could get focus, then increased the shutter speed so that the flash didn't blow out the image.

The image below I had trouble getting focus without having to bump the shutter speed to allow me to get focus or use a small flashlight.

All cameras have a lower limit of light where they can achieve focus.

Camera FAQ: How Does the Low-Light AF Limit Impact My Shots?

Re: EOS R6 Mark II - Low light focusing

p4pictures — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 17:26:10 GMT

Just a quick question, what flashes where you using, and what trigger for the flashes?

Secondly did you set exposure simulation to disable?

With Canon and dedicated triggers from some independent brands, the trigger / flash sends a signal to the camera to tell the camera the flash is ready. Your EOS R6 Mark II will see that and automatically switch off the display simulation setting and you will see the subject clearly and AF works fine. If the flash is not providing this signal then you need to manually turn off the display simulation. You will find the display simulation setting at the top of the 9th page of the red menus in your camera.