topic Re: Why Eye Detection and Focus did not work - R1 in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS R1 Why didn't Eye Detection and Focus work?

DhandaNot — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 13:22:35 GMT

I am sharing a few of the images from a burst I took. The light is good, the flying bird is in front of the camera. However R1 (with EF 500 F4 IS ii with1.4 X IS iii) is unable to detect the eye and focus properly on the raptor. Some of the images show the focus obtained on the bird, but that too is not in focus.

What could be the issues here. I know the bird is not very big in the frame, However, I have seen the camera capture the eye at similar distances.

Re: Why Eye Detection and Focus did not work - R1

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 08:40:33 GMT

Could you post these pictures here, I'm not downloading from unknown source.

I suspect too small and too little contrast but need to see the photo.

EOS R1 Inconsistent focus

DhandaNot — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 13:08:52 GMT

This link has two images. Both have exactly focus locked on to the eye. But one image is focused while other is not.

What could be the reason for it?

Re: Canon R1 Focus

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 12:38:27 GMT

Neither link nor images visible

Re: Why Eye Detection and Focus did not work - R1

DhandaNot — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 03:55:33 GMT

The images have been shared from my personal NAS and are absolutely safe to download. I have shared RAW files. I will not be able to share them here because of the limitations.

Re: Canon R1 Focus

DhandaNot — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 03:58:21 GMT

Opps, I forgot to put the share link. here it is:

https://www.myqnapcloud.com/smartshare/704ekjh1kol2998r21uuv721_ee1g9j4943682qq5rv081yza489cc661

This is my personal NAS (QNAP Hero) and perfectly safe to download.

Re: Why Eye Detection and Focus did not work - R1

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 10:33:59 GMT

That's what they all say😛

I probably would if I'd known you longer and needed the raw. But here I think a jpeg would suffice. You could easily post a (resized) jpeg with full exif so anybody could chip in.
I often shoot BIF with my R1 and R5II so maybe I could help you.

Testing upload: edit: these were around 3000px long side but auto reduced to 1000px by forum software.

Re: Canon R1 Focus

Waddizzle — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 21:53:36 GMT

“
This is my personal NAS (QNAP Hero) and perfectly safe to download. “

Links such as yours is a violation of forum rules. Please post your images on a public file sharing platform. Thanks, in advance.

Re: Canon R1 Focus

DhandaNot — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 04:25:12 GMT

Thanks for clarifying the rules.

I wanted to share RAW as that allows experts to open with DPP or PS or other software that gives the EXIF in full details. You can see the camera settings. Let me share the JPG now. I would love to understand what went wrong with the images I am talking about

Re: EOS R1 Why didn't Eye Detection and Focus work?

DhandaNot — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 04:33:17 GMT

Enclosed are the JPG Images one by one as each one limited to be smaller than 9 MB

Re: EOS R1 Why didn't Eye Detection and Focus work?

DhandaNot — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 04:34:19 GMT

Next JPG

Re: EOS R1 Why didn't Eye Detection and Focus work?

DhandaNot — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 04:34:50 GMT

next JPG

Re: EOS R1 Why didn't Eye Detection and Focus work?

DhandaNot — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 04:35:20 GMT

next JPG

Re: EOS R1 Why didn't Eye Detection and Focus work?

DhandaNot — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 04:35:57 GMT

last JPG

Re: EOS R1 Why didn't Eye Detection and Focus work?

DhandaNot — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 06:18:05 GMT

Here are the details of focus point and camera settings.

Re: EOS R1 Why didn't Eye Detection and Focus work?

DhandaNot — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 06:20:13 GMT

Why is the camera not able to detect the eye?

Re: EOS R1 Why didn't Eye Detection and Focus work?

DhandaNot — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 07:00:38 GMT

Here we can see the focus point is close to the eye.

But the bird is not in focus. Very confusing.

Re: EOS R1 Why didn't Eye Detection and Focus work?

DhandaNot — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 07:12:15 GMT

This is a similar image where the eye is again not detected but the bird and the eye are both in focus. What is confusing is that some images worked well and others did not.

Re: EOS R1 Why didn't Eye Detection and Focus work?

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 08:54:17 GMT

(I can see the screenshots, not the actual jpgs(you've attached them, you can post them directly))

The distance is just too great, the eye is too small in the frame. Sometimes the head is in the shadow of the wings which makes it even harder. I use as a rule of thumb: if I can't see the eye(clearly) in the viewfinder while shooting the camera AF won't either. In this case the AF algorithms search eye->head->upper body(? for humans, don't know for animals)->whole body.

What also doesn't help here are the conditions, heat haze/atmospheric distortions also affect the AF system.

I think you need to lower your expectations, the R1 is good but not infallible.

Try to get closer(physical, not with a longer lens) and try under better conditions. The better my gear got, the more I realised the light/shooting conditions are at least as important.

Re: Why Eye Detection and Focus did not work - R1

DhandaNot — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 06:19:49 GMT

I have shared the JPGs now. But I have not seen any responses from experts here.