topic Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

bill1952 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 17:57:48 GMT

I shoot sports and am having issues with the camera focusing on the wrong people (about half the time. With tracking set, the focusing point does not appear to be working at all.)

For example, last night I was trying to get a lacrosse player in focus, but the camera kept focusing on the near subjects. Even though I had the focusing point CLEARLY on the player's face, the focus kept jumping to faces nearest the camera.

Here is how the AF is set: People, single-point, auto-eye detection. Back button focus, front button only releases shutter. My lens is an EF 70-200 f2.8 with an adaptor.

BTW: If I enable front focus, the focusing point is active and functioning correctly; however, I lose all tracking capability.

My main issue is, why can't I determine which subjects to focus on instead of the camera (which mostly gets it wrong).

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

deebatman316 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 18:05:14 GMT

Hi @bill1952 which EF 70-200mm lens do you own. We need the exact name. I have pictures below to help you identify your lens model. Canon has made multiple versions in the EF Mount. Older versions are NOT fully compatible with EOS R series cameras. This is due to the older hardware in them. Older lenses cannot achieve 12 fps or support more modern features like eye detect AF.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

bill1952 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 18:58:09 GMT

My lens is Canon 70 to 200 mm f 2.8 IS

This older adapted lens has no trouble eyeball focusing or shooting 12 or more frames per second. I borrowed a friend's brand new RF 70 to 200 mm f 2.8 lens to test it out on this camera and it had the same exact focusing issue. I have no control over who or what the camera is going to focus on!

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

bill1952 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 18:59:09 GMT

The older lenses an L series lens

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

deebatman316 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 19:13:42 GMT

@bill1952 we need an exact name of the lenses you have. In the EF Mount alone Canon made 3 70-200mm F/2.8 IS lenses. So saying older “70-200mm” doesn’t mean anything. Other than it’s an EF lens but which one. Also there are 2 different RF 70-200mm F/2.8 lenses so we need a complete name. So which lenses listed did you use? Just saying “newer” 70-200mm F/2.8 doesn’t mean anything. We don’t know which exact model you were using.

EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS USM
EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS II USM
EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS III USM
RF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS USM
RF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS USM Z

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

bill1952 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 19:17:07 GMT

EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS USM Again, I tried focusing with an RF (brand new) lens with the same zoom range and it had the exact same focusing issue.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

deebatman316 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 19:37:57 GMT

In order to reproduce the problem that you’re having we need the exact lens model name. We could easily use the wrong lens not knowing why a problem is NOT reproducible. The 1st gen 70-200mm F/2.8 IS lens is NOT fast enough to keep up with 12 fps. It may not even be able to keep up with eye detect AF. Just because you can set such settings in the camera menu. Doesn’t mean the lens supports it. If the lens doesn’t support it. The camera will automatically throttle back the speed to match what the lens is capable of. Also what mount adapter are you using too. The Canon brand mount adapter or a 3rd Party mount adapter. I would also check the setting called “Preview AF/ Continuous AF”. Set this to DISABLE it’s not only a drain on the battery. But older EF lenses that provide focus override in AF. AF cannot be overridden if the camera is driving the AF motor. That particular setting causes the camera to constantly drive the AF motor. So focus override in AF mode is NOT POSSIBLE. You’ll feel internal pushback from the lens. If you attempt turning the focus ring when the camera is driving the AF motor. This is the lens’ clutch doing its job to prevent damage to the lens. All RF are focus by wire and don’t have this limitation like older EF lenses do. Can we have some example pictures too with metadata attached to them too. Preferably RAW (JPEG is fine too) files on Google Drive or any other file sharing service.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

bill1952 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 19:59:26 GMT

I think you are misunderstanding the problem here. It focuses on the eyes and can keep up with high speed Plus electronic shutter just fine. My problem is it keeps focusing on the wrong person! I'm not sure what you mean by the exact name of the lens where are you getting this information from?

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

bill1952 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 20:01:06 GMT

BTW; the RF adapter is a Canon make.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

jrhoffman75 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 20:15:25 GMT

@bill1952 wrote:

I shoot sports and am having issues with the camera focusing on the wrong people (about half the time. With tracking set, the focusing point does not appear to be working at all.)

For example, last night I was trying to get a lacrosse player in focus, but the camera kept focusing on the near subjects. Even though I had the focusing point CLEARLY on the player's face, the focus kept jumping to faces nearest the camera.

Here is how the AF is set: People, single-point, auto-eye detection. Back button focus, front button only releases shutter. My lens is an EF 70-200 f2.8 with an adaptor.

BTW: If I enable front focus, the focusing point is active and functioning correctly; however, I lose all tracking capability.

My main issue is, why can't I determine which subjects to focus on instead of the camera (which mostly gets it wrong).

Here are some thoughts:

1. with "front focus" I assume you mean factory setting for the shutter button. Do you have tracking turned on?

2. when you select back button focus you need to also press the INFO button and select the various options. You would want to configure it just like the shutter button settings.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

deebatman316 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 20:18:04 GMT

@bill1952 The lens model that you provided to us is NOT capable of 12 fps. Unless you gave us the incorrect model name. The lens hardware is too slow for 12 FPS. The AF motor is more than likely NOT fast enough to keep up with Eye Detect AF. Canon has a list of EF lenses that are compatible with 12 FPS. Your lens is NOT on the list which is telling you that it’s NOT able to keep up. Thus the camera slowing down to match the lens. All EOS R series cameras have a list of lenses that are capable of 12 FPS. Lenses supporting maximum continuous shooting speed

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

stevet1 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 20:34:15 GMT

bill,

You wrote, " Even though I had the focusing point CLEARLY on the player's face, the focus kept jumping to faces nearest the camera."

I could very well be wrong, but I think this is a feature of the focusing system, and not a fault.

If I understand it correctly, when you use a whole area to focus in, the camera will pick the nearest subject. You have it on eye detect, but it's focusing on the eye of the nearest subject.

Just for the heck of it, take it off tracking, and just single point AF. Train it on the eye of the subject you want to capture and hit your shutter. If the subject is moving, use AI Servo,

If you have learned how to set up back button focus, you can hold down your AF-ON button with your thumb while you fire off a burst of 10 or 12 shots, and your camera will continue to focus as long as your hold down that button.

Steve Thomas

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

Waddizzle — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 23:15:33 GMT

“ It focuses on the eyes and can keep up with high speed Plus electronic shutter just fine. My problem is it keeps focusing on the wrong person! “

Those two statements are mutually exclusive. I suspect that your lens is not keeping up with the necessary SF speed for the frame rates you’re asking of it.

We are going to nerd much more information about your camera settings and shooting location and conditions.

For a field sport like lacrosse, it would be beneficial to use a significantly longer focal length than 200mm. Eye tracking doesn’t work if the subject is too small in the frame.

These settings are not as demanding on lens performance.

Enable Whole Area Tracking, thought.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

bill1952 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 23:17:12 GMT

Let me say that I really appreciate your help here so far. Here are my thoughts.Okay say my lens is incapable of 12 frames per second, With that being set aside, remember that I told you I tried the latest R lens on my camera and it had the exact same focusing issue!

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

bill1952 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 23:18:14 GMT

Thank you Steve, I will try that and let you know my results!

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

deebatman316 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 23:41:08 GMT

@bill1952 I would take a look at what @Waddizzle posted. He owns the same camera as you. I would also suggest discontinuing using H+ shooting mode with that lens. It’s just too slow for that kind of frame rate. Just use Continuous High shooting drive mode. Not H+ drive mode because the lens will cause the camera to slow down.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

Waddizzle — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 09:59:29 GMT

“ Let me say that I really appreciate your help here so far. Here are my thoughts.Okay say my lens is incapable of 12 frames per second, With that being set aside, remember that I told you I tried the latest R lens on my camera and it had the exact same focusing issue!. “.

Which is why I asked for details about your AF settings and shooting conditions. Is it possible to post sample images that illustrate the issue? Actual photos, not screenshots of a computer screen.

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

bill1952 — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 18:25:01 GMT

I was unaware of the info configuration, John. I will try that next and let you know how it works. Thanks for the suggestion!

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

bill1952 — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 18:37:51 GMT

Yes, I meant factory settings for front shutter (which doesn't include tracking). I use touch and drag w/ front shutter AF and focus for weddings. I have tracking turned on for back button. BTW: My main concern is that I seem to lose all control when I have tracking turned on while using back button focusing. For example, when the bride and her dad come down the aisle, it's basically a crap shoot in who gets the focus. I always want it on the bride, however, about half the time it keeps going on her dad (or whoever is escorting her).

Re: EOS R6 Mark II keeps focusing on the wrong people

bill1952 — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 18:52:07 GMT

How do I take it off tracking?