topic Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS R AF not focusing consistently

MattLaverick — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 10:26:04 GMT

Hi,

Recently I have noticed that my EOS R is having trouble focusing.

I am using back button focus with AI servo but this also happens with the AF and metering bound to the shutter button.

Basically, if I have the camera to my eye and select my AF point then hit the focus button it regularly can't focus on an object. If I look at the live view and use the focus button it is the same problem, but if I tap the screen to focus, the camera focuses just fine.

I have tried finding more contrasting areas to focus, different AF modes, larger AF points and with and without back button focus.

I have also tried 3 different lenses and it seems to be the same in each.

Here is a video showing the problem:

Youtube link

in the video I am in manual mode, using back button single point AF with the RF 24-105

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

Tim — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 23:46:08 GMT

Hello MattLaverick,

There are a few troubleshooting steps I'd like to help resolve this issue. We'll reset the camera, which should restore it to a default state. These steps should clear out the memory and thereby any errors which may be present.

- Anything attached or installed in the camera — memory cards, the lens, the battery, battery grips should all be removed.

- Once the lens is off let's check it using the steps below.

a) Clean the lens contacts* to restore connection with the body.

b) Try using a different memory card. All memory cards should be properly formatted in your camera prior to use.

*Warning - Do not clean lens contacts on either a Canon lens or the camera body with an eraser! It's easy to rub off the gold plating on these contacts and end up with data communication problems! Our strong recommendation is to use a soft, clean, micro fiber cloth. Please do not use anything abrasive.

c) Try using a different Canon EF series lens. It doesn't have to be the same focal length as the one you were using.

d) If you are using a third party lens, we recommend discontinuing its use. There can sometimes be communication error related issues with third-party lenses. Ensuring that you're using a Canon lens eliminates that as a potential factor in the error.

If the issues seem to persist the next step would be to send the equipment to Canon for service.

You may fill out an online repair request form at the following link to setup your repair using our online service.

www.usa.canon.com/repair

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

Supreet_k — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 10:29:29 GMT

Did this work?

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

Waddizzle — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 16:26:50 GMT

@Supreet_k wrote:
Did this work?

Did you try it?

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

Supreet_k — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 23:01:04 GMT

I would if Matt says I should

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

garymak1 — Sun, 19 Sep 2021 03:25:32 GMT

R5 and the software/firmware is most likely the culprit with the focus-timing.

I have totally out of focus group shots on a "trip of a lifetime." I was very disappointed. I have NEVER had this problem before. I used RF 24-105mmL AND then later duplicated the problem with a RF 24-240mm lenses and they both exhibited the same inability to focus when using the Canon remote RC-6 and a flash. However, no focusing problems happened when I just shot using the usual method of pressing the shutter with the ol' trigger finger and waiting briefly at the half-press to insure focus. The camera was on a tripod. ISO (100) and aperture (6.3), 1/250th, and focus position and distance to the subject remained constant. I used at travel flash (Canon 270EX) for all shots.

The first two images below are with the RC-6 triggering the R5 with the RF 24-105mmL and a 270EX. at the above settings. I had taken multiple shots of people prior to this, enlarged them, checked them, and they were fine. No reason to check every single shot. Since the exposure was good, and the focus square was precisely where it was supposed to be, I didn't check this group shot. That was a mistake. I took 10 shots like this and they all came out like this. See the first two images below:

Below, however, is representative of ALL the other shots that I took myself i.e., without the RC-6 and the R5 on remote trigger setting, using my finger on the shutter button and pressing half down to achieve focus before pressing to take the shot. This was the result: Perfectly in focus. I took about 50 shots like this (some before and some after the above out of focus group shots, with the RC-6 and remote setting.) All were perfect.

The only difference then, is the use of the remote RC-6. NOTHING else changed.

So here is my suspicion: there is a bug in the software/firmware that triggers the flash before the lens has focused. This would also point, on a more global level, to a timing delay possibly with the shutter itself, i.e., a focus-shutter timing problem.

While I appreciate the kind gentlemen Tim's suggestions about taking everyhting off, changing the data cards, etc.,etc., with all due respect, that is a bit of grasping at straws. When all things remain the same, you isolate the one thing that is different: use of the RC-6 as a remote trigger. That was THE only difference and it isolates the problem. There may be other issues with other people's usage/equipment used that trigger the same fundamental focus-timing problem, but this was a controlled experiment which isolated and demonstrated one single variable.

BTW, I've been using the RC-6 with a 40D, 5D MKIII and EF lenses for many many years. Not a single auto-focusing problem.

And since other people are obviously complaining about this same defect, I'd say Canon has a problem. I'd also suggest that, before anybody sends it in to Canon for a "fix", Canon needs to identify the problem (and admit there is one), then put out a service notice to all their customers who have the affected cameras, and then detail what the problem is, and request customers to return the cameras to Canon (at Canon's expense) for a prompt repair/upgrade/"fixing." That's SOP for systemic bugs that are discovered in manufactured products, or with the OS running them, like with any other electronic device.

It's a real shame, but I simply can't trust the R5 now using a Remote Trigger. I will continue to do ore tests, such as using the self-timer mode and see what happens, and also with 3rd party remotes (such as electronic remotes, rather than the RC-6's IR trigger.). But at this point, that's doing Canon's job for them...

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

Waddizzle — Sun, 19 Sep 2021 11:23:07 GMT

"While I appreciate the kind gentlemen Tim's suggestions about taking everyhting off, changing the data cards, etc.,etc., with all due respect, that is a bit of grasping at straws.

When all things remain the same, you isolate the one thing that is different: use of the RC-6 as a remote trigger. That was THE only difference and it isolates the problem. There may be other issues with other people's usage/equipment used that trigger the same fundamental focus-timing problem, but this was a controlled experiment which isolated and demonstrated one single variable."

--------------------------------------

Yes, the problem needs to be isolated, which was the goal of Tim's advice.

Do you have BBF enabled? More times than not, when the camera does not focus with a remote it is because of BBF. A remote only controls the shutter. When AF is removed from the shutter button, then remotes lose the ability to AF..

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

garymak1 — Sun, 19 Sep 2021 22:52:14 GMT

Thank you for replying with your suggestion. Do you mean 'Back Button Focus"? If so, no, I never use back button focus if that was what you meant.

The RC-6 is a good way to consistently detail a problem that others have complained about with the R5 and focusing issues. The fact is that the shutter triggers the flash and that pressing the shutter button is supposed to trigger the autofocus before triggering the shutter (which triggers the flash.) So, regardless of the settings, it should work seemlessly. Obviously, it doesn't. Since I've never had the problem with any of the other Canon cameras I've owned/used, the culprit seems to be something within the R5 software/firmware.

If you press the shutter button with your finger, good photography practice dictates a slow steady press to minimize the possibility of "camera jerk" blurring the image. That "slow and steady" press gives enough time - perhaps - to activate the autofocus and give enough time for the autofocus mechanism to work before the shutter is open and flash goes off. Even if just a marginal delay, that would electronically give enough time for the camera to focus prior to the shutter/flash going off. That would explain why the 50 or so photos I took myself came out just fine. The RC-6, however, triggers the whole process instantaneously, with none of the aforementioned potential for delay. That would also explain why only the images taken with the RC-6 were completely out of focus.

The R5 manual (advanced) referring to the RC-6 and focusing (pg 455-3) states: "Autofocusing is performed when the focus mode switch is set to "AF"". No other warnings, caveats, restrictions, limitations, setting requirements, wherefores or whereases are given (other than obvious ones unrelated to settings considerations.)

This problem is unheard of with non-R-series cameras (in my experience using it from about 2003 now, almost 18 years, with a variety of cameras) indicates. There are issues of of course, with not triggering the shutter at all due to poor angle, light interference, low battery, extreme distance, etc., but not anything to do with focus issues.

Again, I'm requesting that Canon take note of these issues, due the appropriate testing, and issue a fix. At the very least, if there are some secret "caveats, restrictions, limitations, setting requirements" then TELL US and put it in the darn manual!

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

Waddizzle — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 09:51:34 GMT

"Again, I'm requesting that Canon take note of these issues, due the appropriate testing, and issue a fix. At the very least, if there are some secret "caveats, restrictions, limitations, setting requirements" then TELL US and put it in the darn manual!"

I strongly recommend that you contact Canon Support directly with your issue. This is only a user forum.

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

jrhoffman75 — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 12:47:16 GMT

I do not have an R series camera, so I am not familiar with the possible settings, but for my 1D X Mark III in One Shot AF Single speed the camera will not lire if focus cannot be achieved. It does that in both viewfinder and Live View.

Switching to AI Servo brings up options for firing priority; it is possible in AI Servo for the shutter to fire w/o focus being achieved.

I don't know if those features exist in your camera.

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

Wandalynn — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 00:51:45 GMT

I just happened to be reading this thread and Waddizzle's comment about using a remote with BBF enabled--it was an "aha moment" for me. I hardly ever use my remote but wasn't successful with it when I tried the other day and couldn't figure out why. Now I know--thank you!

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

garymak1 — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 00:59:42 GMT

Yes, that is certainly the case depending on the setting to fire w/o focus being achieved. But that still would suggest, again, that the problem is with the RC-6 trigger and the difference in timing with just pressing the shutter button. And so also suggest a problem with the R-series cameras, since this has not been a problem with any pre-R series Canon camera I've ever used.

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

garymak1 — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 01:02:56 GMT

Your welcome... I guess...I don't think I've helped except to point out the issue. Pleasekeep experimenting yourself and drop some of your findings here. As "Waddizzle" suggested, it is time to get Canon involved, and the more complaints and documentation we have, the better change of them taking notice and fixing it.

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

garymak1 — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 01:21:47 GMT

I wanted to update some information here I found out from Canon. This may have solve this perplexing issue. I never heard back from Canon on this issue. After rattling the cage repeatedly with Customer Support, I finally got a Level III (I didn't know there was such a level!) Tech Support person who called me. Nice guy. He understood the problem and offered to "figure it out" as the manual (neither RC-6 or any camera manual) says nothing. He then got back to me the next day offered this simple solution:

Be sure the camera is set to "AF One Shot" not "Servo AF." Simple. So far, it seemed to work. Nowhere does Canon offer that short but critical piece of information. Much thanks to the Level III technician for figuring it out. Makes sense. A lot of time, effort and frustration wasted due to lack of a simple instruction from Canon. Again, thanks to the technician. (Even he noted "it should be in the instructions!")

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

franbires — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 02:10:10 GMT

I'm searching this forum to see if anyone else is experiencing blurry photos using the R5. I purchased the camera in November and have been frustrated with how many blown shots I have had. I did lots of research, talked to Canon numerous times as well as other R5 owners. For the longest time, I thought it was me. The more I dug into this subject, I came across similar concerns. My go to lens is the 100-400 L II. I'll take a photo with focus point exactly on a bird's head/eye, only to look at the photo later and it's blurry. I first noticed this when taking photos of Marsh Hawks. When one would come relatively close, I would fire away. Settings are generally 1/3200, 1/4000, anywhere between 5.6-9 and ISO's under 2500. Again, focus point right on the bird. start cropping and totally blurry. Canon recommends sending the camera and the lens in, which I will do this week. Anyhow, just curious if others had similar issues. Thanks. Fran

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

garymak1 — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 21:31:54 GMT

Whoa! Wait! Hang on... don't send it in just yet! You need to do some more experiments. First, start with something static, "still life" if you will. Move it around a bit. If the auto focus is working fine, then it's probably not the camera, and it doesn't mean it's the user, either.

I'm using the EF 100-400 L II as well for the same purpose. To be honest, there are so many different settings on the R5 (and other high-end cameras) now, and frankly Canon does a very poor job of explaining in their manuals all the implications and ramifications of the settings, preferring to shove us off to "forums" and "FAQs" and YouTube videos to figure stuff out on our own...

Just for example, there are so many permutations of AutoFocus settings X Focus area settings X Eye settings X people/animals Tracking Settings... just to name a few, you have to experiment. Just manipulating all those combinations of settings to the complete set will take you a long time. Best thing is to make a spreadsheet and track it over time and see what gives the best results, Then put those "best result settings" as one of your Custom (C1, C2 or C3) settings.

Personally, I have found that eye focus settings work sometimes, and sometimes they are very flaky and bounce all over the place and cause many mis-focused shots. I have found that the large vertical or large horizontal focus area settings can work equally well. That’s what I find I’ve been using mostly.

AI Focus is also problematic. (And combine that with eye focus setting and wow, your odds at the Blackjack tables in Vegas are probably better!) I've had much better luck with Single Shot Auto Focus.

As far as SS - and this is just my personal opinion and everyone is welcome to another - unless you're shooting hummingbirds and want stop-action, you can probably gain some ISO speed by lowering to about 1/1600 or 1/2000.

I really recommend using your Custom setting, and then slowly tweaking it with the scientific method, i.e., change one variable at a time. For quick access, set up the "change custom settings" in your custom menu for quick access.

Hope that helps a little.

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

franbires — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 23:07:03 GMT

Gary, Thanks for the feedback. I will use your suggestions. I struggle when I'm shooting a bird far enough away that eye detection doesn't work, thus -- I miss shots. Blurry. Question? It appears that my photos are pretty good with close up shots, but shots farther away, they are blurry. When you use single shot AF, is that with or without Eye Detection? Not sure if you are interested, but I just posted 7 songbirds on my Facebook page, Fran Bires. Thought maybe you can take a peek and give me some feedback. Thanks for your reply. Fran

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

garymak1 — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 23:01:44 GMT

Hi, "franbires"-

Further to my previous, I went through and outlined all the combinations of settings you can have for tracking birds. I’ve listed them below. (There could even be some settings that impact this that I don’t know or overlooked.) Info is tough to come by. Also, some settings preclude others. For example, if you Disable “Eye Selection”, then if won’t let you select AF5 “Choose initial Servo AF point for eye detect.” The point is there are a lot:

AF1:

AF Operation:

-One Shot AF

-Servo AF*

Subject to detect:

-People

-Animals

-Vehicles

-None

Eye Detection:

Enable/ Disable

Continuous AF:

-Disable

-Enable

IF Eye Detection “Enable” then:

AF5

- Choose Initial Servo AF point for “eye detect”

- multiple options

- AF point for other configurations:

- multiple options

-Auto

IF Servo AF, then

AF 3:

-Tracking “Cases” -1 -0 -1

AND

-Tracking Sensitivity 0-5

—Accel/Decel Tracking 0-5 or Auto

AF 4:

Switching to tracked Subjects: 0-1-2

AF 5:

Sensitivity for AF point select

So, there are all these to play around with. Confusing, huh? That’s what I meant by “you have to play around.”

In my experience (and I'm still playing around) I’ve found that if you are up close a/o the subject takes up most of the frame and there’s not much else distracting around (say, a bald eagle on a tree branch with a sky background), then the “eye detect” will generally work better. But you still have all the other variations, speed of tracking, how fast it changes, etc. Also, as you mentioned, if the subject’s far away, and worse, moving, then the “eye detect” is going to have a hard time locking on and you’ll probably get a lot of misses. Those cases might best be set to say, One Shot AF, and expand the AF point range a bit, like with [ ] setting (vertical or horizontal.) I’ve had good luck with those getting medium size moving birds. I did have good luck with 'eye detect' with flock of Canadian geese flying at about 20 feet above. Those birds are big and they were close and the eye detect worked well in that situation.

Would love to take look at your shots, but sorry, I’m not on FB. You on Instagram or have a website?

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

franbires — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 23:33:42 GMT

Thanks for your input. I am in Instagram at franbiresphotography

Re: EOS R AF not focusing consistently

photodigichick — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 02:53:00 GMT

I also have major focus issues with my R5 and recently decided it isn’t me. I’ve been a photographer for over 45 years and used Canon for all of those. The R5 has major problems. With an f8 50mm Canon lens shooting 3 small objects to check focus and focusing on the closest object, it is slightly in focus. The image looks as though it was taken with an 85mm at f1.8 minus the bokeh. If I take the same subjects using my 5DMIII with the same lens/settings, the images looks as you would expect plus it is in focus.

I have tried back button focus and watched 100 you tube videos on different focus menu settings to improve focus. It isn’t me. It is the camera.

The R6 is a huge disappointment and waste of money. I should have never bought it. It’s an expensive paperweight or shelf decoration.