RF Z-series Zooms not allowing manual focus regardless of menu settings

[chrishoesel]

I have both of the Z-series super zooms, the 24-105mm F2.8L IS USM Z and the 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM Z and have a question/issue:

On my R5 Mark II, regardless of menu setting, the lenses will not allow any form of manual focusing in photo mode.

These are some of the things I tried:

Camera menu setting (all options) to allow electronic manual focus.  (other lenses focus manually just fine)

Lens setting AF-Off:  Focus guide appears but nothing happens.

Lens custom button to disable AF: When pressed, nothing happens.

Of course I'm trying all this with with the camera in ONE SHOT AF mode.

I did not try it in video mode since the R5 M2 is useless for video.  Both lenses focus just fine manually in my R5C.  Just wondering if the lenses are only meant to be used for video, or are considered video-centric.  I use them for stills since they are exceptional lenses in that regard.

I searched every forum, and every other resource but nobody is mentioning this.  The lens instructions would indicate it's supposed to work so long as the menu settings are set to allow some form of manual focus override.

I may take some video of the behavior but for anyone who owns either of these lenses, and an R5 Mark 2 (probably other bodies as well) sound off if this is happening to you as well and maybe get a firmware fix to allow manual focus override in stills mode.

Thanks in advance for any input or advice.

[deebatman316]

Those lenses have AF/ MF switches on the lens itself. So the option to switch between AF/MF in the camera menu won’t appear. Have you tried half pressing the shutter button or AF-ON button. To see if FTM is available.

[chrishoesel]

Yes, I have used the physical switches on the lenses.  When selected to AF-Off on-lens, the focus guide appears, but the manual focus ring on the lens does nothing, even with metering happening (half-press)  All other RF lenses that I have function normally in this respect.  

It's not a huge issue, I will use other lenses for focus stacking, but just in case I wanted to manually override focus for some reason or other, I would like to know if the Z lenses are designed to only allow manual focus in video mode.

[K_ozdragon]

This lens is specifically designed for manual focus either by hand or using a power zoom add-on. From what I read online, you need two settings to work:

1. Switch the camera from AF to MF in the menu system. This must be switched on this particular lens for it to communicate properly with the body.

2. Switch the lens itself from AF to MF. The lens is all fly by wire, & the switch being put to MF engages the focus ring.

Once you have those two settings, make sure you're turning the barrel ring closest to the end of the lens, which would be the one furthest from the camera body. Make sure you aren't half pressing the shutter button, as this may interfere with the focus system. Make sure you have the camera set to one shot focus & not AF to MF after lock. Finally, & this is important, check that the focus ring is set to default focus in your custom settings. If it's set to a custom control setting, it won't work.

That should narrow down any issues & get it working for you. That's all the info I could find online about getting these lenses to work in manual focus & any issues that may arise. You might also check to be sure that both the lens & camera body have the latest firmware. If not, it's highly likely this is your other issue. Especially since these are new pieces of equipment.

[rdominy]

Odd, I'm using the R5m2 with both those lenses and the focus ring works as expected.  My lens is set to AF as is the menu setting.   I wonder if there's another menu setting that's disabling this.  And just to make sure, you're using the focus ring not the customizable control ring?

[rdominy · Accepted solution]

Two other things to check:

- You need to be in a camera mode other than Automatic, such as Manual or Aperture Priority. 

- Make sure in the green custom menu page 2 that the Focus Ring is set to "Focus" not "Control"

[chrishoesel]

You are absolutely right and not sure how I missed it.  I actually found this setting 1 week ago while I was on vacation and wondering why it wasn't working on one of my VCM lenses and went through the menus more thoroughly.

Not sure how I missed it before but it works fine.

Thanks for the solution.