EOS 80D Slow, inaccurate focus

[TCPHOTOVT]

I know it is not about the camera, but it is about the person behind the camera.  My 80D is becoming very slow, the focusing is not as fast and no where near accurate anymore; even manual is having trouble.  Is it time to upgrade?  It seems as well the firmware updates are scarce (makes sense its an old camera) and don't change anything in the programming, etc.

[Waddizzle · Accepted solution]

The typical recommendation when you suspect you have a perfect storm of camera settings that is causing issues is to reset the camera back to factory defaults.  But doing so may not have an effect and now you have lost all of your settings.  

One quick and dirty way to determine if your camera settings are an issue is to set the shooting mode to “Inteliigent Auto”.  In other words, set the camera to the Green [A+] mode.  If your slow focusing issues clear up in this shooting mode, then it is likely that your combination of custom settings are the likely to blame.

Also, be aware that some advanced lenses feature a “Focus Limiter” switch.  This switch limits the distances the lens can focus.  This speeds up focusing within the limited distance range, but slows down focusing outside the limited distance range.

[rs-eos]

What lens or lenses are you using? If using multiple lenses, are you noticing slower focusing on all of them?

[Anonymous]

What lenses are you using? Is the focus issue only on one lens? It would be very unusual to have focus issues manually focusing the lens. Are you using the viewfinder or live view shooting?

I have an 80D also and it is a great camera.

[deebatman316]

Are all lenses affected by this. If you're using multiple lenses. What are the lighting conditions like when this. Low light and insufficient contrast will prevent the camera from locking focus. When this happens the built-in flash can provide. What is called an "AF Assist Beam". The built-in flash provides what's called "Intermittent Flash Firing". The camera rapidly pulses the built-in flash. This provides a pulse of light long enough for the AF system to lock on your subject. But this type AF Assist Beam method can be slow. 

• Infrared (not really IR but a red grid)
• LED
• Intermittent Flash Firing 

[Waddizzle · Accepted solution]

The typical recommendation when you suspect you have a perfect storm of camera settings that is causing issues is to reset the camera back to factory defaults.  But doing so may not have an effect and now you have lost all of your settings.  

One quick and dirty way to determine if your camera settings are an issue is to set the shooting mode to “Inteliigent Auto”.  In other words, set the camera to the Green [A+] mode.  If your slow focusing issues clear up in this shooting mode, then it is likely that your combination of custom settings are the likely to blame.

Also, be aware that some advanced lenses feature a “Focus Limiter” switch.  This switch limits the distances the lens can focus.  This speeds up focusing within the limited distance range, but slows down focusing outside the limited distance range.

[TCPHOTOVT]

Hey all, everyone has provided some great insight.  I figured Id answer everyone in one post.  So, I am using multiple lenses from Canon, Tamron and Sigma, all are having the same issue.  Maybe it is partially because I rented an R5 for a week and went back to my 80D when I had to return the R5 and my mind is focused on my eventual upgrade.  It is not an insanely huge deal; I generally use manual focus unless I am photographing birds which I do quite a bit.  Thank you all for the quick answers.

[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

Just a further note, I would do the full reset of the 80D. Clear all settings and be sure you clear all custom settings. I mean always do the reset when things don't seem to go as you expect and you really don't know why. You need to be at ground zero.

Secondly Tamron and Sigma lenses as a group tend to focus slower albeit a tiny bit slower than Canon brand lenses. Canon lenses are designed for your camera. Tamron and Sigma are not.

"I know it is not about the camera, but it is about the person behind the camera."

Very smart and puts you way ahead of the game. Almost all focusing issues is user caused and not gear caused. Not that a failure of gear isn't a possibility but camera/lens tend to do exactly what we tell them to.

[TCPHOTOVT]

ebiggs1 thank you for your deep insight.  And yes, I figured as much, I do have some canon lenses as well and notice the slightly faster focusing.  I did recently do a full reset and it seems to have cleaned it up a bit.  Thank you for that recommendation.