EOS R5 Mark II Limited Images with Focus Bracketing

[JosephKeel]

I am unable to get my Canon R5 M2 to take more than four images in a series and all have the same focal point.  The camera is not stepping back to infinity in spite of 50 images set, smallest step increment and a large aperture.  I have updated the firmware to 1.1.1 which changed to problem from only being able to get three images to only getting four.

Any solutions, recommendations or thoughts?

[p4pictures]

Which lens do you have fitted to the camera? Not all lenses - especially EF lenses - are compatible with focus bracketing. Here's the list of lens compatible with focus bracketing.

https://cam.start.canon/en/H001/supplement_0010.html 

Additionally, where is the initial focus point, if it is close to infinity then the camera will simply move the lens out to infinity and once that happens it stops the sequence. If you have initial focus on the subject at say 3-feet and are using a typical 100mm macro lens you should expect a lot of frames in the sequence. 

One thing I have found is to enable back button AF, by changing the shutter button to only activate metering not AF. Then you can focus with the back button or by turning the lens focus ring to set the closest element of the bracketed sequence, then focus bracketing can still control the lens focus. If you set manual focus on the lens, then focus bracketing is not possible. 

[JosephKeel]

Thanks for your time…

I am using a Canon RF 24-70mm L f2.8.  I have the same issue with my Canon RF 100m Macro.  Also, I am very careful to focus on the forward most point in the image and have tried both Auto and Manual Focus settings the lens.  Nothing has changed the 4 image limit.

[JosephKeel]

Regarding Back Button AF…   I use the the Back Button with the AF set on the lens and I have used the focus ring to set foreground focus with the Manual setting on the lens…   there is no difference in getting more (or less) than 4 images at a time.

[FloridaDrafter]

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@JosephKeel wrote:

I am using a Canon RF 24-70mm L f2.8.  I have the same issue with my Canon RF 100m Macro.  Also, I am very careful to focus on the forward most point in the image and have tried both Auto and Manual Focus settings the lens.  Nothing has changed the 4 image limit.

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I would have to get my hands on your camera, but that's obviously not possible. So, I just ran a quick test with my R5 II with f/w ver. 1.1.1. I set up for a 20 shot stack and that's all I changed in the Focus bracketing menu, everything else was left at default. For the posted example, I used the RF 100mm f/2.8 Macro, set my mode to aperture priority (Av) f/3.2, ISO at 200, my shutter was really slow at 0.3, and I used the 10 second timer. Light was from an overcast sky through a nearby window.

I know, TMI, but I found no 4 shot limit. I've heard this complaint before with other cameras and saw many explanations but never a confirmed resolution. All I can say is that it works for me and always has with both R5 and R6 series cameras (classic and mark II) with various RF lenses, even the RF 100-500. I suggest that you review your procedure, although it's pretty simplistic, there are still things you could have overlooked 🙂

As mentioned, this was a 20 shot test stack, R5 II w/1.1.1. If I was serious, I would have shot at least 80 🙂 I used auto focus and locked onto the "C" in the Canon logo and that is why the near lip of the lens cap is OOF.

Newton

[JosephKeel]

I so appreciate willingness to give time to work on this…

I think I have all the variations/permutations.  Is there a big clue that no matter what I do, I only get 4 images…  no more or no less…  no matter what I am taking an image of or how far my initial focal point is?

I am tempted to do whatever the equivalent is of a “factory reset” but a bit nervous about that.

[Waddizzle]

I would not worry about losing your current settings because you performed a full camera reset to factory defaults.  For two reasons.

One, you can save your camera configuration to an SD card.  You don’t need a high performance, high capacity card, either.  Just use a reliable brand SD card. 

Two, the Reset menu just may allow to select just Focus Bracketing, while leaving everything else alone.  I don’t have a camera 📷 to confirm or deny this assumption.

[Waddizzle]

What are you trying to photograph, if I may ask?  

When the shot sequence stops, how much of the subject is captured?  Some, most, none?

Why do you feel the need to set the focus increment to the minimum setting?

[JosephKeel]

I was setting to minimum increment to force more exposures beyond 4.

I reset the camera and when directly to enable Focus Bracketing and the issue resolved.  When I restored my previous settings it reverted back to the same 4 image limitation.  I have since tried to restore settings manually, one by one, with test images between and have yet to mind the setting that is creating the issue…  ???

[FloridaDrafter · Accepted solution]

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@JosephKeel wrote:

I was setting to minimum increment to force more exposures beyond 4.

I reset the camera and when directly to enable Focus Bracketing and the issue resolved.  When I restored my previous settings it reverted back to the same 4 image limitation.  I have since tried to restore settings manually, one by one, with test images between and have yet to mind the setting that is creating the issue…  ???

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I didn't do a deep dive into each setting I thought might cause the 4 shot limit, but I did look at each and ruled most out. What I did find is a setting in the orange 3 menu item "Limit continuous shot count". You may have set this inadvertently or maybe used it once and forgot to change it back... It happens to the best of us 🙂 TBH, I'm not sure that setting would effect focus bracketing anyway 🤔

If that's not it, I'm at a loss.

Newton