Electronic full-time MF not working on EOS R8

[RogenerPavinski]

This option allows you to manually focus with RF lenses even when autofocus is active, but this option is not working on the R8, as it does on my other R6 and R10 cameras.
Anyone experiencing the same problem?

[p4pictures]

Yes I have read the posts above in the thread...

I have also tested out the following combinations of cameras and lenses.

EOS R6, EOS R10, EOS R6 Mark II

RF 28-70mm F2L, RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3

While this is not the exact same as the OPs kit it does cover the same bases. EOS R8 is essentially the EOS R6 MkII main board and sensor in a smaller body without IBIS.

RF 28-70mm F2L is not on the compatibility list for electronic full-time MF and has separate focus and control rings.

RF-S 18-150mm is compatible with full-time electronic MF and has a single combined focus / control ring. In the camera menu I have the ring set for focus.

For each camera I have enabled Electronic full-time MF and each camera is set to video mode.

• R6 with RF 28-70mm - full-time manual focus not working
• R6 with RF-S 18-150mm - full-time manual focus works 
• R10 with RF 28-70mm - full-time manual focus not working
• R10 with RF-S 18-150mm - full-time manual focus works
• R6 Mk II with RF 28-70mm - full-time manual focus not working
• R6 Mk II with RF-S 18-150mm - full-time manual focus works

So this seems that the EOS R6 from the OP is performing different to mine. The question to ask is what firmware version is in the cameras that the OP has as the Electronic full-time MF function and menu option was only added to the EOS R6 with firmware version 1.3.1

[chickenpunk13]

Hey Brian!
Thank you for the link and test, really appreciate it.
That's just looks very weird to me that the same lens would support  Electronic full-time MF on one camera (with the latest firmware) and not support on the other (a newer model,with the latest firmware).
In my example it's RF 35mm f1.8
R6 w/ RF 35mm f1.8 - full-time manual focus works
R6 mk2 w/ RF 35mm f1.8 - full-time manual focus doesn't work
R7 w/ RF 35mm f1.8 - full-time manual focus doesn't work

Thanks!

[p4pictures]

I agree it does seem a bit strange. My RF 28-70mm and your RF 35mm were both part of the initial set of lenses for RF at launch so I would expect same capabilities. 

[p4pictures]

I think I may have solved this for you with a good outcome.

Firstly there's been a similar thread about full-time MF on here, and I recently worked through all the options and found that there's a neat catch about some of the settings when using back button AF.

https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/EOS-DSLR-Mirrorless-Cameras/EOS-R10-Electronic-full-time-mf-vs-le... 

So taking that and the idea that my EOS R6 and yours worked differently I wondered if the back button thing also applied to movies. You can't customise the shutter button for movies but I recalled that the shutter button for movies is separately configured. So I set to work and can now do full-time manual focus with any RF lens on my EOS R6, EOS R10 and EOS R6 Mark II. It also works with older EF lenses that have electronic focus rings like the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM, EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM etc. 

The key is that the shutter button needs to be configured for metering only, then it's like you have configured back button AF that I covered in the other thread. First here is the screenshots from my EOS R6. 

Movie shutter button function

EOS R6

Setup for the lens electronic MF and Electronic full-time MF.

EOS R6

Moving on to the EOS R10 - this is just to show the location of the menus as it's different to the EOS R6 above, but once you make the selections they are the same.

EOS R10

Finally the EOS R6 Mark II, this I checked the EOS R8 manual and the setting is on the same 7th page. 

EOS R6 Mark II

Thanks for the question I love a mystery almost as much as finding the solution 😎

[chickenpunk13]

Hey Brian!

You're a great mind! Bravo! Hercule Poirot & Lieutenant Columbo are applauding your thought process and conclusion. 👏👏👏

The method you've described definitely helped me fix that "issue." I hadn't mentioned before that I'm focused more on video mode (since, due to my profession, I film more than take photos). I had slightly different settings than yours, but the key moment, as you figured out, was changing how the "Shutter btn function for movies" behaves!

Thank you again for resolving it! It had been bothering me for months (and I did my homework and research, which eventually led me here)!

P.S. We all love Canon, but they should've done a better job describing this feature.