EOS R5 IBIS Not Working with Back Button Focus when IS set to "Still Photo IS - Only For Shot"

[oney01]

I have an R5 with the RF 28-70 f2 which I use mostly for photography, not video. 

I set up back button focusing because it seems to work better for me. I didn't want to turn the IBIS to be "always on" because I can hear it in the body doing its thing ALL THE TIME, and that has to wear the thing out or shorten its life as well as drain the battery, so on the "first red camera menu", sub-page 7, I selected to turn on IS, and then the option for the "Still Photo IS" to be set to "Only For Shot" in hopes that the IBIS would only work when pressing one of the back buttons to focus or the shutter button half way or all the way.

With this set up I NEVER hear the IBIS activate and hand held pictures that are sharp when IBIS is set to always on are blurry when the IBIS is set to "Only For Shot"

Is there a fix for this? I just cant bring myself to turn IBIS to "Always On" knowing that it is churning away in there for sometimes extended periods, or till the auto off kicks in.

Thanks for any help!!

[Hazel_T]

Hi oney01,

I'm sorry to hear your photos are coming out blurry when you use the Only For Shot option. When you are taking the photos are you taking one photo by itself or are you using countinuous shooting? If you are using continuous shooting are all the photos in the series blurry or is the blurriness more pronounced towards the beginning or end of the continous shots?

[oney01]

Thank you for getting back to me.

I am only taking one shot at a time, sometimes two when I press a little too hard because its set to take multiples.

So the thing is, I do not hear or see the IBIS come on in any way when taking pictures. They are all blurry when hand holding on 1/30 or similar. Then with the same settings, Ill turn IBIS to always on and the pictures are tack sharp.

Seems to me like the IBIS is not activating when set up "only for shot".  Again, I hate to keep the IBIS on all the time. Seems like flooring the gas and the brake at the same time at red lights if you know what I mean.

Thanks for helping me with this!

[Waddizzle]

What AF Mode and Drive Mode are you using?  Have tried switching them up?  This menu setting seems like it might work best with One Shot AF and Single Shooting Drive Modes.

[Waddizzle]

“With this set up I NEVER hear the IBIS activate and hand held pictures that are sharp when IBIS is set to always on are blurry when the IBIS is set to "Only For Shot”.”  

I think this setting is similar to one of the settings found in “IS Mode” switches found on telephoto lenses.  The IS does not become active until a shot is actually taken, meaning when the shutter is fired.  This is similar to the behavior to IS Mode position 3 on many lenses.

From the R5 Advanced User Guide. ….

I believe your camera is functioning normally.  The AF system is the largest benefactor from Image Stabilization.  The AF system can focus and track more accurately when presented with a stable image.  Think tripod.

As for your blurry photos, what lighting conditions, shutter speeds, and focal lengths are we talking about?  If your entire photo is blurry, that would suggest your shutter speed is too low for the focal length in use.  Could you be seeing motion blur?

When using lens IS Mode set for 3, the IS is disabled until the very moment when the shutter fires.  In theory, this presents a stable image for an AF lock.  This IBIS setting seems to be the equivalent of the lens IS Mode switch.

[oney01]

Thanks for your reply. 

so I have the focusing set up the AL servo, or continuously focusing, and the shooting mode is not one shot, its continuous, or set to take multiple shots if I hold the shutter release button down.

in my experience the IBIS seems to work better after activated for a little over a second, so with the rf 28 to 70 F 2.0 lens that I am using, it seems the IBIS, when set to only activate during a shutter release, is less than optimal, to say the least.

that being the case, if I want optimize results from the IVIS, I can see my only choice is to leave it run all the time, which I really don’t like doing. But as I said, I have no choice.

Thank you for helping to explain this.

[Waddizzle · Accepted solution]

You’re welcome!  Glad to have been some help.

Note, if you are using BBF, then it is probably crucial that you keep pressing the BBF button until the shutter fires.  Either the camera or DPP4 can show you which AF points were locked when the shutter fired.  

Let’s assume that you have sufficient shutter speed for the FL that you are using.  If your images are not showing a locked AF point, either in the camera playback or in the Canon DPP4 app, then that might explain why your images are “blurry”.

Maintain a full press on BBF up to and through the shutter being fired.  Make sure your SS is appropriate for you focal length in use.

[oney01]

Thank you for your help.

[oney01]

• Good morning.
  So after more extensive testing, I can with certainty say that the IBIS does not activate with the back button focusing or with the shutter half pressed or when the BBF and shutter release are pressed at the same time. If it did, that would be great. If the IBIS activates at the moment of shutter release, then its not on long enough to stabilize.
  I guess the only option is to leave IBIS set to always on because the option to have it operate in still photo - only for shot is completely useless and Canon may want to look into or remove the option if the camera is utilizing BBF.
  apologies for pointing out shortcomings, I love the camera anyway!

[Zhaopian]

Hi,

Since it is now 2024, I hope someone still monitors this thread.

Certainly, some things mentioned above are obsolete: I do not, as far as I can find, have the option to set IBIS to All The Time or Only When Shooting. It is either enabled or disabled.

I discovered with rather simple testing that with IBIS on, my image is blurry. When I turn it off, my image looks really good--and that is just looking at the thumbnail in DPP. Upon closer inspection of the metadata, I noticed the difference between the two (IBIS on or IBIS off), is due to the Anti-Flicker Shoot automatically turns off when IBIS is enabled and automatically turns on or "Enabled" when IBIS is disabled.

So, lesson learned is: turn IBIS off to include when hand-holding--as counterintuitive as that may seem. I can also say, that I tried shooting a flag football game a couple weeks ago and tried BBF for the first time. My shots came out bad and as mentioned above, I do seem to have to hold the Auto-Focus down until I press the shutter button. Despite what folks say on Youtube, I agree that the button on the back must be kept pressed. I offer as evidence the lack of the red focus square you should be able to see in DPP (or other photo software) when I released the BBF button and then pressed the shutter button.

I'm still trying to figure BBF out and will keep experimenting before I totally dismiss it.

Thanks.