Out of focus fast moving targets EOS R6 Mark II

[Brocstar]

Hello. I’m a novice photographer. But I’ve been shooting with the R6 Mark II for about a month now. I have the RF 100 x 500 lens from Canon. I was shooting some fast moving birds that were feeding today and a lot of my photos were out of focus.  my lens was set from 100 to infinity. I had auto focus on. And I was shooting high-speed. From a far the photos look great but once you zoom in you can tell there is a lot of noise. I kept my ISO at 100 for most of the shooting as it was very bright out. Is shutter 1/500 too slow with an aperture of 5.6f, ISO 100 not great for high speed. I was hoping to get more tact photos. 

Another couple shots I placed were water shots of big groups of birds, dive bombing bait. I was hoping to get some tack shots of the pelicans and seabirds penetrating the water. But they’re pretty dull and not very sharp.One instance of that my settings were 1/5000. F7.1 and iso 1000, water super sharp birds not. 

Another example is 1/640, f7.1 iso… Water sharp birds not. 

I am fully zoomed at 500mm

I want to make sure I am using the best settings for fast birds feeding and catching food as theses opportunities do not come up very often. 

Seemed like on the solo shots with fish hanging from birds mouths, camera was having hard time focusing.  

Any help helps. 

Thanks 

[Brocstar]

HI there, 

On the bird in flight. Yes it is cropped because it was a little distance and I only caught him or her in the right side of the screen. My zoom was 500mm, freehanded, Aperture 7.1, 1/1600 shutter, ISO 400. Second photo of the still photo, 500mm, ISO 400, F7.1, 3200, I was trying to add another photo but it was too large to load into the messenger...  Can you explain to me one thing please.  When you use the AF-On button do you have to hold it down to acquire the AF of the animal, same question for the star button for Single point focus? Hold it down or just hit the button once?  I appreciate all your help.  These photos have been cropped slightly  

[Tronhard]

Withe birds in flight, or any fast-moving subject, you can't expect to get 100% success rate - they are moving, you are moving the camera to track them, so there are a lot of variables.  That is normal.

When using Back Button focus, for wildlife, you are best to use it in servo mode.  To see how to make this happen, I suggest watching this video from Canon:

I have the same camera and lens myself.  I personally use single point centre focus (note in the video the presenter mentions that in passing) with face and eye tracking on - I do this to be able to lock in the eye (which is everything) and track it.

I have that all set up to the AF-ON button and use the * button to lock exposure, again for precision.  In environments where there is lot of contrast you need to be able to define a spot that has the 18% reflectance that sensors meter to achieve, and you can't assume that the subject has that.  Think, for example, of a black bear or a polar bear: they are black and white respectively, so the camera's metering will be fooled and give the wrong exposure if you are not aware of that.

[March411]

Hey Broc, thanks for the follow up information. The simple answer is that your BBF is really set up best for moving targets, in servo to track subjects. You should keep the button depressed as you target is moving and the focus will need to adjust. The star button , static subject press it obtain focus and release. If the subject hasn't moved you focus is locked and should be sharp. 

Again there is several elements that have to come together for capturing birds in flight some of which have nothing to do with the camera set up. You stated that you shuttered the camera when the subject was on the right side of the screen. That is a result of your panning speed when tracking the bird, you fell a bit behind and the bird almost left the viewfinder when you shuttered the camera. Auto focus will perform best away from the edges of your viewfinder. Also, your shutter speed may have been a bit slow for BIF. As Trevor stated in another post, hit rates for birds in flight can be low, especially when you first start out.You have set up your camera for wildlife and now you simply need some practice. Your shutter speed may have been a bit slow for this capture. While you are practicing you may want to keep it a bit higher.

• Pan with your subject and attempt to keep it in the center of the frame.
• When possible shoot with a shutter speed of 1/2000 or better.
• Attempt to get as close as possible to your subject. Remember that atmospheric conditions such as heat or wind can impact focus. When at the beach water spray can have the same impact.
• The direction of the birds flight will impact the cameras focus. A subject moving across your path or away from you will be more difficult than a bird flying towards you.
• Your hit rate will improve with practice, it's not always the equipment. 

https://www.naturettl.com/understanding-autofocus-points-and-modes/

This Kildeer was shot with my R5 and the RF100-500 lens. I had to push my shutter speed to 1/4000 because my first attempt @ 1/2500 failed. These birds are fast and fly erratically. I shot several frames and had three tack sharp images, this is one. And if you would have been watching me in this field you would have thought I was crazy, that bird spun me around for quite some time and I kept walking towards it to close the distance to the subject while I was taking pictures. 

[Brocstar]

Thank you soo much. This is awesome advice and I will take it to the field. So I know I need to change my AF from Single point to a more dynamic set up for these birds in flight. Hold down the AF-ON while the subject is moving or panning..  I was shooting in a very hot desert area. This is down by Imperial Valley Ca. Where tempetures exceed 120 degrees F’ so we get a lot of weird mirages etc. So just to recap I am going to use my star button for single point focus, stationary items/animals and use the AF-ON to obtain and hold focus on moving item. Hold the AF-ON while also increasing the Shutter speed above or at 2000 for fast moving birds or animals. I know there is more to it and I am learning little by little. I do appreciate you taking the time and helping someone you do not know with all these questions. 

Broc 

[March411 · Accepted solution]

Everyone here wants to see you post your pictures of BIF tack sharp so we are all here to help.

The distance and the extreme heat did not help you with the Owl in flight!

I posted this link before and believe that it will give you the answers on how to use the camera with the setup you programmed on the R6 MkII. It's really worth watching since you used his setup for your camera.

[Brocstar]

Thank you Tronhard.  This was very helpful. 

[Brocstar]

This is great advice. For some reason I missed your messages before. Thanks so much 

[Tronhard]

Always welcome, we are here to help.  Happy 2025!