R5 MANUAL FOCUS ISSUE: Won't save focal distance after shutdown or sleep

[garymak1]

I have been trying to photograph hummingbirds.  R5, EF100-400mm L ƒ5.6 w/adapter ring. Usual settings around ƒ5.6, ISO 400, 1/2000; remote RF trigger.  Each time I adjust the settings, I resave it to "C1" custom settings (having learned that if the camera goes to sleep you lose any adjustments you made.)

As they are fast, darting creatures, the AF setitngs on the R5 have been useless. I have now resorted to manually focusing on a spot where they seem to hover over the feeder before plunging in.  

However, when the R5 goes to sleep, and then wakes up when I click the remote, the focus is gone!  It is so completely off you can only tell if a bird is there by some extra-color in the completely burred-beyond-recognition scene.  Worthless.  So, AF is worthless in this scenario.  Now MF seems to be worthless as well.  Any idea/thoughts/ suggestions?

There is nothing in the manual about this.  There's barely much explanation (even in the "advanced" manual on manual focus.)  There was only this zen-like line in the manual regarding "manual focus" and "power off": "The camera’s auto power off counter does not count time spent adjusting the focus with a lens’s electronic focusing ring." !!! If anyone can do a Vulcan mind meld with the author and understand what s/he means by this, that would be fantastic.  My IQ isn't high enough to figure that one out.

My guess is that in fact, you are not actually focusing the lens anymore, such as with earlier EF lenses or the older film-era FD lenses, but are just changing the focus setting of the camera electronics. That would explain why it loses the focus every time it wakes up, and also suggests that these settings can't be saved (which seems ridiculous.)  If it were really a mechanical setting, it would not be able to change the setting by itself...

Anybody else have this or similar issues?  Thoughts? Solutions welcome!!!  Thanks!

[Waddizzle]

"My guess is that in fact, you are not actually focusing the lens anymore, such as with earlier EF lenses or the older film-era FD lenses, but are just changing the focus setting of the camera electronics."

The above statement is inconsistent with your previous statement that you are using an EF mount lens.

The camera does not save any focus information in the C1 custom shooting modes.  I suggest you set your camera for BBF.

[garymak1]

My apologies for the entry oversight and lack of additional detail....

I meant to write EF-camera lenses or the older film-era FD-camera lenses, meaning when mounted on those EF cameras or FD cameras.  In my attempt to be brieft, I left out some additional information such as:

1) This is a phenomenon with the R5 (at least, assume for the other "R" cameras, as I only have this one) as this is certainly not a problem with my 5D-MKIII or any other DSLR I've owned.  You manually focus.  You shut the camera off.  You turn it back on.  Voîla! It is still focused on exactly where you last focused it.

2) However, take the same lens, the same tripod, put the R5 on it, and do the same thing and when you turn it back on, the there is nothing but a frame completely blurred to oblivion.

3) Take the R5, mount an RF 70-200mm L ƒ4, same problem:  completely blurred to oblivion.  (Can't test it with the 5D and I don't have a reverse adapter.)

Hope I have completed the picture.

Your comment, "the camera doesn't save any focus information" is a statement suggesting that it is, indeed, an electronic focus on the R5 camera, not a mechanical one, as with the same lens on a 5D MKIII, and as such, somehow disengages ithe manual focus ring using it instead to drive digital information to the camera.  How else would it not be focused then when you turn it back on?  The fact that it is "all electric" yet you can't then save the focus info - hugely important - seems ridiculous then.  And Canon says nothing about this anywhere.  

And for bird photography - for any other small moving object photography -for time-lapse photography, just to name a couple, this is a huge problem.

BTW, what is "BFF"?  (I know you are not referring to relationships between between two high school girls... 

[johniccp]

On my R5, in the Menu, C.Fn4, there is an option to “Retract lens on power off.”  

I disabled the feature and then focused on the object furthest away.  Power off.

i move the lens barrel to point at an object close to me.  Power on.  At this point, i heard a clunk as the lens motors moved to focus at a new distance.

disclaimers:  i’m inside, you were outside.  I used an RF 70-200.   I’m using shutter priority.  

Hth (hope this helps)

[FloridaDrafter · Accepted solution]

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@johniccp wrote:

On my R5, in the Menu, C.Fn4, there is an option to “Retract lens on power off.”  

I disabled the feature and then focused on the object furthest away.  Power off.

i move the lens barrel to point at an object close to me.  Power on.  At this point, i heard a clunk as the lens motors moved to focus at a new distance.

disclaimers:  i’m inside, you were outside.  I used an RF 70-200.   I’m using shutter priority.  

Hth (hope this helps)

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Good call... You nailed it!

[SnoStudios]

Thank you @FloridaDrafter for your question. I was struggling with this as well.

Thanks so much @johniccp for your response! That absolutely fixed the issue!

[Waddizzle]

"I have been trying to photograph hummingbirds.  R5, EF100-400mm L ƒ5.6 w/adapter ring. Usual settings around ƒ5.6, ISO 400, 1/2000; remote RF trigger.  Each time I adjust the settings, I resave it to "C1" custom settings (having learned that if the camera goes to sleep you lose any adjustments you made.)"

Hmm.  You appear to clearly state that you are using an EF mount lens with and mount adapter.

Do you have a copy of the full R5 User Guide?  If not, it can be downloaded from Canon USA Support.

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/ 

BTW the term I used was BBF not BFF.  It is an acronym for Back Button Focus.  Here is a link to in-depth video tutorial on how to use the R5, and what the various menu settings do.

https://youtu.be/uH_pPPKod4g 

[garymak1]

Somehow, I don't seem to be making myself clear to you...

It doesn't matter what lens you use - EF with an adapter or RF with no adapter- when you use manual focus and the camera is shut off, when it's turned back on, the focus is blurred to oblivion. Take the same EF lens, put it on a 5D MKIII for example, and it works like any other lens I've ever used on any other camera I've ever owned: manual focus on something, shut the camera off, turn it back on, and it's still focused exactly where it was focused before.

CRUX OF THE MATTER: The entire point of the exercise is not to have to stand there and refocus every time the camera is turned back on.

You can't do this for time lapse, for remote triggering, for example.

And, yes, I previously stated that none of the manuals say anything about this. I even quoted a line from the only thing on "manual focus" and "power off" in the advanced user's manual, which was incomprehensible. (Please see paragraph 4 of my original post.)

[jrhoffman75]

Good morning.

Post your question over on the Fred Miranda site. A lot of R5 users over there.

[garymak1]

THANKS! Good suggestion. I will try to find it.