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R5 Mk2 : "Whole area tracking Servo AF" vs "Start/Stop Whole Area AF Tracking"

thegios
Enthusiast

There's a lot of confusion on the two settings in subject, as most people I am talking to either believe that they are the same thing (where "Whole area tracking Servo AF" is the global setting and "Start/Stop Whole Area AF Tracking" is a way to temporarily override the general setting by the press of a button) or believe "Start/Stop Whole Area AF Tracking" does the wrong think.

I read the Canon manual (too cryptic too often) and I have made some testing, and came to the following conclusion:

  • Whole area tracking Servo AF
    • it is a global menu option
    • can be assigned to personal menu
    • cannot be assigned to a button
    • when ON, the tracking of a subject continues even if the subject exits the AF points/area

 

  • Whole Area AF Tracking
    • it is not a global menu option (nowhere to be found in menu)
    • cannot be assigned to personal menu
    • can be assigned to a button
    • by default it is OFF and on the screen you see the AF point/area of your choice; in case of whole area AF detected subject are shown with a single-line square to indicate subject tracking is off (with left-right arrow to switch subjects) 
    • pressing the button, enables tracking in whole area AF mode: a little double-lined square is shown on top-right of the screen with an OFF label, the screen turns into whole area AF and detected subject are shown with a double-line square to indicate subject tracking is on (with left-right arrow to switch subjects)
    • somehow (still investigating) if onn, this turns off automatically if no subjects re detected

 

Am I correct? Missing anything?

thx

3 REPLIES 3

p4pictures
Whiz
Whiz

You are correct about the confusion, but this same pair of named capabilities already exist in other earlier R-series cameras launched after the original EOS R5 and EOS R6. The same features are in the EOS R10 and EOS R6 Mark II that I have.

You might find the EOS R5 Mark II AF setting guide helps clarify these for you.

 

Whole area tracking

https://cam.start.canon/en/C017/guide/html/AF-01_Overview_0030.html

Start/stop whole area tracking

https://cam.start.canon/en/C017/guide/html/AF-05_CaseStudy_0050.html

 


Brian
EOS specialist trainer, photographer and author
-- Note: my spell checker is set for EN-GB, not EN-US --

Well I've had an EOS R for 6 years so this is all new to me, and in R3 both of these capabilities were named differently (Subject tracking and Tracking with the M-Fn2 Button).

I have alreadybread the two sections mentioned above, but honestly they are not so clear, so after som,e testing I reached an understanding I would like someone to confirm:

  • Whole area tracking Servo AF
    • it is a global menu option
    • can be assigned to personal menu
    • cannot be assigned to a button
    • when ON, the tracking of a subject continues even if the subject exits the AF points/area

 

  • Whole Area AF Tracking
    • it is not a global menu option (nowhere to be found in menu)
    • cannot be assigned to personal menu
    • can be assigned to a button
    • by default it is OFF and on the screen you see the AF point/area of your choice; in case of whole area AF detected subject are shown with a single-line square to indicate subject tracking is off (with left-right arrow to switch subjects) 
    • pressing the button, enables tracking in whole area AF mode: a little double-lined square is shown on top-right of the screen with an OFF label, the screen turns into whole area AF and detected subject are shown with a double-line square to indicate subject tracking is on (with left-right arrow to switch subjects)
    • somehow (still investigating) if onn, this turns off automatically if no subjects re detected

By the way, ina ddition to asking for a confirmation of what summarised above, what would be the difference (in terms of final result) between
- "Whole area tracking Servo AF" ON, focus area on subject, subject being tracked across whole area even if exits focus area

-  "Whole area tracking Servo AF" OFF, focus area on subject, press button to enable "Whole Area AF Tracking", subject being tracked across whole area even if exits focus area

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