R5 focusing on small objects

[Cutter]

Hi,
This is an improvement suggestion.
I recently purchased Canon R5 and while I find many features of it are great focusing on small objects could have been better.
By small objects I mean small birds like pardalotes or gerygones which may only be 7cm tall.
I never used to have issues focusing on small birds with my Canon 7D mkii (set to a smallest focusing area); while I often get R5 (set to the smallest focusing area) miss the bird and focus on the background instead. I suspect the size of the smallest focusing area on R5 is larger than one in 7D mkii and user has no control of its size.
Perhaps this can be an opportunity for improvement:
To make a default area for the smallest focusing area be redused or adding another yet even smaller area option to the menu?
It may be very frustrating constantly focusing past the small bird, especially after this problem never was there. Currently the only work around this is to adjust focus manually by twisting focus ring on the lens (I got Canon 100-400 mkii). You can visualise how it works: fully extended lens has to be supported with left hand closer to the end of it due to its weight (roughly where zoom ring is, it is also logical to keep a grip on in this area as often zoom adjustment may be needed and there are no other means of adjusting zoom other than manually); all of a sudden camera focuses through the little bird I am after, I have to let go of the left hand and hold the whole weight of the camera plus the lens with one hand, while still trying to keep the object in the frame and sporadically trying to find the focus ring and twist it in the right direction while hoping bird is going to stay there. Also photographing small birds requires to be relatively close to them and having to change grip means creating unnecessary movements and subsequently spooking the bird.
Although, this sometimes works, many times birds don't give another chance.
Very frustrating, especially knowing this is a best of the best, professional camera with some settings tailored for wild life photography.
Wish this can be solved in software.
Thanks,
Alex

[rs-eos]

For product feedback, it would be better to use the dedicated feeback option.

Click This Link to go to Canon's contact page.  Scroll to the bottom, and click on "Feedback" under the "Contact" section.  This will bring a pop-up message where you can then choose "Product".

[Cutter]

Thanks, Ricky. Followed your instructions. Unfortunately, there is no means to provide feedback for a specific product, so hope whoever filters through the requests will be able to forward that onto a relevant department...

[Waddizzle]

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@Cutter wrote:
Thanks, Ricky. Followed your instructions. Unfortunately, there is no means to provide feedback for a specific product, so hope whoever filters through the requests will be able to forward that onto a relevant department...

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Your issues could very well be related to your AF settings in the camera, too.  For most wildlife and action photography, you want to disable the intelligent AF settings, such as Eye AF and similar settings.

[Cutter]

Clearly understand limitations of technology. Eye detection only works with entire screen enabled as a focusing point. I use a smallest focusing area, no AI focus tracking, and R5 as I mentioned earlier tends to focus on the background, while with 7D I never had this problem.

[jrhoffman75]

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4518395

Here also.