Soft focus on most images out of new R5

[mknabster]

I finally upgrade to the R5 from my 5D MKiii, though i don't have RF glass yet, I do have the Canon EF to RF adapter for it. I took it out to shoot at a local park, and I was very disappointed to find that 75% of my images were soft or not in focus at all! i had it on electronic first curtain shutter, just to try out, and everything lined up in the camera with how it looked, but when i got to downloading the images to my computer, they all looked terrible. In some cases,I took two pictures of the same thing, the first was soft but the 2nd was in focus, but not sharp. Here's a good example of what I'm talking about. These were taken in full RAW with electronic 1st curtain, 1/400, f/7.1, ISO 250 with a 24-70mm f/2.8. I wouldn't expect softness to happen with the autofocus advancements this boasts.

Soft

Not-Soft

[Stephen]

Hello mknabster!

So the Community can give you the most helpful answer, can you provide us with a screenshot or copy/paste the full metadata/EXIF from your image so everyone can see all the settings the camera was using? 

Were you shooting handheld or using a tripod?

[mknabster]

Hi Stephen, sure! Hopefully you'll find this helpful: But I did have this hand held. I have plenty of other examples. i went shooting another day and I'm at a point where 15 out of 16 shots taken were all soft.

Main IFD
--------
Camera make:Canon
Camera model:Canon EOS R5
Software:Adobe Photoshop 24.0 (Windows)
Date/time:10/21/2024 9:36:22 AM
Image description:
Copyright:
Orientation:Normal
Title:
Subject:
Author:Matthew Knab
Comments:
Keywords:
Resolution:300 x 300 inches

Exif sub-IFD
------------
Exif version:2.31
Aperture value:5.655638
Colour space:Uncalibrated
Date/time original:10/19/2024 3:55:27 AM
Date/time digitised:10/19/2024 3:55:27 AM
Exif image width:1920
Exif image height:1281
Exposure programme:Normal
Exposure time:0.0025 seconds
Exposure bias value:0
File source:
Flash present:Yes
Flash mode:
Flash fired:No
Flash red eye reduction:No
Flash strobe light:No detection function
F number:7.1
Focal length:61
Focal length in 35mm film:0
Focal plane resolution:5773.07963354475 x 5769.79936642027 inches
Gain control:
Image unique ID:
ISO speed rating(s):250
Light source:
MakerNote data offset:0
Max aperture value:3
Metering mode:Pattern
Related sound file:
Rendering:Normal
Scene capture type:Standard
Scene type:
Sensing method:
Shutter speed:2.5 milliseconds
Spectral sensitivity:
Subject distance range:
White balance mode:Auto

Thumbnail IFD
-------------
Thumbnail orientation:Normal
Thumbnail resolution:300 x 300 inches

[Tronhard]

Hi Matthew and welcome!

The first image looks blurred but the second one not bad - I will say that downsizing an image to <5GB to post is not conducive to accurate analysis. 

Did you shoot in RAW or JPG? 

If you did shoot in RAW, can you please post several sample images, including at least one sharp one, on a file sharing platform and post the link so we can do a full analysis?

To help with some more context...   Can you please advise exactly what focus settings your camera was configured to?

[mknabster]

Ah, it looks like Photoshop trashed the RAW files before i thought to save them. Oh well, it looks like all i have in RAW is the sharp ones now. As far as focusing settings are concerned, I had face + tracking on, eye detection on, turned off subject to detect, electronic 1st curtain, single shot. What else would you like to know?

That day I shot on two different lenses, this one and a 14mm wide angle, and that one had all of the shots in focus. Now it makes me wonder if there's something up with the lens, possibly a firmware issue? Could that lead to soft images despite focusing properly in camera?

[Tronhard]

Thanks for your prompt response.

I suspect that your focus configuration is the issue and would suggest that you consider not using features like subject and face and eye tracking for landscapes. 

The way I have my camera set up is to use the C1..C3 modes for different shooting scenarios.  These are essentially set up for wildlife, which is my primary genre, but I have Av mode and M modes set up without those subject features enabled.  The camera may be hunting for a face and there are lots of options that it might be confused with in your photo.

May I suggest you at least save the current settings to, say, C1 mode, then turn off face and eye tracking, make sure Continuous focus is turned off (on the R5 it should never be on) and have another go.   

[mknabster]

Thanks Trevor, I'll give those a go!

[mknabster · Accepted solution]

I wanted to post and let everyone know I found the culprit for my issue. It turns out all my camera settings were fine, but it's actually my lens that's at fault. I was using a Tamron 24-70mm SP f/2.8 G1 lens, and after doing further testing, anytime the VC is turned on, images out of the camera are soft because of some sort of delay that happens when that VC kicks off. My temporary work around is to shoot with VC off, and now everything is sharp, but i need to watch my shutter speed because the IBIS isn't compatible with the lens at all. The same thing happens on my other Tamron zoom G1 lenses, so I'm working with them on it. Luckily my Tamron primes are all fine!

[Tronhard]

Glad you got sorted.  Using legacy third-party lenses with R bodies involves some risk of things not working as expected.  That should not be the case for Sigma with their new RF native mount lenses, but alas those are only for the RF-S platform.