Why is the image not in focus - Gear: Canon R1 and EF500L F4

[DhandaNot]

Focus is perfectly on the eye which was detected by the camera. But the image is not in focus. Why? I have enclosed the unprocessed JPG file too (cannot share RAW here). This was shot with the camera using a beanbag.

[deebatman316]

First of all what is the Full and complete name of the lens you’re using. Canon has made multiple versions of that lens. Older lenses aren’t fully compatible with all features in the EOS R series. They simply lack the hardware to do so. This is what you maybe seeing. Older versions of the lens DO NOT support DPAF or Eye Detect AF. The AF motor is not fast enough to keep up with fast action. Also the aperture motor is also too slow for such high fps. That the camera can achieve but the lens simply cannot. Also what mount adapter are you using Canon or 3rd Party. If Canon which exact mount adapter you using.

[Waddizzle]

Last try.  All we are trying to do is determine if your gear is working properly. I have one final suggestion.  Turn off the electronic shutter and the continuous-high drive mode.  The AF in the lens cannot keep up.

[johnrmoyer]

I disagree with the advice to disable IS on the lens. Most lenses can work properly on a tripod with IS enabled. 

When shooting wildlife from an automobile window, I find that I need to turn off the engine or the vibration from the engine will sometimes be at a frequency that IS cannot handle.

I see from metadata that your JPEG was produced by "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 15.0 (Windows)"  and is not the JPG file created by the camera.

If your lens is very old, then it is possible that the IS on the lens cannot handle being used with a tripod, but for most lenses it is fine to leave IS on.

The red box indicating focus seems to me not quite centered on the eye which happens when either the camera or the animal moved or eye detection failed. 

I have EOS R5 and not R1 and I have EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +2x III and on EF 500L, so some of what I write might not apply to your equipment.

This photo was made from my car window handheld with no beanbag. The bird was moving and one shot out of six seemed good enough to keep to me. For the others, there was some motion blur or the bird moved in a way the camera could not track while focusing or the bird's head was turned. Even if the red box is on the eye, the bird might have moved between the time the position of the red box is saved and the time when the photo is made. The raw file was processed using Canon DPP software.

https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2025Oct17_birds_and_cats/2025oct16_egret_IMG_4613c.html  

Great Egret (Ardea alba) with fish at Lake Thunderbird in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on October 16, 2025

Camera Model Name	Canon EOS R5
Lens Model	EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +2x III
Focal Length	800 mm
Exposure Time	1/500
ISO	500
F Number	11.0
Camera Temperature	37 C
Measured EV	13.50
Measured EV 2	26.5
Focus Distance Upper	50.04 m
Focus Distance Lower	39.39 m
File:Other	FileName	IMG_4613.dr4
CanonVRD:Image	AngleAdj	0.3
CanonVRD:Image	WhiteBalanceAdj	Daylight
CanonVRD:Image	PictureStyle	Fine Detail
CanonVRD:Image	ColorSaturationAdj	1
CanonVRD:Image	UnsharpMaskStrength	2
CanonVRD:Image	UnsharpMaskFineness	2
CanonVRD:Image	UnsharpMaskThreshold	2
CanonVRD:Image	LuminanceNoiseReduction	1
CanonVRD:Image	ChrominanceNoiseReduction	1
CanonVRD:Image	DLOSetting	60
CanonVRD:Image	DPRAWMicroadjustBackFront	0
CanonVRD:Image	DPRAWMicroadjustStrength	8
CanonVRD:Image	CropRotatedOriginalWidth	8220
CanonVRD:Image	CropRotatedOriginalHeight	5507
CanonVRD:Image	CropX	381
CanonVRD:Image	CropY	642
CanonVRD:Image	CropWidth	7200
CanonVRD:Image	CropHeight	4800
CanonVRD:Image	CropAngle	0.3

[Waddizzle]

“ I disagree with the advice to disable IS on the lens. Most lenses can work properly on a tripod with IS enabled. “

The intent of the suggestion to disable IS and other AF settings was for troubleshooting, to determine if the gear is working properly,  There are too many moving parts. 

The suggestion to dramatically increase shutter speed and disable the high speed frame rate are corrections.  I consider these to be “must do” changes.  

[Anonymous]

There are several reasons to disable IS, besides, already mentioned, trying to figure out where exactly the problem is.

-When on a tripod(did you use a support/beanbag in the car?) the IS can work against you, some lenses detect this but not all and general recommendation is to turn of IS on a tripod.

-When panning(not in this case but your other posts were BIF) the IS works against the movement of the lens, it's designed for small movements/vibrations. For horizontal panning you can use setting 2(if the older lens has this), this only corrects vertical movement but my birds always go up and down as well as left/right. Besides, with higher shutterspeeds IS is not needed.

But I agree with you, this shot should have been in focus.

[DhandaNot]

I am not a sports photographer. I am a wildlife photographer. 🙏

Canon R1 does have Vehicle Detection as a mode (similar to animals and eyes) So, if you are shooting car racing then you could try that.

[DhandaNot]

Are there any Wildlife photographers who can have a look and advise? 

[wq9nsc]

Wildlife and sports (and I shoot wildlife also) are the most demanding subjects/environment for a camera.  And the considerations about relying upon eye detect apply to both scenarios.  Eye detect focus is extremely reliable WHEN you have a significant part of the frame filled with the target eye which is the situation with fashion, most theater, and journalism situations.  With wildlife, you are often at extreme focal length yet still only have a small part of the sensor "covered" by the eye and even with IS there is often going to be subject movement along with eye blinks.  Using a more traditional focus setup gives the camera a lot more data to work with instead of forcing it to try to focus upon an eye when that is difficult.  Photography is a hobby with me, my consulting work is in risk management and it applies to photography also where you want to maximize the probability of a good capture and minimize the possibility of a fail.  That means using the best setup available for a given situation and there isn't one setup that covers all situations within sports or wildlife.

The image below was captured with a 1DX III using an EF 800 f5.6 with a 1.4X extender  shooting over a bit of land heated by the sun so there were "atmospheric" issues.  But the camera had no trouble tracking the eagle and keeping it in focus using an AF setup that gave it plenty of data for both tracking and precise focusing.

Rodger1DX III EF 800 f5.6 + 1.4X 1/1,600, f8, ISO 500

[DhandaNot]

I will try Wildlife photography without eye detection to check and compare.

[jrhoffman75]

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@DhandaNot wrote:

I will try Wildlife photography without eye detection to check and compare.

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Here is what Canon states.