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R6 Issues with autofocus with long lenses

TaraLerch
Apprentice

Recently upgraded to R6 and works great with my Canon 70-200 and Tamron 18-400 lenses.  However, I recently purchased the Canon RF 800mm and I am having a heck of time with the autofocus.  It works sometimes but other times it freezes.  It appears to be focusing and then gets completely out of focus and gets stuck there and will not focus - not matter how long I keep the back button focus button pressed.  I have to turn the camera off and back on again and sometimes that doesn't even work.  I also rented the Tamron 150-600 and I have the same issue with that lens - not as often but it still occurs frequently.  With the zoom len, I can zoom out and focus and then zoom back in again to resolve but that takes time and shots are missed in the meantime.  I thought perhaps it was some settings I made but I recently reset all setting to default settings and I am still experiencing this issue.  I have completed the latest R6 firmware update and this did not help.  Do others experience this?  I've posted in another group and had at least one person with this camera lens combo that does not have the issue.  I'm stumped - perhaps I have a defective R6?

22 REPLIES 22

tuyeda
Apprentice

I have the RF600 (not the RF800) but I had a similar issue with the autofocus when I first got it. There is a switch on the lens where you can select "FULL" or "12m-infinity". I had read that "12m-Infinity" would allow it to focus faster because it limits it to a smaller range of focus...

 

However, I found the opposite to be true. After I switched it to FULL, the autofocus worked much faster. I no longer experienced where "It appears to be focusing and then gets completely out of focus and gets stuck there and will not focus." I have since read 1 other post that recommends using the "FULL" option.

 

The other workaround I did was to focus on something midway (if I was going from something close to something far) and then focus on the object. This helps it along. I used to do this a lot  more often (prior to changing it to FULL).  


@tuyeda wrote:

I have the RF600 (not the RF800) but I had a similar issue with the autofocus when I first got it. There is a switch on the lens where you can select "FULL" or "12m-infinity". I had read that "12m-Infinity" would allow it to focus faster because it limits it to a smaller range of focus...

 

However, I found the opposite to be true. After I switched it to FULL, the autofocus worked much faster. I no longer experienced where "It appears to be focusing and then gets completely out of focus and gets stuck there and will not focus." I have since read 1 other post that recommends using the "FULL" option.

 

The other workaround I did was to focus on something midway (if I was going from something close to something far) and then focus on the object. This helps it along. I used to do this a lot  more often (prior to changing it to FULL).  


The experience you quote frequently occurs becasue the lens is set closer than the shortened range. IOW, if you had the lens set at 10 feet and told the camera to only focus greater than 12 feet there is an initial confustion in the AF system.

John Hoffman
Conway, NH

1D X Mark III, Many lenses, Pixma PRO-100, Pixma TR8620a, LR Classic

tuyeda
Apprentice
Hi John. I don't know about the OP but for me, i saw the auto issues at various distances, but mostly in the middle distance (going from around 30-200 feet). For me the issues mostly went away after switching the lens to the FULL position. I know it sounds backwards but that was my fix so just passing it along to those with issues to try. Maybe it helps. Maybe not...


@tuyeda wrote:
Hi John. I don't know about the OP but for me, i saw the auto issues at various distances, but mostly in the middle distance (going from around 30-200 feet). For me the issues mostly went away after switching the lens to the FULL position. I know it sounds backwards but that was my fix so just passing it along to those with issues to try. Maybe it helps. Maybe not...

Thanks for passing this on. It may help others.

John Hoffman
Conway, NH

1D X Mark III, Many lenses, Pixma PRO-100, Pixma TR8620a, LR Classic

Albinos
Apprentice

HI,

I also have the same problem, using the 100-400mm, EF mount with the mount adapter. I am a bird photographer and quite often the focus just not see the bird where the collimator is perfectly on.

Instead the camera will focus at infinite and never come back on my subject. This will happen when there in nothing on the foreground. Just a horizontal branch and a bird sitting  on it. You can simulate this by trying to focus on a electrical wire ( nothing else in front or in background). My old 7d MK II can focus easily on this.  Any thought?

Tronhard
Elite
Elite

It's worthwhile noting that there have been several firmware updates since this was first posted and some of those specifically address focusing issues.  It certainly won't hurt to do the firmware updates and it may solve at least some of the issues indicated here...


cheers, TREVOR

"All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow", Leo Tolstoy;
"Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase" Percy W. Harris

That's a good reminder. My RF100-500 is surprisingly bad at autofocusing, especially the animal tracking mode. I'm going to check for firmware updates.

wannabeartist
Apprentice

Did these focus issues happen with video of stills? 

I was just getting some bird shots yesterday, both video and stills with my RF600 and while for the stills the focus worked perfectly 100%, with video I ran into problems.

In about half of my shots it just would not focus on slowly swimming birds on a lake, gave me the red rectangle for no reason I could think of. There were no distractions on the scene and the birds definitely were further away than the min focusing distance. If switched over to stills, it would focus every time. 

I tried switching focus modes, the distance switch on the lens and restarting the camera, but none of those seem to have any effect. Interested to hear if anyone has experienced the same with video!

 

 

Without seeing images or footage, no one can offer meaningful advice about your specific issues.  Your issue is most likely related to camera setting, and the factory default settings may not be the answer..

More times than not the gear is not at fault for focusing issues.  Yes, that is a euphemism for operator error.  Understanding how the settings work is key to getting the best performance.

Resetting the camera to factory defaults is good advice, but all it really does is put most of the camera settings into a known state.  The emphasis is on the phrase “most of the camera settings.”  A factory reset does not mean these are the best settings to use for any shooting scenario.  If they were, you would not be given the ability to tweak them.  

Look at resetting the camera as putting into an automatic shooting mode, which will work for most shooting scenarios involving still subjects.  Capturing moving or distant subjects is an entirely different story.  You need to make adjustments to the camera like using AI Servo Af for moving subjects, instead of One Shot AF.

There are other settings that can just as dramatically alter the behavior of the AF system.  I think the factory defaults mostly lean toward shooting still subjects, not action photography.  The factory defaults probably lean towards using a standard zoom to capture fairly close objects, not distant birds on a pond.  You will need to tweak the camera for the latter.

Also, the camera has a settings that enables or disables the AF when the camera cannot lock focus.  I have suspected this was the issue for some of the earlier posts.  Releasing the BBF button and allowing the AF system to reset and restart is probably all that was needed.

Which brings us to your issues with shooting video.  When you are shooting stills the AF system shuts down between shots.  When you are shooting video, the AF system is constantly enabled, so if it fails to lock focus on a subject then it may just stop working, which is a setting in the camera.

Another setting in the camera is Eye and Animal AF.  These settings require the subject to be close enough to the camera that a sufficient number of AF point can be placed on the subject so that the camera can recognize an eyeball or an animal.  

Using a telephoto lens is like looking at the world through a straw.  That is all that the camera can see.  In fact, the camera can only “see” what the active AF points see.  

The camera is not omnipotent.  It will only do what you ask it to do.  If you ask the wrong questions, then you will get the wrong answers.

[EDIT] I strongly suggest that you start your own thread, so that people can better understand your issue, and not conflate your issues with others.

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"The right mouse button is your friend."

nianchen
Apprentice

I have exactly the same problem! My husband bought the R6 and the 100-500mm lens for me. Now I found the auto focus is not as good as my 5D mark4, far slower. Plus this focus freezing issue. It can focus for short moments and then gets completely off and freeze there. I use it for bird shooting. I had to turn the lens manually to help it to get back to focus, and the subject can be gone! Very upsetting! I also reset the camera. But didn’t solve the problem!

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