EOS R5 Mark II auto focus - movement & sharpness

[bartonke]

I recently purchased a Canon R5 Mark II and used my RF 85mm F1.2L USM lens to shoot my toddler running. My settings were f2.8 or f4 with a shutter speed of 1/1600 or 1/2000. I was shooting my daughter running towards me, but the images I was shooting didn't always have a tack sharp eye. Sometimes the eyes were tack sharp, but other times they seemed a bit soft when I zoomed in. Is this a shortcoming of the new Canon AF system (or maybe all AF systems), a setting that needs to be changed on my end, or are the expectations I'm placing on the AF system unrealistic (e.g., perhaps there are always going to be some soft eyes when there's movement)? Given how much Canon has been touting the new AF system, I would have thought that consistently getting a tack sharp eye on a running toddler with a fast shutter speed would be a reasonable expectation, but maybe the technology just isn't there yet or I'm doing something incorrectly on my end. Any feedback would be appreciated.  

[stevet1]

bartender,

I've often read that movement towards you, or away from you is more difficult to capture than lateral movement.

Just out of curiosity, did you have tracking set and eye focus enabled and all that stuff?

Steve Thomas

[bartonke]

The 'eye detection' setting was set to 'auto' and the camera was set to track 'people'. The AF settings were essentially the out-of-the-box settings, since I just recently purchased the camera. I haven't adjusted those settings in any way. I shot the image with the LCD screen open, rather than using the viewfinder. Thanks.  

[wq9nsc]

I suspect the RF version of this lens is very similar to the EF version in that it is not extremely fast at focusing or in maintaining focus with a moving object.  Like a macro lens, focus is extremely critical with a lens capable of f1.2 aperture with its extremely shallow depth of field and the focusing mechanism is biased towards extreme accuracy over speed.  Neither macro lenses nor extremely wide aperture specialty lenses like this are great for fast action.  And closing the aperture down as you did does provide greater depth of field BUT it doesn't change the basic bias of the AF mechanism from accuracy to speed.

I have the EF version of this lens and it provides incredible images with a beautifully blurred background when used wide open but on the rare occasion when I need to use an 85mm prime for action, I put on my EF 85 f1.8 instead which is very fast at acquiring and following focus.

I think of my EF 85 f1.2 primarily as a portrait type lens.  It is capable of producing amazing results but it is much less forgiving than a more general lens and it definitely isn't the choice for fast action even if it is only the relatively fast action of a toddler.

Rodger

[Tronhard]

The R5 series has a complex focusing system that can be configured in many variations, so to help us to gain a better understanding, can you please advise precisely all settings for your focusing system at the time?

[bartonke]

The camera settings are essentially the default out-of-the-box settings. The only settings I adjusted were the file size and quality settings. I left everything else as is and didn't adjust any of the autofocus settings. So for example, the 'eye detection' setting is on 'auto' and the 'subject to detect' setting is set to 'people'. The 'AF operation' is set to 'SERVO' and the 'AF area' is set to 'AF(1)'.  The 'whole area tracking Servo AF' is set to 'on'. Thanks and please let me know if you have any other questions. 

[Waddizzle]

The lens would not be my first choice for any type of action photography.  It’s a portrait lens that trades off focusing speed for greater focusing accuracy.  A lens with an f/1.2 aperture it needs to have very accurate focusing motors.

I am sure the lens would capture great stills. 

[Ron888]

I'm no expert but for what it's worth that hit and miss aspect sounds normal for a system that's near it's limit