Canon R6 II Autofocus for Aviation

[JamesC]

Hi all, I hope this is in the right area, (and apologies if not! )

I am struggling to get my head around the new Autofocus system/tracking. It doesn't help I've only had 1 real trip out with the new R6 II since getting it 3 months ago! But, I am struggling to understand how to get it correctly setup, so I am after any pointers/tips/other threads people may have from photographing aviation before! The YouTube world is a bit of a minefield.

Currently, I've got it setup so that within the AF Menu settings, "Whole area tracking Servo AF" is off, "Subject to detect" is None. I also have Case 2 setup for aviation following other people's advice.

I've got my AF-ON button set to 1-Point AF (used to this from 90D days!) then the * AE Lock set to "AF on detected subject" which I figure I would use for airborne shots where it can automatically pick up the aircraft in the sky, and lastly AF Point Button set to "AF Point Selection" so that I can easily change AF points for different use case.

I know that the best learning tool is just to get out to try, but it's such a big learning curve! So I just want to see if I am starting in the right area Airshow season is a couple of month's away, and not able to get much time at local bases in Suffolk currently.

Thanks very much in advance!

 

[Only RF]

I had R6II and currently have the R6III. Pretty much the same. From my perspective I think you are doing things the hard way. We paid for this awesome mirrorless AF tech so why not use it. I've been shooting mirrorless since 2020 and I have not moved and AF point/s around manually since then. I let system do the work. I shoot aviation, birds, animals, cars, sports in Whole Area AF with subject detect about 90% of the time. Moving the AF Point around manually just takes too long for me.

I want to make sure I'm getting this statement correct. "Whole area tracking Servo AF" is off". I get the Whole Area part but are you also not using Servo mode? You need Servo for anything that is moving but I'm pretty sure you know this.

Case 2 is good. I got my 7D in 2009 and set Tracking Sensitivity (TS) to -2 and have been shooting that way ever since. The Case numbers and parameters control tracking characteristics after AF is achieved. Case 2 controls how AF handles an obstructions. If you subject is is obstructed by something Case 2 which sets TS to a negative value does not refocus immediately on the obstruction. Case 3 is the opposite.

I do use an override in case AF fails. My back buttons are mapped to kick into single or zone AF to get my subject in focus if needed before going back to Whole Area AF. I also mapped the AF Point Section Button to cycle through Whole Area, Zone, Single point and spot AF all with subject detect (and Eye detect when needed) if I need more precise AF. I realize that I don't set those things up as most others do. I mapped the Set button to turn Eye detect off and on.

These are recent shots from the airport this month using Whole Area and Subject Detect.

Post in thread 'Your R System Images - February 2026'

Feb 8, 2026

Got a short opening of sun today so I raced to the airport. Not quite as good a day as I would have liked but I'll be back. Still shaking the rust off.

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Someone stacked some skids so I didn't have to shoot through the fence this time. Runway is behind me.

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• Only RF

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A few more from this month

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Last year with the R6II.

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[JamesC]

I had R6II and currently have the R6III. Pretty much the same. From my perspective I think you are doing things the hard way. We paid for this awesome mirrorless AF tech so why not use it. I've been shooting mirrorless since 2020 and I have not moved and AF point/s around manually since then. I let system do the work. I shoot aviation, birds, animals, cars, sports in Whole Area AF with subject detect about 90% of the time. Moving the AF Point around manually just takes too long for me.

I want to make sure I'm getting this statement correct. "Whole area tracking Servo AF" is off". I get the Whole Area part but are you also not using Servo mode? You need Servo for anything that is moving but I'm pretty sure you know this.

Case 2 is good. I got my 7D in 2009 and set Tracking Sensitivity (TS) to -2 and have been shooting that way ever since. The Case numbers and parameters control tracking characteristics after AF is achieved. Case 2 controls how AF handles an obstructions. If you subject is is obstructed by something Case 2 which sets TS to a negative value does not refocus immediately on the obstruction. Case 3 is the opposite.

I do use an override in case AF fails. My back buttons are mapped to kick into single or zone AF to get my subject in focus if needed before going back to Whole Area AF. I also mapped the AF Point Section Button to cycle through Whole Area, Zone, Single point and spot AF all with subject detect (and Eye detect when needed) if I need more precise AF. I realize that I don't set those things up as most others do. I mapped the Set button to turn Eye detect off and on.

These are recent shots from the airport this month using Whole Area and Subject Detect.

https://rfshooters.com/threads/your-r-system-images-february-2026.5840/#post-34406

A few more from this month

View attachment 43625View attachment 43626

Last year with the R6II.

View attachment 43622

View attachment 43623

View attachment 43624

Thanks for coming back to me, much appreciated. There is a very good chance that I am making this much more complicated than I need to be! I've got myself into a habit of "over-complicating" things, so wouldn't be surprised if that's what I have done here.

So within the 'Pink' AF menu, sub-menu '1', Servo is enabled, and for me the 3rd option down does show as "Whole area tracking Servo AF". I wasn't sure if this was correct to have off, or not.

I am not sure I have the back-buttons set correctly, or not...

AF-ON - Metering and AF Start
AE Lock - AF on detected subject (I changed this earlier)
AF Point button - AF point selection

I am largely following what you're saying, I think where I have gone wrong is watching far too many different YouTube videos, different websites and books So think I would be much better now trying to speak to people here who have got that real world experience. I know I will learn a lot by getting out, but feel like I want to get the basics down first. Hopefully the couple of photos I've attached here will make some sense...

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[Only RF]

I'm great at overthinking things myself. I can't comment too much about your settings except for they aren't incorrect I'm aware of them but I made my own path with mirrorless. These days I don't remove AF off the shutter and use BBF buttons for various options. Primarily overriding Eye Detect with DSLR AF methods when it fails, which is rare. You have to experiment. Others here will likely post there methods.