Canon R6 I Quick question on AF eye selection and types - is there an auto

[JohnN]

Just a quick question and I'm guessing the answer is no, or its on the R8 / R6 II.

Is there a way to make the camera automatically swap between person/animal etc - or is the a manual things, hoping not, but guessing if it is then shortcut buttons may be the way?

 

[Japeg]

It’s my understanding that the camera looks for whatever you set as the priority. If people, it will look for people first, and if it can’t see any then looks for vehicles and animals.

 

[JohnN]

Okay, I was asking as I tried taking a piccy of my dog (testing a lens) and it just did the boxes, no eye - I switched to animals and it got it straight away, the same with my cat.

 

[Only RF]

It’s my understanding that the camera looks for whatever you set as the priority. If people, it will look for people first, and if it can’t see any then looks for vehicles and animals.

It is amazing how sensitive that is. I usually shoot animals. I had to set people and then went back to shooting critters. I thought I broke my camera because it would not focus.

 

[Only RF]

There is Auto but I like to have it set to the subject I'm shooting. Don't know about the R8 but you can map subject to detect to a button. I have it mapped to the M-Fn. I wish my R7 could do that. I have it registered in the green menus for the R7.

 

[JohnN]

Ah, cool - I though a mapping might be the way - though I will have to hunt for and test the auto I'd not found, cheers.

 

[ctitanic]

To clarify, the Auto option is on the R6 Mark II, in the Mark I you do not have that option. That said, if you have the option set to Animals, the AF will try to locate an animal and from there to detect the eyes. If you are taking a picture of a person, once an animal was not found (other than the person), the AF will detect the person and then the eyes. In another words, the detection is more like a priority but it does not exclude any subject.

I think that while in the R6 Mark II it works based on the priority given, in the Mark II, if you select auto the priority is eliminated and all options will be treated with the same weight.

 

[Only RF]

To clarify, the Auto option is on the R6 Mark II, in the Mark I you do not have that option. That said, if you have the option set to Animals, the AF will try to locate an animal and from there to detect the eyes. If you are taking a picture of a person, once an animal was not found (other than the person), the AF will detect the person and then the eyes. In another words, the detection is more like a priority but it does not exclude any subject.

I think that while in the R6 Mark II it works based on the priority given, in the Mark II, if you select auto the priority is eliminated and all options will be treated with the same weight.

Yes. In my case there was nothing else in the frame and it struggled. I imagine eventually it would have focused on the subject but I didn’t wait long enough to find out. I switched it back to the appropriate subject and it took off again.

 

[JohnN]

Gotcha, that aligns with what I saw - but didn't give it the time to try harder - further testing needed.
Thank you all - glad its not something I was missing... well, maybe I am, but it is what it is.

 

[ctitanic]

Gotcha, that aligns with what I saw - but didn't give it the time to try harder - further testing needed.
Thank you all - glad its not something I was missing... well, maybe I am, but it is what it is.

The best solution is to use Dual Back Button Focus.