Canon R5 R5 Focusing Issues (primarily with bald eagles)

[NancyMac]

Hi All,

I'm using an R5 with a 100-500mm lens. I feel like my lens is slow with autofocus tracking of birds in flight.

I'm using manual settings w/ my shutter speed at 1:3200 or maybe a little less, aperture 7.1,-8.0, and iso as needed.
Settings to animal, SERVO, high speed continuous exposure +, and using the back button focus button.

Should the focus be set to Expand Auto Focus Around or the face focus plus tracking??
Do I need to adjust the sensitivity AF pt select away from zero (purple screen) or do I need to change something in initial servo AF pt??

I'm super frustrated. I never had any issues with my 7D.
I feel like I'm just missing a setting or something within my camera???
Also, I have IS off, because a lot of my pics are taking from a boat.

I am mostly shooting wildlife...
Thank you very much for your assistance. I used to be 9/10 with the only issue being my exposure (under), but now I can see my adjusts as I tweak things in camera, and my issue is solely the focusing...

Nancy

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

I’ve switched it to face +,tracking. There’s no way I was gonna line up that little square with any fast moving animal. I’ve done that.

Here’s where I’m at. Please let me know if I missed anything -

AF screen (purple)
Servo AF
AF to Face plus tracking
Animals
Eye detection enable
Cont AF disabled

Screen 3
Case 1
No changes to tracking or acel or decel?

Screen 5
Initial servo point for AF pt is face plus tracking and is at Auto

Camera settings
Customize buttons

Shutter at half press metering and AF start
AF on button set to eye AF (2nd row 4th across)

Are these all I need to make to get some clear images? Thanks. Nancy

Only thing I would do is set Screen 3 to Auto (the advice of most pro-reps) unless you have specific cases where the subject meets one of the specific criteria. I actually use Case 4 but changed the Tracking to -1 so it sticks on the initial subject better, but that speaks to the small birds I tend to shoot.

It takes a couple weeks of shooting to fine tune, and as I said I've enabled the control wheel on the lens to allow me to switch between focus points. I've used AF Menu 4-Limit Focus Methods to eliminate all but Face Tracking, Expanded Area and Large Zone Horizontal as those are what I've found useful and it doesn't require me to move through things I'll never use.

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

Back button for eyes AF. ???

Yes, but I only use it when I have something other than Face Tracking as the focus method.

 

[Kwazy]

Please let me know if I missed anything

Looks good.

IS should be the first option. It’s not there

Make sure IS is turned-on on your lens. Then it should be in Red-7, but that's probably on anyway.

 

[Kwazy]

Conflicting?! Really?! Please explain, because there's nothing conflicting about any of it

You told her to have Face+Tracking and Dave Williams told her to set Single Point AF. She got confused.

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

You told her to have Face+Tracking and Dave Williams told her to set Single Point AF. She got confused.

I thought originally you were saying my settings conflicted with each other. Only afterward did I realize what you meant and deleted it.

 

[Kwazy]

Nope. Your advice was pretty consistent : ) I tweaked my settings to match yours as well. Hoping to a catch some bees in flight.

 

[NancyMac]

I thought originally you were saying my settings conflicted with each other. Only afterward did I realize what you meant and deleted it.

Yes the single point will not work out for me. I had it set to single in Yellowstone in the winter and was so frustrated so I moved it to expand around so that at least I had a larger bullseye to toggle around. Got some decent pics.

Now another question. I’ve followed all instructions thus far …

If my shutter release is set to face plus tracking then what should by back button be set to in order to compliment this, or as a plan B If face tracking isn’t cutting it?

And are these the best settings for further away subjects like breaching whales (maybe 100+ yards away ish)

Someone mentioned keeping IS on on my lens. This didn’t work well for me at all. It had a mind of its own and was bouncing around. Then they suggested turning on IS in camera too. In the camera section (red) I don’t have an IS option.

Thanks all,
Nancy.

 

[Kwazy]

Jake said he uses the AF-On button for "Eye Tracking" for the case when his AF is set to anything other than Face+Tracking. Not sure you could do better than that.

as a plan B If face tracking isn’t cutting it?

If the camera won't detect automatically (while shutter release is half-pressed or AF-on is pressed), I think your only resort is to tap the target (bird) on the screen. That'll put a double frame around it, lock onto the target, and will track it continuously for as long as the bird is in the view of the camera. That tells the camera exactly what you want to focus on, so it won't decide that something else is more important.

 

[NancyMac]

Yes the single point will not work out for me. I had it set to single in Yellowstone in the winter and was so frustrated so I moved it to expand around so that at least I had a larger bullseye to toggle around. Got some decent pics.

Now another question. I’ve followed all instructions thus far …

If my shutter release is set to face plus tracking then what should by back button be set to in order to compliment this, or as a plan B If face tracking isn’t cutting it?

And are these the best settings for further away subjects like breaching whales (maybe 100+ yards away ish)

Someone mentioned keeping IS on on my lens. This didn’t work well for me at all. It had a mind of its own and was bouncing around. Then they suggested turning on IS in camera too. In the camera section (red) I don’t have an IS option.

Thanks all,
Nancy.

Jake said he uses the AF-On button for "Eye Tracking" for the case when his AF is set to anything other than Face+Tracking. Not sure you could do better than that.


If the camera won't detect automatically (while shutter release is half-pressed or AF-on is pressed), I think your only resort is to tap the target (bird) on the screen. That'll put a double frame around it, lock onto the target, and will track it continuously for as long as the bird is in the view of the camera. That tells the camera exactly what you want to focus on, so it won't decide that something else is more important.

got it. Thank you, Kwazy.
Any idea on the IS mode to be "set up" within camera? I don't have that option in my camera on camera set up (red screen), page 7....

 

[Kwazy]

Any idea on the IS mode to be "set up" within camera? I don't have that option in my camera on camera set up (red screen), page 7....

My guess is that's because IS is turned off with the physical switch on your lens, since as you said, it didn't work out well in your situation.
If it's off on the lens, it's off in the camera as well, and the setting will be hidden. I think. Don't have the camera with me right now to double check.