Thinking about upgrading camera bodies

I currently have two 5D Mark IVs that I have had since the body came out. I love the camera, but have always had difficulty with the autofocus on a moving target, like birds in flight. I primarily shoot landscape and wildlife. I am considering moving to the new mirrorless line, not because of weight, but because I understand that the autofocus system is more refined. I have quite a bit invested in EF lenses and do not plan to purchase any RF lenses any time soon. So my questions are:

1) What specifically are the advantages of the R5 (or new R3) over the 5DIV that will help with the above?
2) Will I be able to use all of my EF lenses on the RF adapter, including the 1.4XIII and 2.0XIII extenders?

I know there will be a substantial cost difference when the R3 comes out, but would it be worth it to wait for it? I will not say that cost is not an issue, but it is not the primary driver. I had planned to keep these two bodies for some time longer, but have just never been pleased with the focusing.

Anybody with experience in upgrading bodies would be greatly appreciated!

Scott

I am making the switch to benefit from autofocus Improvements

I updated from the 7DII to the R6 and have been very happy with the results

Anybody considering upgrading should look at the The Digitl Picture site for some pretty understandable information on the camera you are considering. While it is not the bottom line, is is pretty good stuff that is understandable.

What are the issues you are having with AF?
Do you use Back Button AF?

HannahsDad wrote in post #19270357
=Hannah'sDad;19270357]​I currently have two 5D Mark IVs that I have had since the body came out. I love the camera, but have always had difficulty with the autofocus on a moving target, like birds in flight. I primarily shoot landscape and wildlife. I am considering moving to the new mirrorless line, not because of weight, but because I understand that the autofocus system is more refined. I have quite a bit invested in EF lenses and do not plan to purchase any RF lenses any time soon. So my questions are:

1) What specifically are the advantages of the R5 (or new R3) over the 5DIV that will help with the above?
2) Will I be able to use all of my EF lenses on the RF adapter, including the 1.4XIII and 2.0XIII extenders?

I know there will be a substantial cost difference when the R3 comes out, but would it be worth it to wait for it? I will not say that cost is not an issue, but it is not the primary driver. I had planned to keep these two bodies for some time longer, but have just never been pleased with the focusing.

Anybody with experience in upgrading bodies would be greatly appreciated!

Scott

Autofocus on the MkIV is not quite user friendly, but I have found it to be extraordinarily good.

If you're not using the guide linked below along with your MkIV user manual, you're missing a lot of useful information. (Yes the guide is for the 1DX MkII, but Canon recommended it for use with the 5DMkIV as they have the same AF system.) Even these two documents together give only raw information. You need to try to figure out what works for you.

http://downloads.canon​.com …os_1dxmarkii_af​_guide.pdf

The osprey herein was shot with the MkIV and a 100-400 MkI lens. Exif info should be shown below, but that doesn't tell everything. Here's the other information.

The osprey came out of nowhere. I was shooting aperture priority with ISO Auto, and a minimum shutter speed of 1/2000s. I was shooting AI Servo AF with an AF configuration of Case 3. While I normally use AF area select mode of Single Point Spot AF, for the BIF I was actually using AF Selection Mode of Automatic Selection, using EOS iTR set to "On". From what I found, when shooting with iTR, AF configuration cases no longer apply.

I don't know how AF in the new mirrorless bodies work. Perhaps it's easier to learn with them. I do know I've spent a lot of time working with both the owner manual and the linked AF guide. I've linked to the album containing the embedded photo.

Good luck!

https://www.grahamglov​er.com …dows-in-Summer-July-2021/

IMAGE LINK: https://www.grahamglov​er.com …mer-July-2021/i-HQhkLbJ/A

Sorry for the delay. Just started a new job and this had to take a backseat.

Thank you for the link. That looks like it is going to be very helpful. I came from a 5DIII and the autofocus points would "move" around to the target that was in motion, so I could tell if I was on it or not. I cannot figure out a way to show the same thing on the IV, but this pdf may be the trick. I'll be studying it and the camera manual thoroughly before I try it again.

I appreciate everyone's help. The problem that I was having, I just described. With the 5DIV, I just could not "see" where my focus point was for objects in motion. I am assuming that the IV is way better than my old III, so maybe this is the answer. Kind of funny. I've had these bodies for four years and have just never had the time to hunt down a solution to the problem. Thanks again to all that responded.

Scott
Allen, TX

HannahsDad wrote in post #19286348
=Hannah'sDad;19286348]​Sorry for the delay. Just started a new job and this had to take a backseat.

Thank you for the link. That looks like it is going to be very helpful. I came from a 5DIII and the autofocus points would "move" around to the target that was in motion, so I could tell if I was on it or not. I cannot figure out a way to show the same thing on the IV, but this pdf may be the trick. I'll be studying it and the camera manual thoroughly before I try it again.

I appreciate everyone's help. The problem that I was having, I just described. With the 5DIV, I just could not "see" where my focus point was for objects in motion. I am assuming that the IV is way better than my old III, so maybe this is the answer. Kind of funny. I've had these bodies for four years and have just never had the time to hunt down a solution to the problem. Thanks again to all that responded.

Scott
Allen, TX

Good luck with the new job, Scott!

Ultimately it's all about taking photos. One of the new mirrorless cameras may still be the way to go for you. The camera shouldn't be a hindrance in creating your photos.

Fwiw, here are a couple additional thoughts regarding the III and IV.

On the III vs IV, I wouldn't say the IV is way better. It's better, yes, but not way better. The IV has improvements on capabilities the III has, and it adds some new features. It's an evolutionary improvement rather than revolutionary.

One easy thing to try would be to match the settings on the IV with what you have on the III. For instance, both have an area selection mode where you choose which autofocus point(s) to use. If you're using the 61-point automatic selection AF on the III, use that on the IV. Also, there's the configuration tool for the six AI Servo cases that you can match from the III to the IV. In essence, you can set up the IV similar to the III. When I went to the IV, the transition to get it up and running the way I used the III was pretty easy, but then I'm a control freak. After that I figured out some of the IV's new capabilities.

Hope this helps!

I've upgraded from 5D III to 5D IV to now R5 specifically for improvement in bird photography.

In bird photography, reach is always a challenge. Of course, while having a long zoom certainly helps, I sought larger megapixel sensors for greater crop-ability without compromising IQ loss.

R5 not only offers a larger MP but its Eye-AF alone is worth the upgrade for bird photography, specifically for BIF. While I've had great success with 5D IV for BIF, the R5 with its ability to zero in on the bird's eye is a game changer. For BIF, my programmed set up with the R5 is initial tracking with Zone AF that's programmed to the shutter button, half press, then when the bird comes within the Eye-AF range, I press one of the back buttons, AF-On, which is programmed to Eye-AF, that over-rides the shutter button seamlessly, and shoot away as Eye-AF is locked in on the bird's eye. The keeper rate is much higher than with the 5D IV.

Another huge improvement over 5D IV with 7 fps burst mode is the R5's ability to shoot 20 fps in Electronic and 12 fps in Mechanical shutter.

I hardly ever used 5D IV for video shooting, but with the R5 and its 8K and 4K 120 fps I found myself getting into video more than ever before.