-= Canon EOS R6 Mark II owners unite! Post photos and discuss.

With 2 bodies and multiple lenses I almost don't believe it. My R5 and R7 nail AF on human eye....... every........single...​...time.

Is eye detect and tracking turned on?
Is he hand holding at slow shutter speeds? Is IS on?
Is the AF system active at the moment of shutter release?
Does he experience the same when doing test shots?

Seems likely to me that an inadvertent user error is involved. Moving from a 6D to an R3 is a massive change in AF system.

Are we talking about the camera's ability to focus based on what the shooter's eye is seeing or the camera's ability to track the eyes of a subject here? Massive difference on what this could mean with an R3.

WilsonFlyer wrote in post #19461767
Are we talking about the camera's ability to focus based on what the shooter's eye is seeing or the camera's ability to track the eyes of a subject here? Massive difference on what this could mean with an R3.

Yes I'm a little surprised with that. When the weather is bad I test new gear on this book cover. My R5 (did), R6II and R7 all quickly locked on the eye and held it as long as I could hold my camera up. While tracking if myR5 lost the eye it would find the head or body. If the system felt the eye was good it would revert.

Sorry about the coffee spills.

Astoria wrote in post #19461485
I come onboard to Canon mirrorless from a 7D2, 1DX3. Never had the difficulties with soft images, noise, as I am with the R5. BIF? Rarely get any usable results. I have tried many different setting suggestions, yet still remain frustrated. I have used other lenses with this R5, including a couple EF adapted lenses, with mostly the same results. Used mechanical, electronic shutters. Case 1,2 and 3. ISO from my usual 1000 up to over 4000. I typically shoot in AV. just can’t seem to crack the code! I never have had to work so hard to get images out of a camera body before. I had a Fuji XH1, so not my first foray into mirrorless. That Fuji took stunning images…I’m accustomed to the low light capabilities of the 1DX…perhaps my expectations are higher than my wallet will allow. I mostly shoot wildlife, birding and macro. Lots of sunrise and sunset work…thank you

This is a tough one because I'm not sure the R6II will make that big of a difference. The R6II produces better low light files because of the lower pixel density but how much better will low light AF performance be? 10% gain? 50% gain? That is different for everyone. While the R6II crops well you will lose more detail with it when you start to push the crops. Not sure how close you can get to your subjects.

You mention using mechanical an ES. Mechanical was shown to exhibit shutter shock so many recommendations to use EFCS instead, which I always used. I never used ES because I didn't like the 20 fps restriction. Since you used ES that rules out that part but I thought I'd mention it.

As downhillonwater pointed out these are some of the basics which I'm sure you. Selecting the correct subject to detect is super critical but I'm sure you have that figured out.

I'm not sure if Case numbers are going to do very much for you when shooting feeding birds. I'm pretty much always on Case 2 with TS @ -2 and access/decel @ +1. If I know I will be shooting subjects like race cars coming towards me I'll go to Case 4 where I have set access/decel @ +2.

As for losing the eye you may want to try Switching Tracked Subjects at 0. This will slow the system down when there are other birds around that may have a better eye to focus on. For more erratic subjects I go back to 1 because I'm still not sure about that warning about using 0.

You may want to try the white pre-focus square. It starts to look for an eye by just the camera waking up. If you lift your finger off the shutter or BBF it will kick and continue to track and AF. Page 5 of the purple AF menus. Set Servo AF point to Auto. It should be the single line square., not double lined.

There is not much more you can do. We have no control of the AF sensitivity. It either sees contrast or it doesn't. Are you familiar with the pre-focus technique (not white square) created by users to force the AF system to focus on the subject you want? I don't think I've gone a day without using it in one form or the other. By that I mean how you map the BBF's. I made some changes last Feb/March.

See here how the Fro uses Expansion AF to hone in on the subject. Has also shown this on R3 and you find other videos. It is all the same. All he does is gets the AF point anywhere on the subject, goes back to Eye AF and the camera lock ons.

Start at 19:50. I prefer to use single point for this because it has more contrast to work with. Some like Spot. Both Single and Spot are larger on both the R6II and R7 so I would be fine with using Spot. Spot was a little too small for me on the R5 for this purpose. I'm not trying to use the pre-focus technique to get the eye in focus. That is the cameras job. I just need the subject in focus so any on it will do.

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=fgyJAtCrZ1o

Just so you know I do not move the AF point/s when using pre-focus technique. Too slow for what I shoot. I physically move the camera.

Then there is this. I'm not that steady and I was a little concerned about 45mp. Not that 24 makes a difference in how you shoot. You will just see more stuff when zoomed to 100%. I really had to adjust settle myself down and adjust PP techniques a bit.

Here is a good article.

https://gdanmitchell.c​om …an-your-12mp-image-at-100

And a great example from one of our members.

You may find this interesting. I didn't like it but you may. You can see the white prefocus square I mentioned at minute 8:30. See it flipping back and forth between the blue AF square.

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=-FnDetK4XpQ

Sorry for bumping. Had a few more thoughts. What FW are you on? With 1.4 Canon fixed a series IBIS shift. Just in case the RF 100-500 had one too a few years ago.

Try the old tripod and taping a monetary bill to a wall to rule anything out.

Maybe try a complete factory reset. All the menu items on that page.

Thank you for the info you have shared. Your message contains more than a few bits of information previously unknown to me. I will watch what you have suggested and try the tips you have sent along. I am determined to learn about this camera. When it gives me the stunning image quality with my work, I am made aware of the learning curve and that it is mostly me. Happy New Year

WilsonFlyer wrote in post #19461767
Are we talking about the camera's ability to focus based on what the shooter's eye is seeing or the camera's ability to track the eyes of a subject here? Massive difference on what this could mean with an R3.

The R3 would show focus on the eye, but the resulting photos were front or back focused. Happened on two R3s with a few different lenses.
He's been a shooter for 15 years so isn't a complete noob though I can't entirely rule out user error. I went from shooting for 15 years with DSLRs and then to an EOS R , and now R6 II and I don't find the systems to be that much different really: Get a box over the spot you want to focus, get confirmation, and shoot. Mirrorless offers more focus points and eye AF but it's still essentially the same.

He had big issues doing a paid shoot with models, and then with another R3 at home trying to take pictures of his baby (sitting still). Focus achieved promptly, but the resulting pics were out of focus (def not motion blur or anything like that because again, he's a very experienced photographer).

He hates used the R3 so much that he prefers using his old DSLRs and even a Fuji Xt2 I think. I wish I could give the camera a go. My R6 II on the other hand is just so good at autofocus (as was my R, though not to nearly the speed of the R6 II, but way better than any DSLR I shot with when it came to accuracy).

drisley wrote in post #19462140
The R3 would show focus on the eye, but the resulting photos were front or back focused. Happened on two R3s with a few different lenses.
He's been a shooter for 15 years so isn't a complete noob though I can't entirely rule out user error. I went from shooting for 15 years with DSLRs and then to an EOS R , and now R6 II and I don't find the systems to be that much different really: Get a box over the spot you want to focus, get confirmation, and shoot. Mirrorless offers more focus points and eye AF but it's still essentially the same.

He had big issues doing a paid shoot with models, and then with another R3 at home trying to take pictures of his baby (sitting still). Focus achieved promptly, but the resulting pics were out of focus (def not motion blur or anything like that because again, he's a very experienced photographer).

He hates used the R3 so much that he prefers using his old DSLRs and even a Fuji Xt2 I think. I wish I could give the camera a go. My R6 II on the other hand is just so good at autofocus (as was my R, though not to nearly the speed of the R6 II, but way better than any DSLR I shot with when it came to accuracy).

My guess would be that he has photographer eye tracking on and that's what's causing his problem. His eye is diverting at the last second sometimes and causing all kinds of problems. Let's be honest here. If the R3's focus system was that bad, it would be getting raped in the press, and yet it's not. It continues to get accolades as one of the best AF systems out there so far. That being the case, that only leaves the photographer or a setting or some combination of the two as the problem. Probably not what your friend wants to hear, but the truth nonetheless.

WilsonFlyer wrote in post #19462182
My guess would be that he has photographer eye tracking on and that's what's causing his problem. His eye is diverting at the last second sometimes and causing all kinds of problems. Let's be honest here. If the R3's focus system was that bad, it would be getting raped in the press, and yet it's not. It continues to get accolades as one of the best AF systems out there so far. That being the case, that only leaves the photographer or a setting or some combination of the two as the problem. Probably not what your friend wants to hear, but the truth nonetheless.

Most likely. Something isn't right there for sure.
All I hear from photographers and "influencers" is that the R3 has the best AF in the photography game, and this is coming from those who own Sony cams simultaneously like the A1 and A7RV.

Was out testing my new 70-200 2.8 III with the R6 II and it's a fantastic combo.
I was randomly taking pictures of skaters on the river, many that were so far away I could barely see them, and the AF just found them, often their head (or eyes if visible) and nailed AF 100% of the time.
I've shot for over 15 years, most of that using Canon's flagship 1 series cameras, and NOTHING was as good as this and nothing was nearly as fast and easy.

This was 70mm ISO 6400 F2.8

drisley wrote in post #19462211
Most likely. Something isn't right there for sure.
All I hear from photographers and "influencers" is that the R3 has the best AF in the photography game, and this is coming from those who own Sony cams simultaneously like the A1 and A7RV.

Someone at DPReview shot 104 weddings in 2022 using R3's. Seem pretty happy. Said it basically focused in the dark.

2 weddings per week? OMG.

drisley wrote in post #19462280
2 weddings per week? OMG.

He said in the UK is common to have mid week weddings. One month he has a few and one month he had 15. Busy fellow.

I've been reading the manual but haven't found this. Is there a way to set a button so that pressing it turns off/on the subject detect feature? So I can quickly go from just using my AF point, to turning it on to track and eye/person/animal ? Without resorting to a back button focus setup (I used back button focus for a few years and never liked it).

I currently have my record button set to toggle servo/one shot AF for photos and it's awesome. So one more customization like this would be great. It's cool that the camera can auto find people or things but sometimes I just don't want that and don't like that it will override my AF point.