-= Canon EOS R owners unite! Post photos and discuss.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2hSS​y7L I want your fish by A & R Photography, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2hSN​WH6 The Grab by A & R Photography, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2hSR​VwF Secured in the talon by A & R Photography, on Flickr

I have to say, I love playing with the image files from the R

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2hSX​KoQ CD0A2535 by Joseph Colozzo, on Flickr

Today I finally determined exactly why the EOS R's AF isn't suited for my birding photography (600 III and w/wo 1.4 TC), which most often occurs in brushy/wooded areas where you have complicated backgrounds. I was going to make a quick video, but I didn't have a tripod, so use your imaginations for now

For this example, pretend there's a clear shot of a bird on a branch ~10 meters away, nothing in between me and the target, and the background consists of other trees/branches/vines/e​tc a few meters further (like my Cardinal shot here). If I start at MFD and AF on the bird, the camera locks on with no problem... but, if focus is well out past the bird and I try bringing focus back in, the camera sticks to the background, and no amount of pumping the AF-ON will convince it otherwise. The only thing that changes its mind is racking the focus ring back to MFD or closer than the target, and trying to AF again. Thus, if I missed focus or happen to be focused out further, most likely I have to intervene in order to ensure focus, and by the time I get done fiddling around, the bird had moved or left completely.

This behavior caused me to miss a lot of shots this past fall while shooting small warblers up in the trees, where there were too many opportunities for the AF to hit on something unintended while trying to track the birds.