Canon R6 mk II AF Question

Just purchased a Canon R6mkII and have been slowly learning the nuances from my 7D2. Took it to the amusement park yesterday to take some photos and was seriously disappointed. Better than half the shots were out of focus.

I was shooting Tv 800, ISO 800, AF Servo, H speed continuous mode on a bright sunny day. I narrowed the AF range to the 9 points around center. These have been my 7DmkII go to settings for high school sports. It has always worked perfectly at the amusement park too.

But it seems that the R6mkII did not track to the center point. In fact, I would say that more often than not, the AF point was shifted mostly upper left of the center point.

I'm sure it is a set up issue where I have have changed a default setting somewhere and not an actual camera issue. Can anyone offer any ideas?

Tim

Many use a single point, or maybe a few, combined with One shot AF on their reflex cameras. The camera will focus on something the point(s) cover and that's it.
For mirrorless, the standard method is rather a zone combined with Servo AF and subject tracking. This implies that the camera will start hunting for some subject to recognize inside the zone, but may very well go around the whole viewfinder to keep tracking that subject, once it's found.

I was similarily bewildered to begin with, when I got my R3. I've got better used to it, but still have my M-Fn2 button programmed to revert to single cent point with One shot AF, which effectively returns to the DSLR method as long as I keep it pressed.

The only reason the camera will AF the spot focus point elsewhere than I expect, is when I inadvertently touch the active rear touchscreen with my nose!...

I had similar difficulties when switching from the 7D and 5D to the R6, and another person in the R6 thread recommended for me to buy Nina Bailey's eBook for the Canon EOS R6. This advice was the most useful to me, and I hope that my advice to buy or read the eBook for the R6 II would be of help to you.

~Please understand that I am not associated to The EOS Magazine or Nina Bailey in any shape and form

Several have recommended that but the R6 II book is still listed as “coming soon”.

That’s almost what I believe may have happened while I was using the touchscreen to make a few changes. But I turned off the camera in hopes that it would reset - but nothing happened.

So that may be my issue. I have subject tracking turned off. I was concerned that it may inadvertently select and track the wrong subject. I’ll use the settings you suggested and try again. Thanks.

I got an email yesterday from Nina. She said the R6 II book should be done "by the end of August or maybe a little sooner." Fingers crossed!

When using the center points for focus, I often find that the point group moves if I accidentally touch the screen (nose, finger, whatever). It doesn't revert to the center even with a power cycle.

In my Custom Menus, I have "Touch Control" as one of the items. It's easy to disable touch operations, and I do that for sure if I'm doing something repetitive like an airshow.

LJ3Jim wrote in post #19550412
I got an email yesterday from Nina. She said the R6 II book should be done "by the end of August or maybe a little sooner." Fingers crossed!

When using the center points for focus, I often find that the point group moves if I accidentally touch the screen (nose, finger, whatever). It doesn't revert to the center even with a power cycle.

In my Custom Menus, I have "Touch Control" as one of the items. It's easy to disable touch operations, and I do that for sure if I'm doing something repetitive like an airshow.

A tap on the joystick will re-center the spot AF. For me, the jury is still out on the touchscreen controls. I like the idea of positioning the Spot AF with my thumb (...but not with my nose... ). With the tracking on, I can focus-recompose and the AF point relocates in the frame, keeping the spot where I want it...

ust82gopher wrote in post #19550359
I have subject tracking turned off. I was concerned that it may inadvertently select and track the wrong subject.

And your concern is real. Sometimes it does track something else than you want to track. Now I'm using the R3, which doesn't have touch to focus when you use the viewfinder, but instead offers eye control and the "inverted computer mouse" design for the AF-ON button to control where to focus. But no "nose-control", neither intentional nor accidental.
In the busy environments where I tend to take photos, it happens now and then that the camera considers a branch or tree more interesting a subject than the person running by these items. I've practiced quite a bit to see if I can take advantage of the new AF-functions without being fooled by them.