EOS S.O.S

EOS R5 & R6 Custom AF

ADVANCED AUTOFOCUS

Canon’s R5 and R6 mirrorless require a little more autofocus setup than usual to get the best results

From my workshops and inbox, it’s clear many photographers have found that the autofocus on the EOS R5 and EOS R6 takes some effort to get the most from it.

There are three main factors to consider: AF mode, AF method and subject to detect. For moving subjects or photographers in awkward positions, use Servo AF, so the camera refocuses right up until the picture is taken. One-Shot is for static subjects, such as buildings, landscapes and still life.

With eight AF methods, a lot of photographers revert to a trusted single AF point and in doing so miss out on much of these cameras’ autofocus capabilities. It’s a leap of faith to trust the EOS camera to find your subject and focus on it, but it does this so well. Face detection and tracking, plus the three zone AF methods, are the intelligent options that find a subject in the frame and move AF points in response to it moving around while keeping it in focus with Servo AF. You need to choose the subject to prioritize people, animals, vehicles or no priority. If your camera is set to animal priority, it tracks people as long as there are no recognizable animals in the frame. For the spot, one-point and expand AF methods, there’s no intelligent subject tracking – it is down to you to keep the AF point on the subject and repositioning it if the subject moves.

Some people use the AF-ON, AE-lock and AF selection buttons to directly switch AF methods or focus mode, with multiple back buttons configured for AF. This is workable as long as you remember which button does what!

“Is it possible to manually pre-focus the RF 100mm macro lens via the focus ring so the subject is easy to autofocus on?”

BRIAN SAYS… RF lenses, including the RF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM, feature electronic or fly-by-wire focusing. This means you must switch to manual focus to activate the focus ring; you can’t just turn it like on the older EF 100mm macro lens. There are some custom settings in the camera that help. If you use One-Shot AF, the settings for lens electronic AF can be used but the ring only activates after initial AF. Recent firmware updates added full-time electronic MF, which activates the focus ring when the camera is on, making it like the older EF lenses with USM motors.

“Why do I get darker backgro