R6 mk2 eye focusing not working with EF 24-70mm f/4

Discussion in 'Canon EOS R Series' started by David689, Jun 7, 2024.

  1. David689

    David689 New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2022
    Messages:
    3
    Equipment:
    Canon TS 6250
    Hi,
    I have recently bought a Canon R6 mk2 and am disappointed to find that with my EF 24-70mm L f/4 lens the eye focus doesn't work whereas it works flawlessly with my EF 100-400mm L and my EF 100mm f/2.8 L macro lens. I have Googled but can't find anything anywhere stating that this is a known compatibility issue. Has anyone else noticed this? Could it be some setting that I need to change? I think that is unlikely though because it works with the other lenses.
    I am using the Canon EF-RF mount adapter (the plain one without a ring control)
     

  2. johnsey

    johnsey Site Moderator Staff Member Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2017
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    Fargo, ND
    Equipment:
    5dMk4, 5dsR, 5dMk2, 20D, 70-200 2.8L IS, 100mm 2.8 Macro USM, 50mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8, 17-40mm 4.0L, TS-E 24mm 3.5L II, Rokinon 14mm 2.8; Pixma Pro-100
    Hey i responded to your post on this in another thread, so i will paste it here...

    Do you mean auto focus or eye tracking? I suspect eye tracking since this is mirror-less, and unless every image is focusing bad with that lens, the lens would not be the issue. Also I suspect if the other lenses work fine then its not the camera focus as the issue.

    While you can get close to a subject even with a wide lens, i will make a general assumption that your eye tracking is working with smaller subjects as you get to this wider lens, so your many many focus points are searching for an eye to track and looking at contrast trying to track the minimal movement. I doubt the tracking is the problem itself.
    MY guess is with the wider image you have found trouble with getting it to select the right focus point for tracking, the camera tells you what it thinks should be focus on(but its just looking at light through an algorithm). Are you able to manually select the focus point? I have been dialing in manually my focus point on my 5 d camera line for a decade and half when it has to do with crucial focus like an eye.
     
  3. David689

    David689 New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2022
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    3
    Equipment:
    Canon TS 6250
    Hi Johnsey. Thank you for responding to my thread. I have come from a 5Div so I may be using the wrong terms and misunderstanding how the camera should behave.

    I have been watching some YouTube videos and have set up "double back button focusing" such that the shutter button half press is set to just "metering start" (not "metering and AF start".) I have set the AF-ON button to "eye detection AF" and AF operation to servo. The * key is set to "metering and AF start".

    I have set the depth of field preview button on the front of the camera to strt/stop whole area AF tracking.

    When there is a person in the field of view and I press AF-ON button, using the 100mm or the 100mm-400mm a blue square locks onto the person's eye or face, and stays on the face if I move the camera around. But this doesn't work as consistently with the 24-70mm f/4 L. I have not nailed down the differences between situations when it does or doesn't work. But you may have a point about the issue being to do with the wider field of view.

    I can manually select the focus point with the joystick.

    Thank you for taking the time to read my post and to reply. And sorry for the cross posting issue.
    I think this camera has some awesome capabilities but I feel rather like someone who has been using a scythe and is then given a combine harvester and I don't know where to put the ignition key!
    I will soon by getting David Busch's book on the R6ii.
    (Edited for spelling)
     
  4. johnsey

    johnsey Site Moderator Staff Member Site Supporter

    Joined:
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    Equipment:
    5dMk4, 5dsR, 5dMk2, 20D, 70-200 2.8L IS, 100mm 2.8 Macro USM, 50mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8, 17-40mm 4.0L, TS-E 24mm 3.5L II, Rokinon 14mm 2.8; Pixma Pro-100
    No worries, and good luck with getting more comfortable. I think you may be over thinking just a tad the complexity. Autofocus is smart now days, a bit too smart maybe, but there is no fix for it having confusing data input from the environment AI still can get smarter into the algorithms the camera can use, but then who's doing the shooting, you or the camera .... LOL

    I think I would play with using the touch to focus and shoot method of people if you are not cropped way up on the person where the camera has to analyze the scene more. Also.... if the person is at a bit of a distance and the camera is struggling to track the eye, you probably dont have to worry about the eye specifically, sharp focus on the head is sufficient, depth of field he should be enough at a little bit of a distance to subject where the distance between nose and eye is not a factor. That kind of precision is needed at f1.4 on a head crop but not at a distance.
     

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