5D4 Front focus when using servo mode AF

[donwan]

Hi,

I tried to shoot my kid with bike riding with 5D4 135L with Servo mode AF. i use single point tracking focus on his face. Almost all photos are front focus by around 20-30cm ( I just sharp on the bike handle instead on his face. I used to do it with 5D3 for years. I don't have any issue before until I switched to 5D4.

Anyone here have similar experience on 5D4?

Thanks,

Don

 

[boldcolors]

1. Get it microadjusted or leave it to a Canon for professional calibration

 

[boldcolors]

Hi,

I tried to shoot my kid with bike riding with 5D4 135L with Servo mode AF. i use single point tracking focus on his face. Almost all photos are front focus by around 20-30cm ( I just sharp on the bike handle instead on his face. I used to do it with 5D3 for years. I don't have any issue before until I switched to 5D4.

Anyone here have similar experience on 5D4?

Thanks,

Don

I never use single point for Servo so I'm not sure if that is the issue

Does it behave the same when using a group? If so, just get it microadjusted or leave it to a Canon for professional calibration. The need is more common than people think

 

[XeroJay]

Hi,

I tried to shoot my kid with bike riding with 5D4 135L with Servo mode AF. i use single point tracking focus on his face. Almost all photos are front focus by around 20-30cm ( I just sharp on the bike handle instead on his face. I used to do it with 5D3 for years. I don't have any issue before until I switched to 5D4.

Anyone here have similar experience on 5D4?

Thanks,

Don

Try it in Liveview with Servo and face tracking. If it's still front focused, take the camera back. If it works, then MFA your lens.

 

[donwan]

Hi,

I tried to shoot my kid with bike riding with 5D4 135L with Servo mode AF. i use single point tracking focus on his face. Almost all photos are front focus by around 20-30cm ( I just sharp on the bike handle instead on his face. I used to do it with 5D3 for years. I don't have any issue before until I switched to 5D4.

Anyone here have similar experience on 5D4?

Thanks,

Don

Try it in Liveview with Servo and face tracking. If it's still front focused, take the camera back. If it works, then MFA your lens.

I have checked the photos. It happens only on "skin tone" colored objects. Same problem on 135L and 35L,

 

[XeroJay]

Hi,

I tried to shoot my kid with bike riding with 5D4 135L with Servo mode AF. i use single point tracking focus on his face. Almost all photos are front focus by around 20-30cm ( I just sharp on the bike handle instead on his face. I used to do it with 5D3 for years. I don't have any issue before until I switched to 5D4.

Anyone here have similar experience on 5D4?

Thanks,

Don

Try it in Liveview with Servo and face tracking. If it's still front focused, take the camera back. If it works, then MFA your lens.

I have checked the photos. It happens only on "skin tone" colored objects. Same problem on 135L and 35L,

Um... Huh? This is starting to sound pretty odd. I'm going go ahead and suggest that you try exploring some of the many other settings on your camera. Camera af doesn't ignore certain tones.

 

[RedFox88]

Hi,

I tried to shoot my kid with bike riding with 5D4 135L with Servo mode AF. i use single point tracking focus on his face.

Why didn't you use face detection autofocus ? that is what it was made for !

Almost all photos are front focus by around 20-30cm ( I just sharp on the bike handle instead on his face. I used to do it with 5D3 for years. I don't have any issue before until I switched to 5D4.

Anyone here have similar experience on 5D4?

Thanks,

Don

 

[RedFox88]

Hi,

I tried to shoot my kid with bike riding with 5D4 135L with Servo mode AF. i use single point tracking focus on his face. Almost all photos are front focus by around 20-30cm ( I just sharp on the bike handle instead on his face. I used to do it with 5D3 for years. I don't have any issue before until I switched to 5D4.

Anyone here have similar experience on 5D4?

Thanks,

Don

Try it in Liveview with Servo and face tracking. If it's still front focused, take the camera back. If it works, then MFA your lens.

I have checked the photos. It happens only on "skin tone" colored objects. Same problem on 135L and 35L,

So you didn't try it in live view? reset your mfa.

 

[tr573]

Hi,

I tried to shoot my kid with bike riding with 5D4 135L with Servo mode AF. i use single point tracking focus on his face. Almost all photos are front focus by around 20-30cm ( I just sharp on the bike handle instead on his face. I used to do it with 5D3 for years. I don't have any issue before until I switched to 5D4.

Anyone here have similar experience on 5D4?

Thanks,

Don

Try it in Liveview with Servo and face tracking. If it's still front focused, take the camera back. If it works, then MFA your lens.

I have checked the photos. It happens only on "skin tone" colored objects. Same problem on 135L and 35L,

Was it very bright out with the sun on his face? It can be very hard for AF to track that I've found in general, the areas of contrast (eyes) are very small with a wider framing and the bright light makes it even more difficult. Try tracking using another part of the body , chest usually works if they are not leaning forward too much and the shirt has good contrasty areas.

 

[larry55279]

The handlebar provided a high-contrast object, in-line with the AF sensor pixels...

 

[donwan]

I give 3 examples here.



Case 1: Single point, single shoot pointing to head.




Case 1: Orignial photo




Case 1 head crop




Case 1 shoe crop

Case 1 shoe is sharper



Case 2 Single point, single shoot, focus on "Welcome"


Case 2 original photo




Case 2 focus crop

Just sharp.



Case 3: Live view, Servo shot on head. The boy is walking towards me.


Case 3 original photo




Case 3 focus crop.

Reasonable sharpness.



I have a lot of picture like Case 1.

 

[RedFox88]

I give 3 examples here.

Case 1: Single point, single shoot pointing to head.


Case 1: Orignial photo


Case 1 head crop

I'd have to say this falls within the specification tolerance of the cameras autofocus .


Case 1 shoe crop

Case 1 shoe is sharper

Case 2 Single point, single shoot, focus on "Welcome"


Case 2 original photo


Case 2 focus crop

Just sharp.

Case 3: Live view, Servo shot on head. The boy is walking towards me.


Case 3 original photo


Case 3 focus crop.

Reasonable sharpness.

I have a lot of picture like Case 1.

 

[XeroJay]

You're joking, right? If you're using servo + single point for these shots, it's time for you to read the manual. Not to mention that even your worst example here is pretty good in terms of focus.
I'm done here.

I give 3 examples here.

Case 1: Single point, single shoot pointing to head.

Case 1 shoe is sharper

Case 2 Single point, single shoot, focus on "Welcome"

Just sharp.

Case 3: Live view, Servo shot on head. The boy is walking towards me.

Reasonable sharpness.

I have a lot of picture like Case 1.

 

[Phil214757]

Hi,

I tried to shoot my kid with bike riding with 5D4 135L with Servo mode AF. i use single point tracking focus on his face. Almost all photos are front focus by around 20-30cm ( I just sharp on the bike handle instead on his face. I used to do it with 5D3 for years. I don't have any issue before until I switched to 5D4.

Anyone here have similar experience on 5D4?

Thanks,

Don

Hi Don,

It could be a few things.

Is the EF 135 f2L also new to you? If so yo may be use to shooting with an f2.8L or 4.0L lens that that by its nature provides slightly more depth of field. Focus systems like sharpe contrast edges so it may be catching the edge of his helmit and not pushing back to his face. If you stop down to f4 -f5.6 the DOF focus bubble should extend enough that if it jumps from face to visor it won't matter. I can see from your post you understand DOF but it might be helpful to use a DOF calculator see what you are going to get in advance.

I'm a professional sports photographer and we have to plan for runners arms getting in the way of a clean focus target and extend the DOF of field just enough that we are not losing shots. We use increased distance from the subject to the background to achieve the visual separation we want in spite of using a deeper DOF.

You might also be dealing with being lucky with your lens-body AF micro adjustment on the 5D MKIII and less lucky with the out of the box match up on the 5D MKIV. The match-up is a bit random so some owners will think their 5D MKIV was much better than their 5D MKIII out of the box. Look at https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-eos-5d-mark-iv/6 and you can see a demo of the range of AFMA available. DPR needed catch lights to make their point, it was kind of lost with dead eye.

Like the case with runners and arms throwing the AF system off, when shooting portraits I will often target focus on foreheads rather than eyes because it's larger and a more reliabile target than eyes. Then I use a combo of DOF and intentionally offset AFMA so the iris focus is dead on. (My camera wish list includes a AFMA compensation dial - so I can claibrate AFMA on the bench and sway it in the field like you do exposure). If you intend to shift head position when posing such that the eyes are going to go from being within +/- 1/4" of the same focal plane headon to a distance to +/- 2" when it near profile then the DOF calulator comes in handy again.

AFMA affects where the lens focuses after the AF system locks on focus. Test it on a tripod with a fixed object about as far away as you kid on the bike (kids move to much to use for testing). With the lens in manual focus, and the camera in live view 10x, position the center focus point on an object and manually focus. Note the position of the focus ring. Now carefully exit live view and switch the lens back to auto focus. When you do a half shutter press the focus ring should not move, if it does the AFMA needs to be set.