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Quickly switching from AF to MF on Canon R7 + RF lens

Started 8 months ago | Questions
OP JJWilcox New Member • Posts: 21
Re: Quickly switching from AF to MF on Canon R7 + RF lens

PicPocket wrote:

JJWilcox wrote:

PicPocket wrote:

https://cam.start.canon/en/C005/manual/html/UG-05_AF-Drive_0120.html#AF-Drive_0120_3-1

Ouch. My R7 only has 5 tabs in the AF menu. Any idea what might be happening here?
And yes, meant to type focusing ring!

Strange. Are you in auto or one of the scene modes

Yup, was in auto. Switched to Priority mode and got the 6th tab!

Which mode should I shoot in / do you shoot in for bird/wildlife photography?

Thank you!

PicPocket Veteran Member • Posts: 5,897
Re: Quickly switching from AF to MF on Canon R7 + RF lens

JJWilcox wrote:

PicPocket wrote:

JJWilcox wrote:

PicPocket wrote:

https://cam.start.canon/en/C005/manual/html/UG-05_AF-Drive_0120.html#AF-Drive_0120_3-1

Ouch. My R7 only has 5 tabs in the AF menu. Any idea what might be happening here?
And yes, meant to type focusing ring!

Strange. Are you in auto or one of the scene modes

Yup, was in auto. Switched to Priority mode and got the 6th tab!

Which mode should I shoot in / do you shoot in for bird/wildlife photography?

I mostly shoot AV, but when shutter speed is important like moving birds, I would often use M with auto ISO

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 PicPocket's gear list:PicPocket's gear list
Canon EOS R5 Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8L II USM Sigma 135mm F1.8 Art Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM +16 more
OP JJWilcox New Member • Posts: 21
Re: Quickly switching from AF to MF on Canon R7 + RF lens

Johnnyxbow wrote:

JJWilcox wrote:

Johnnyxbow wrote:

JJWilcox wrote:

Hi everyone,

I just got my R7! I also picked up the RF 100-500 for birding. I'm new to photography and can't seem to figure out how to quickly switch from AF to MF so I can use the control ring on my lens to focus. In many cases AF works great but when my subject is far away, the AF isn't as precise as I need it to be. When I see this happening in AF mode, is there a way to quickly switch to MF and improve the focus manually?

How far away is it not focusing on subjects. It is by all accounts better than R5 and that is good.

Great shot by the way.

Thank you! ❤️
Mostly this happens with large distances (50+ yards) but I’ve seen it happen with less. When it does happen, it’s almost always a bird in a tree where the tree the bird is on appears in focus, but the bird itself isn’t as sharp. I’m hoping that a slight manual adjustment will make the difference but open to other suggestions!

Most people including myself use two back buttons to focus. One set to a single point, for situations such as this. The other set to multi point with eye focus.

Not sure how you have yours set up. there are loads of examples on YouTube.

So I followed this video to setup my back button focus: https://youtu.be/vpEGBiIMAZk

The AF with the back button seems different the AF I get in auto mode. In auto mode when I half-press the shutter I get a beep and green boxes. Both are missing when I press the back button AF. Is this expected?

I’m also noticing that the the back button auto doesn’t detect birds as well and doesn’t seem to have any eye detection (even though I’ve got animal + eye detection enabled).

Any idea what might be happening or what to try next?

PicPocket Veteran Member • Posts: 5,897
Re: Quickly switching from AF to MF on Canon R7 + RF lens

JJWilcox wrote:

The AF with the back button seems different the AF I get in auto mode.

There are many AF modes, so depends on what you have set the back button to do. I suggest you familiarize yourself with all the AF modes in the manual at least once

Any idea what might be happening or what to try next?

What exactly is back button set to do?

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 PicPocket's gear list:PicPocket's gear list
Canon EOS R5 Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8L II USM Sigma 135mm F1.8 Art Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM +16 more
OP JJWilcox New Member • Posts: 21
Re: Quickly switching from AF to MF on Canon R7 + RF lens

JJWilcox wrote:

Johnnyxbow wrote:

JJWilcox wrote:

Johnnyxbow wrote:

JJWilcox wrote:

Hi everyone,

I just got my R7! I also picked up the RF 100-500 for birding. I'm new to photography and can't seem to figure out how to quickly switch from AF to MF so I can use the control ring on my lens to focus. In many cases AF works great but when my subject is far away, the AF isn't as precise as I need it to be. When I see this happening in AF mode, is there a way to quickly switch to MF and improve the focus manually?

How far away is it not focusing on subjects. It is by all accounts better than R5 and that is good.

Great shot by the way.

Thank you! ❤️
Mostly this happens with large distances (50+ yards) but I’ve seen it happen with less. When it does happen, it’s almost always a bird in a tree where the tree the bird is on appears in focus, but the bird itself isn’t as sharp. I’m hoping that a slight manual adjustment will make the difference but open to other suggestions!

Most people including myself use two back buttons to focus. One set to a single point, for situations such as this. The other set to multi point with eye focus.

Not sure how you have yours set up. there are loads of examples on YouTube.

So I followed this video to setup my back button focus: https://youtu.be/vpEGBiIMAZk

The AF with the back button seems different the AF I get in auto mode. In auto mode when I half-press the shutter I get a beep and green boxes. Both are missing when I press the back button AF. Is this expected?

I’m also noticing that the the back button auto doesn’t detect birds as well and doesn’t seem to have any eye detection (even though I’ve got animal + eye detection enabled).

I think I was just shooting in low light so eye detection wasn’t able to do its thing. It was 6:30am. Now it’s past 7 and I can confirm eye focus is working! Although I’m still a little confused re:  the difference in AF behavior between auto and back button.

OP JJWilcox New Member • Posts: 21
Re: Quickly switching from AF to MF on Canon R7 + RF lens

PicPocket wrote:

JJWilcox wrote:

The AF with the back button seems different the AF I get in auto mode.

There are many AF modes, so depends on what you have set the back button to do. I suggest you familiarize yourself with all the AF modes in the manual at least once

Yup, today’s curriculum!

Any idea what might be happening or what to try next?

What exactly is back button set to do?

Its set to AF eye detection. I just posted an update on why I think it wasn’t working. Seems to be good now!

Any idea why the audible beep and green boxes are missing?

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PicPocket Veteran Member • Posts: 5,897
Re: Quickly switching from AF to MF on Canon R7 + RF lens

JJWilcox wrote:

JJWilcox wrote:

So I followed this video to setup my back button focus: https://youtu.be/vpEGBiIMAZk

The AF with the back button seems different the AF I get in auto mode. In auto mode when I half-press the shutter I get a beep and green boxes. Both are missing when I press the back button AF. Is this expected?

I’m also noticing that the the back button auto doesn’t detect birds as well and doesn’t seem to have any eye detection (even though I’ve got animal + eye detection enabled).

I think I was just shooting in low light so eye detection wasn’t able to do its thing. It was 6:30am. Now it’s past 7 and I can confirm eye focus is working! Although I’m still a little confused re: the difference in AF behavior between auto and back button.

As I said, depends on what you have set the button to do. On my R5, I have set one back button to do spot AF without tracking, and another button to do subject detect tracking mode. That way I can pick and choose what I want

A note - when serving an AF function to a button, you can use info set button to further customize AF parameters. That is how I can do 2 buttons with different AF characteristics. It's sometimes not obvious from manual that this flexibility exists

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 PicPocket's gear list:PicPocket's gear list
Canon EOS R5 Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8L II USM Sigma 135mm F1.8 Art Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM +16 more
PicPocket Veteran Member • Posts: 5,897
Re: Quickly switching from AF to MF on Canon R7 + RF lens

JJWilcox wrote:

Any idea why the audible beep and green boxes are missing?

One shot vs servo? There is no beep in servo mode

-- hide signature --
 PicPocket's gear list:PicPocket's gear list
Canon EOS R5 Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8L II USM Sigma 135mm F1.8 Art Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM +16 more
CameraCarl Veteran Member • Posts: 9,193
Re: Quickly switching from AF to MF on Canon R7 + RF lens

JJWilcox wrote:

Johnnyxbow wrote:

JJWilcox wrote:

Johnnyxbow wrote:

JJWilcox wrote:

Hi everyone,

I just got my R7! I also picked up the RF 100-500 for birding. I'm new to photography and can't seem to figure out how to quickly switch from AF to MF so I can use the control ring on my lens to focus. In many cases AF works great but when my subject is far away, the AF isn't as precise as I need it to be. When I see this happening in AF mode, is there a way to quickly switch to MF and improve the focus manually?

How far away is it not focusing on subjects. It is by all accounts better than R5 and that is good.

Great shot by the way.

Thank you! ❤️
Mostly this happens with large distances (50+ yards) but I’ve seen it happen with less. When it does happen, it’s almost always a bird in a tree where the tree the bird is on appears in focus, but the bird itself isn’t as sharp. I’m hoping that a slight manual adjustment will make the difference but open to other suggestions!

Most people including myself use two back buttons to focus. One set to a single point, for situations such as this. The other set to multi point with eye focus.

Not sure how you have yours set up. there are loads of examples on YouTube.

So I followed this video to setup my back button focus: https://youtu.be/vpEGBiIMAZk

The AF with the back button seems different the AF I get in auto mode. In auto mode when I half-press the shutter I get a beep and green boxes. Both are missing when I press the back button AF. Is this expected?

I’m also noticing that the the back button auto doesn’t detect birds as well and doesn’t seem to have any eye detection (even though I’ve got animal + eye detection enabled).

Any idea what might be happening or what to try next?

I think you would be much better served consulting one of the Jan Wegener YouTube videos about back button focus. He is a dedicated bird photographer who has been shooting Canon for years and his videos are excellent to help you get your camera set up properly.  Just google his name and you will find several great videos.

One other thought: with your camera and lens, you should simply be able to "touch up" the focus by pressing whichever button you assign focus to and then moving the focusing ring. It will temporarily override the autofocus.  You need not mess with switches or changing settings if all you want to do is make a temporary adjustment.

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