R5 AF and needed shutter speeds

[Viggo]

Hi everyone!

I’ve used my R5 plus RF85 and RF50 a few times now and wondered if someone shares my experience .

I find shooting ducks that 1/2000s is not nearly enough and the shots have visible motion blur. I haven’t seen this even at 30mp and didn’t think 45 would absolutely need at least 1/4000s with the fastest movements like ducks, kind of limiting...

regarding AF I’m not as impressed as many others, perhaps mostly surprised;
I’ve shot my cats as the easiest access to action, and I find Eye AF to only work occasionally, and I’ve shot a few sequences with them running and sometimes it tracks beautifully, but then when they’re just walking it misses 60% of the shots. I’ve tried a lot of settings and can’t seem to get any different results.

with birds it has been more impressive, but still some motion blur I don’t understand. IBIS both on and off

I know that the 85 isn’t the fastest, but it’s better with faster than slower movements. The RF50 is worse.

my question is; Have you found the same results with the same setup? What are you best AF settings for cats and kids running an walking? Every little detail is much appreciated. Wish Canon would release an AF guide for the R5 like they did for the 1-series.


on the plus side the IQ is pretty epic. I didn’t think I would see the difference in DR, but when I expose and know by experience what is clipped, it just isn’t. Good stuff.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

The higher resolution is noticeable over my R. Apparently, it also shows motion much better. I have not tried what you did, I'm wanting to try 8K and grabbing a frame while shooting a slow moving subject. The shutter speed will be relatively extremely slow. I don't know what to expect. I finally played with video settings last night and shot a short clip of my dog but he was more interested in sleeping than moving and it was 2AM. I played the video using VLC it jumped every few seconds. Then, I tried DaVinci Resolve (free version) Results were the same. Obviously, my computer and or video card are not up to it. I'm surprised that it did that well.

The image came out sharp, clear, and well exposed under difficult conditions, the dog was sleeping in his bed under my desk and it was pretty dark. I deleted the videos, they take up too much space. Even with my CFexpress card, downloading a few seconds of 8K takes about 1/2 of the time recorded. There was obviously no heating issue I used it for a minute for the longest of 2 clips.

 

[AlanF]

Hi everyone!

I’ve used my R5 plus RF85 and RF50 a few times now and wondered if someone shares my experience .

I find shooting ducks that 1/2000s is not nearly enough and the shots have visible motion blur. I haven’t seen this even at 30mp and didn’t think 45 would absolutely need at least 1/4000s with the fastest movements like ducks, kind of limiting...

regarding AF I’m not as impressed as many others, perhaps mostly surprised;
I’ve shot my cats as the easiest access to action, and I find Eye AF to only work occasionally, and I’ve shot a few sequences with them running and sometimes it tracks beautifully, but then when they’re just walking it misses 60% of the shots. I’ve tried a lot of settings and can’t seem to get any different results.

with birds it has been more impressive, but still some motion blur I don’t understand. IBIS both on and off

I know that the 85 isn’t the fastest, but it’s better with faster than slower movements. The RF50 is worse.

my question is; Have you found the same results with the same setup? What are you best AF settings for cats and kids running an walking? Every little detail is much appreciated. Wish Canon would release an AF guide for the R5 like they did for the 1-series.


on the plus side the IQ is pretty epic. I didn’t think I would see the difference in DR, but when I expose and know by experience what is clipped, it just isn’t. Good stuff.

That can't be motion blur at 1/2000s. I've been getting tack sharp shots with the R5 and the 100-400mm II with bird photos at 1/200s. I did experiments to test the IS at the pixel level using a chart at a distance of 19m. At shutter speeds greater than 1/160s, the tack sharp rate was close to 100% with the bare lens at 400mm, and with TCs at 560 and 800mm.

 

[ethanz]

Maybe 85mm isn't the best lens for birds?

 

[Viggo]

That can't be motion blur at 1/2000s. I've been getting tack sharp shots with the R5 and the 100-400mm II with bird photos at 1/200s. I did experiments to test the IS at the pixel level using a chart at a distance of 19m. At shutter speeds greater than 1/160s, the tack sharp rate was close to 100% with the bare lens at 400mm, and with TCs at 560 and 800mm.

It is though, not sure if the version I uploaded from my phone is good enough to se it, but it’s motion blur. It’s very easy to see when focus misses. You can see it with the wings and the head.

 

[Viggo]

Maybe 85mm isn't the best lens for birds?

Lol, yeah, it isn’t my first choice for birds, well, actually it is my first choice as the only other option for me is the 50.

 

[Viggo]

This one is a much slower bird and it was easier to hit. The loose crop was to try what distances the tracking could work.

 

[AlanF]

It is though, not sure if the version I uploaded from my phone is good enough to se it, but it’s motion blur. It’s very easy to see when focus misses. You can see it with the wings and the head.

I misunderstood your post - apologies. It depends on how far away the bird is and how fast it is flying. I tend to use 1/3200 to 1/4000s for BIF with the 5DSR, 5DIV and now R5. Ducks do fly fast and if it was close then 1/2000s could be too slow. For distant birds, I‘ll go down to 1/2000s if the light is poorer.

 

[tpatana]

Is that motion blur or bokeh? Do you have similar duck flying at you or away from you so that the wing tips would be closer to same plane as the body?

 

[Bert63]

I've been getting tack sharp shots with the R5 and the 100-400mm II with bird photos at 1/200s.

Ditto this. First day out I was getting tack sharp BIFs at 1/640 when I would normally be shooting 1/1600 - 1/2000. My focus problems with the R5 have been few and far between and have all been the result of me trying new a technique/setting or my own ‘didn’t check my settings’ mistakes.

When I got my 5D4 I made the comment that using it for wildlife felt like cheating. This is worse (better) than that in every way.

Was there supposed to be a focus issue with the kitty up above? He looks sharp to me (and is as cute as a bug to boot..)

 

[ethanz]

Was there supposed to be a focus issue with the kitty up above? He looks sharp to me (and is as cute as a bug to boot..)

I agree.

I think the BIF problem may be the choice of lens for the subject?

So basically what I'm saying is enough of the birds, give us some of your little model!

 

[Viggo]

I agree.

I think the BIF problem may be the choice of lens for the subject?

So basically what I'm saying is enough of the birds, give us some of your little model!

The shot of my Milo was sharp yes, but I took 12-14 shots of him walking in that situation and had a 25-30% hit rate. In and out of focus..

 

[Viggo]

These two also were sharp enough. The one of Milo he really just took off and I was surprised it hit that well. The one of our long haired Eevee was also sharp in a series of her running and quite a bit away and had a great hit rate.
I’ve heard that mirrorless struggle a lot with backlight, but that was the most impressive thing about my R compared to my old 1dx2, which had huge issues in backlight.

 

[Joules]

The shot of my Milo was sharp yes, but I took 12-14 shots of him walking in that situation and had a 25-30% hit rate. In and out of focus..

I don't have the R5 or a concrete idea of how to help you.

But I think you have to share more details in order to allow others to do so. So in these scenarios where you got so many misses:

What shutter did you use (mechanical, electronic, electronic first curtain), what's your battery level, what's your frame rate, do you have AF priority set to speed or focus, are you using eco mode, etc.

These are the kinds of details that I imagine may make a difference in certain situations, but aren't easy to relate to certain issues since they are rarely mentioned when posting online. If you experience issues regardless of these settings, it is of course also important to know.

 

[Viggo]

I don't have the R5 or a concrete idea of how to help you.

But I think you have to share more details in order to allow others to do so. So in these scenarios where you got so many misses:

What shutter did you use (mechanical, electronic, electronic first curtain), what's your battery level, what's your frame rate, do you have AF priority set to speed or focus, are you using eco mode, etc.

These are the kinds of details that I imagine may make a difference in certain situations, but aren't easy to relate to certain issues since they are rarely mentioned when posting online. If you experience issues regardless of these settings, it is of course also important to know.

I use mechanical shutter , I try to use the 8 fps to keep my 14 bit files, but some where taken at 12 fps, none with electronic shutter.

I used auto tracking with Aninal eye AF, Case 4. Tried others, made no difference. I have ECO mode on, and I tried both 60 and 120 fps in the EVF. 1/1000s and 1/2000s.
I tried the switch subject setting at deactivated and 0. I used auto iso and f1.2 and f2.0, also makes very little difference as the miss is way more than the change in dof.

 

[AlanF]

These two also were sharp enough. The one of Milo he really just took off and I was surprised it hit that well. The one of our long haired Eevee was also sharp in a series of her running and quite a bit away and had a great hit rate.
I’ve heard that mirrorless struggle a lot with backlight, but that was the most impressive thing about my R compared to my old 1dx2, which had huge issues in backlight.

Those cats are gorgeous!

 

[Viggo]

Those cats are gorgeous!

Thanks man!

 

[Johnw]

Lol, yeah, it isn’t my first choice for birds, well, actually it is my first choice as the only other option for me is the 50.

The 85 might have the worst AF for birds out of all the lenses though. I do like the 85 but it would not be my first choice for anything wildlife.

 

[Act444]

I use mechanical shutter , I try to use the 8 fps to keep my 14 bit files, but some where taken at 12 fps, none with electronic shutter.

I used auto tracking with Aninal eye AF, Case 4. Tried others, made no difference. I have ECO mode on, and I tried both 60 and 120 fps in the EVF. 1/1000s and 1/2000s.
I tried the switch subject setting at deactivated and 0. I used auto iso and f1.2 and f2.0, also makes very little difference as the miss is way more than the change in dof.

An aside, but I found my 5D4 AF to be a touch too sensitive at its default setting of 0 (AF sensitivity). This would result in greatly front- or back-focused shots if the subject moved even a little. For most tracking that I did, I had greater success setting it to -1. Not sure if the R5 has that setting or not, but if so, maybe that might be worth a shot?

 

[Viggo]

An aside, but I found my 5D4 AF to be a touch too sensitive at its default setting of 0 (AF sensitivity). This would result in greatly front- or back-focused shots if the subject moved even a little. For most tracking that I did, I had greater success setting it to -1. Not sure if the R5 has that setting or not, but if so, maybe that might be worth a shot?

I’ll definitely give it a try, thanks