Situations That seem to challenge the amazing AF systems of the R6 and R6

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Having used the R6 for a little while now i am starting to come to grips with the incredible AF system. But having said that there are certain situations that seem to defeat it. So this thread is to relay your experiences where the AF has been thrown off. For me the most interesting one is that the eye AF fails with Zebras, even at close range. Obviously the high contrast stripes have something do do with it but I found it interesting nevertheless considering how incredible it is with just about every other situation. Is anyone else finding any quirks like this?
 
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AlanF

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Having used the R6 for a little while now i am starting to come to grips with the incredible AF system. But having said that there are certain situations that seem to defeat it. So this thread is to relay your experiences where the AF has been thrown off. For me the most interesting one is that the eye AF fails with Zebras, even at close range. Obviously the high contrast stripes have something do do with it but I found it interesting nevertheless considering how incredible it is with just about every other situation. Is anyone else finding any quirks like this?
The observation about zebras is very interesting as their stripes are speculated to make it more difficult for predators to focus on them. The one annoying problem that several of us have reported is that unlike DSLRs which are programmed to focus on the nearest object, mirrorless will often focus on the background instead of a perched bird or small object in the foreground. I suppose lions should use a DSLR when hunting zebras and leave their Rs in their den.
 
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Aussie shooter

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The observation about zebras is very interesting as their stripes are speculated to make it more difficult for predators to focus on them. The one annoying problem that several of us have reported is that unlike DSLRs which are programmed to focus on the nearest object, mirrorless will often focus on the background instead of a perched bird or small object in the foreground. I suppose lions should use a DSLR when hunting zebras and leave their Rs in their den.
Their stripes definitely make it harder for lions to pick out an individual amongst the herd. I relay that information every day in my presentations. But that requires one zebra to be mixing in with a lot of others. But it seems to also work at disguising the eye on a single animal.
 
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AlanF

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Their stripes definitely make it harder for lions to pick out an individual amongst the herd. I relay that information every day in my presentations. But that requires one zebra to be mixing in with a lot of others. But it seems to also work at disguising the eye on a single animal.
Interesting article on why zebras have stripes https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191031-the-truth-behind-why-zebras-have-stripes
Maybe you have new evidence. Perhaps our safari experts like Grant Atkinson can report back on the R5/R6 in the field.
 
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Aussie shooter

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Interesting article on why zebras have stripes https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191031-the-truth-behind-why-zebras-have-stripes
Maybe you have new evidence. Perhaps our safari experts like Grant Atkinson can report back on the R5/R6 in the field.
Nothing new. The camouflage works simply by making it harder to identify and individual within the herd. It does not prevent an attack but it serves to possibly give the zebras an extra second or two as a lion may hesitate. I have heard the fly theory before and it seems possible. The heat theory has never held water on my opinion.
 
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docsmith

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Interesting. I'll focus on another aspect of the Zebra, but black and white. I have mostly used my R5 on birds. The eye-AF is great, within a certain range (~50 ft for small birds) for almost all birds, but it is a bit less consistent with downy woodpeckers, which are, largely, black and white. I still have a number of nice photos of downys, so it is not that big of an issue. But, enough that I have noticed.

Obviously the R5 works great on black and white test subjects like test charts, so there may be nothing too this, but perhaps certain blacks absorb enough light, and then additional light is lost at the bayer filter, that AF on black subjects is off a bit. Perhaps not that different from AF slowing down in low light. Pure speculation on my part.
 
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AlanF

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Nothing new. The camouflage works simply by making it harder to identify and individual within the herd. It does not prevent an attack but it serves to possibly give the zebras an extra second or two as a lion may hesitate. I have heard the fly theory before and it seems possible. The heat theory has never held water on my opinion.
I meant that your observation on eyeAF breaking down with zebras is actually new evidence and you might have actually discovered something.
 
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Not sure if it’s my lenses, RF50 and RF85, but I find my R5 when it misses it jumps and makes a clunking sound and gets lost. Like a hard snap, clunk.
And when somethings move a bit fast it really overdoes (if that’s a word) the searching.

with a dslr it was much smaller movement and much smaller misses and much closer to focus always.
Perhaps nature of focus by wire, but nonetheless it’s a very different behavior, and not better..
 
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I meant that your observation on eyeAF breaking down with zebras is actually new evidence and you might have actually discovered something.
Oh. Sorry. I missed your point. My bad. It certainly caught be by surprise when it failed. Even at close range with very still subjects. It certainly shows what such unique colouration ia capable of
 
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Oh. Sorry. I missed your point. My bad. It certainly caught be by surprise when it failed. Even at close range with very still subjects. It certainly shows what such unique colouration ia capable of
A way of increasing the interest in that data would be to know if it was fooled the same in both portrait and landscape orientations.
 
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A way of increasing the interest in that data would be to know if it was fooled the same in both portrait and landscape orientations.
Good point. I THINK i tried both and it failed both ways but i will have another go today and make sure
 
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Nemorino

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It is not the only one:

Maybe a mistake of an admin.
I would send a PM to Canon Rumors Guy.
 
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Aussie shooter

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It is not the only one:

Maybe a mistake of an admin.
I would send a PM to Canon Rumors Guy.
Yeah. I just reported it and it says it has(or is being resolved). These things happens
 
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AlanF

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This is another situation where the R6 AF system just could not cope( I doubt ANY AF system would work here). I had to resort to manual focus to get these shots as there was just too much grass waving around in front of the HareView attachment 195569View attachment 195570View attachment 195571
It would take a higher form of artificial intelligence to sort those out. Did using just the centre point fail? I have just posted a couple of shots in the Bird Portrait thread illustrating how the eyeAF can find the head of tiny distant birds.
 
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