7D Mark II Reported Issues

[anario]

I might potentially have another issue: I have already posted this on POTN but then I saw this post and thought it was appropriate to post it here also.

I used the built in flash as wireless master and set the settings to only fire the off camera flash. For my off camera flash i used Yongnuo 568ex ii. Everything was set to E-TTL. My exposures were all over the place. Sometimes it would completely overexpose...the whole frame looked white. Other times the frame was completely dark. I tried changing the batteries and that did not help. I played with flash metering and both average and evaluative metering gave me similar results. Its almost like the flash timing was off (maybe I had flicker detection on...would that cause issues?). Using the same setup with my T4i I never had any issues. Finally I put the yongnuo flash on my camera and it worked like a charm. So I don't know if it's because of yongnuo no working well with the new camera or there is a bug in the 7d mark II ...or if it is the flicker detection system that is messing with the flash. I will check the flicker detection this evening to see if that has anything to do with it. However I do not have an official Canon flash to check to see if it's an issue with yongnuo or the 7d mark II. If someone has a free moment can you try replicating this and letting me know how it went. (The off camera flash was set directly at the subject and I tried bouncing off the wall also...no help)

 

[privatebydesign]

anario,

My guess would be that it is a Yongnuo issue and a firmware update, for the third party flashes that have a USB port, will be along soon. Though that doesn't help you with the USB portless Yongnuo 568ex ii.

It is one reason I sold my YN-E3-RT, I wouldn't be surprised if Canon start playing hardball with these third party flash companies sooner or later by messing with new body protocols, just like they did with Sigma lenses a few years ago.

 

[Old Sarge]

anario,

My guess would be that it is a Yongnuo issue and a firmware update, for the third party flashes that have a USB port, will be along soon. Though that doesn't help you with the USB portless Yongnuo 568ex ii.

It is one reason I sold my YN-E3-RT, I wouldn't be surprised if Canon start playing hardball with these third party flash companies sooner or later by messing with new body protocols, just like they did with Sigma lenses a few years ago.

As I recall my Sigma flash unit, which worked great with my 40D, was not recognized by my 7D. Some had to be rechipped but mine was a generation too early for that procedure so I popped for a 580EX II, exactly what Canon wanted me to do.

 

[East Wind Photography]

I might potentially have another issue: I have already posted this on POTN but then I saw this post and thought it was appropriate to post it here also.

I used the built in flash as wireless master and set the settings to only fire the off camera flash. For my off camera flash i used Yongnuo 568ex ii. Everything was set to E-TTL. My exposures were all over the place. Sometimes it would completely overexpose...the whole frame looked white. Other times the frame was completely dark. I tried changing the batteries and that did not help. I played with flash metering and both average and evaluative metering gave me similar results. Its almost like the flash timing was off (maybe I had flicker detection on...would that cause issues?). Using the same setup with my T4i I never had any issues. Finally I put the yongnuo flash on my camera and it worked like a charm. So I don't know if it's because of yongnuo no working well with the new camera or there is a bug in the 7d mark II ...or if it is the flicker detection system that is messing with the flash. I will check the flicker detection this evening to see if that has anything to do with it. However I do not have an official Canon flash to check to see if it's an issue with yongnuo or the 7d mark II. If someone has a free moment can you try replicating this and letting me know how it went. (The off camera flash was set directly at the subject and I tried bouncing off the wall also...no help)

I think its probobly a good idea to turn off flicker detection until you are in an environment that needs it. If you can try that and test again. I'll see if I can do the same with my Canon 580EXII.

 

[monkey44]

7D2 acting up?

A 7D2 ... the indicator says -- center on EC gauge --- but the images come out with a EC reading when I open the details page on DPP. It reads :: Exposure Compensation -715827882 1/3

Not my camera, a friend bought one as well, but she's in another state. She sent me some images to review for her. Her last camera was a 60D - and she shoots with a Canon EF-s 60m 2.8 macro, and a 300m f-4 IS - Some with 1.4 ext, or a 2.0 ext.

Both lenses show this same "Exposure Compensation -715827882 1/3" reading. Other times, it shows EC "0" ... and she's not changing the EC readings ... She sent two different images - side by side -- that she took at the same time (sorta, on the same walk anyway) ... the 300m f-4 IS w/2.0 ext shows this reading on one images, then "0" on the next, both shot with same lens set-up.

I have also the 7D2, but can't figure it out, as mine does not do that -- it shows EC "0" unless I set an EC ...

I have a feeling one if the defaults is set for Exposure Compensation -715827882 1/3 ... but I don't yet know how to find that. This 7D2 is new to me as well -- still figuring it all out. My 7D2 does not show this reading -- I shot with a 100-400, 100-400 w/1.4 ext, and a 70/200 f-4 IS, no abnormal readings on any of my shots so far. I have no idea what that number means - usually, EC shows up as - 1/3, or + 2/3, or whatever?

What should I ask her?

 

[Big_Ant_TV_Media]

Re: 7D2 acting up?

Do a full reset and see how tge camera does. I'm still getting used too my new 7d mark 2 but there times I think my 70d takes better pics

 

[East Wind Photography]

Did some investigation on issue 4 today.

Once the 7D2 has locked focus at a given distance. Zone AF definitely has a strong bias towards re-acquiring focus at that same distance rather than selecting an AF point for a closer subject. If even one of the AF points can still see a subject at that distance, it will select that point regardless of a dozen AF points hitting a closer subject. Not talking about focus lock here. It will ignore the foreground subject and reacquire focus on the background. Have some examples I could post but I don't want to clog up this thread any more than I already have. The firmware designers must have really cranked up the AF damping. As long as you don't fire the shutter, it will continue to do this even if you release and repress the AF-On button numerous times. However, as soon as you stop focusing and fire the shutter. The bias goes away and the next time you press AF On it will lock on the closer subject. Nifty!

My preference has been for expanded point vs zone AF in the past so can't say for sure how much this differs from my 5D3.

Not that I know how it works, I'd move this one into the plus column. I'll definitely choose Zone AF now over expanded point in situations where I might have to contend with foreground interference. I had to shoot through a chain link fence yesterday and where my 5D3 often jumped back and forth between focusing on the fence and subject, with the 7D2 in Zone AF it was as if the fence wasn't even there. Sharpness issues aside of course.

If what you are saying is true then its not functioning the way the documentation says it should. It should always attempt to focus on what ever is closest to you. Now if you are panning a bird in flight and a tree comes into view, it should be ignored provided you have the correct AF case selected. What we are saying is that sometimes its not focusing on the foreground subject, it's locking on the background. IT should be consistent. In your case it worked out well since the fence was an uninteded obsticle. However, zone AF should have locked onto the fence if it was within minimum focus ditance of the lens.

 

[East Wind Photography]

It will, until you demonstrate a preference for not locking onto the fence. Then it will lock onto a subject at a similar distance to the last item locked onto until you stop focusing and hit the shutter which seems to eliminate the bias. Very consistent result. The story about the fence yesterday was primarily anecdotal as an illustration. I tested it pretty carefully today in all 6 AF cases as well as manual first point select and I am fairly confident that it is designed to work that way to reduce AF interference and stutter. It may be something that has come over from the 1Dx. Can't say for sure. All of the other AF selection area modes worked as you describes. Bias towards the closest AF point. Large zone was actually sort of 50/50 and less predictable. Some AF damping but not as much as regular zone AF.

Maybe someone else can try and see if they get the same result. That's definitely how my body is working and I'm OK with it.

ok good foo. I will do some similar tests. Maybe stock up on some fish to attract the cormorants.

 

[anario]

I might potentially have another issue: I have already posted this on POTN but then I saw this post and thought it was appropriate to post it here also.

I used the built in flash as wireless master and set the settings to only fire the off camera flash. For my off camera flash i used Yongnuo 568ex ii. Everything was set to E-TTL. My exposures were all over the place. Sometimes it would completely overexpose...the whole frame looked white. Other times the frame was completely dark. I tried changing the batteries and that did not help. I played with flash metering and both average and evaluative metering gave me similar results. Its almost like the flash timing was off (maybe I had flicker detection on...would that cause issues?). Using the same setup with my T4i I never had any issues. Finally I put the yongnuo flash on my camera and it worked like a charm. So I don't know if it's because of yongnuo no working well with the new camera or there is a bug in the 7d mark II ...or if it is the flicker detection system that is messing with the flash. I will check the flicker detection this evening to see if that has anything to do with it. However I do not have an official Canon flash to check to see if it's an issue with yongnuo or the 7d mark II. If someone has a free moment can you try replicating this and letting me know how it went. (The off camera flash was set directly at the subject and I tried bouncing off the wall also...no help)

I think its probobly a good idea to turn off flicker detection until you are in an environment that needs it. If you can try that and test again. I'll see if I can do the same with my Canon 580EXII.

Ok i tried it again. This time I turned off the flicker detection. I set the camera to M and no auto iso. My exposures were all over the place. I turned on and of flicker detection and I switched between evaluative and average. It still gave me very very inconsistent exposures. Some pictures were completely white because of the flash.

 

[East Wind Photography]

Here are a couple of test pics to illustrate. Once I had focused on the background, not locked on just focused and released, zone AF refuse to focus on the depth gauge in the foreground as long as any of the 15 points could see the background. Since the gauge wasn't big enough in this angle to cover all of the points. No matter how much I panned the camera horizontally, the 7D2 always chose whichever AF point fell on the background. As I panned back and forth it completely ignored the 9-12 points which would have focused on the gauge.

Repeated this a dozen or so times using all of the different AF and tracking modes. Totally consistent. However, if you fire the shutter without AF ON, it releases the lock. Point it back at the scene and it will instantly lock on the gauge instead of the background. So basically its retaining it focus lock, even when you aren't focusing if that makes sense.

Even if you manually de-focus the lens it jumps right back to the background. Imagine that the depth gauge is a sideline coach and you can see the benefit of this to sports shooters.

The cormorant was probably operator error. But it did peak my interest and I'm glad I took a look at this.

Ok one other question...did you have iTR enabled. I did and wondering if that is playing a role in this. I need to run some tests with it off and see if this behavior still exists.

 

[East Wind Photography]

Here are a couple of test pics to illustrate. Once I had focused on the background, not locked on just focused and released, zone AF refuse to focus on the depth gauge in the foreground as long as any of the 15 points could see the background. Since the gauge wasn't big enough in this angle to cover all of the points. No matter how much I panned the camera horizontally, the 7D2 always chose whichever AF point fell on the background. As I panned back and forth it completely ignored the 9-12 points which would have focused on the gauge.

Repeated this a dozen or so times using all of the different AF and tracking modes. Totally consistent. However, if you fire the shutter without AF ON, it releases the lock. Point it back at the scene and it will instantly lock on the gauge instead of the background. So basically its retaining it focus lock, even when you aren't focusing if that makes sense.

Even if you manually de-focus the lens it jumps right back to the background. Imagine that the depth gauge is a sideline coach and you can see the benefit of this to sports shooters.

The cormorant was probably operator error. But it did peak my interest and I'm glad I took a look at this.

Ok...looks like iTR has a role in zone AF. Manual page 128. Might actually explain not only the zone AF issue but the AF lock lag as I have iTR enabled. This was introduced from the 1dx in this model. According to the documentation when iTR is disabled zone, expanded zone, and 65 point AF will only be based on AF data, not colors, faces and other information...I assume infrared data as well...which is one feature of this new sensor.

More testing in order...

 

[Tugela]

Re: 7D2 acting up?

It is basically a 70D in a different shell, so it should take similar pictures

 

[candc]

Here are a couple of test pics to illustrate. Once I had focused on the background, not locked on just focused and released, zone AF refuse to focus on the depth gauge in the foreground as long as any of the 15 points could see the background. Since the gauge wasn't big enough in this angle to cover all of the points. No matter how much I panned the camera horizontally, the 7D2 always chose whichever AF point fell on the background. As I panned back and forth it completely ignored the 9-12 points which would have focused on the gauge.

Repeated this a dozen or so times using all of the different AF and tracking modes. Totally consistent. However, if you fire the shutter without AF ON, it releases the lock. Point it back at the scene and it will instantly lock on the gauge instead of the background. So basically its retaining it focus lock, even when you aren't focusing if that makes sense.

Even if you manually de-focus the lens it jumps right back to the background. Imagine that the depth gauge is a sideline coach and you can see the benefit of this to sports shooters.

The cormorant was probably operator error. But it did peak my interest and I'm glad I took a look at this.

Ok...looks like iTR has a role in zone AF. Manual page 128. Might actually explain not only the zone AF issue but the AF lock lag as I have iTR enabled. This was introduced from the 1dx in this model. According to the documentation when iTR is disabled zone, expanded zone, and 65 point AF will only be based on AF data, not colors, faces and other information...I assume infrared data as well...which is one feature of this new sensor.

More testing in order...

Interesting, I did some bif shooting today and the camera did really well but I noticed some peculiarities while using zone af where the camera would lock on to he background and ignore the bird in front of it. I see that itr is on by default. Maybe that is he issue? If this feature is also in the 1dx maybe someone that has experience with that camera can shed some light on how and when its benificial and when to turn it off?

 

[candc]

Re: 7D2 acting up?

It is basically a 70D in a different shell, so it should take similar pictures

That is true to a point. I have a 70d as well and I think its probably a better all around camera but If you are into bif or do a lot of action shooting where the framerae and buffer are important then the 7dii is much better. The IQ is pretty much the same but the af on the 7dii is much faster, more accurate and more configurable. So in short it allows you to get more in focus action shots.

 

[East Wind Photography]

Adding one more where 3rd party flashes when used as a slave are not exposing properly.

Also researching whether #1 and #4 are related to iTR which is enabled by default.

Ok lets summarize some of the things we are looking at for those that dont want to read through all of this:

1) Fraction of a second AF lag(lock) on half press (w/300mm F2.8L IS II)
2) Shutter not firing 2nd volley when rear AF-ON set to AF-OFF and pressed first
3) Manual AF point selection is retained seperately for each AF mode (can default be set back to center?)
4) Zone AF not always locking on closest subject in the zone

If anyone can reproduce these issues or have discovered a solution, please share/confirm your findings so we can all report them to Canon for resolution.

If I forgot something let me know.

And for those that are reading this and think these are show stoppers, they are not. Pretty much everyone here is amazed by this camera and these issues should not sway you to purchase something else unless you plan to go full frame.

 

[dslrdummy]

Re: 7D2 acting up?

It is basically a 70D in a different shell, so it should take similar pictures

That is true to a point. I have a 70d as well and I think its probably a better all around camera but If you are into bif or do a lot of action shooting where the framerae and buffer are important then the 7dii is much better. The IQ is pretty much the same but the af on the 7dii is much faster, more accurate and more configurable. So in short it allows you to get more in focus action shots.

I just bought the 7Dii and plan to use it for sports and wildlife. Im interested to know, from your experience, why you think the 70D is a better all round camera given the 7Dii seems to offer all that the 70D does and more, save for its fixed non-touch screen and Wifi.

 

[candc]

Re: 7D2 acting up?

It is basically a 70D in a different shell, so it should take similar pictures

That is true to a point. I have a 70d as well and I think its probably a better all around camera but If you are into bif or do a lot of action shooting where the framerae and buffer are important then the 7dii is much better. The IQ is pretty much the same but the af on the 7dii is much faster, more accurate and more configurable. So in short it allows you to get more in focus action shots.

I just bought the 7Dii and plan to use it for sports and wildlife. Im interested to know, from your experience, why you think the 70D is a better all round camera given the 7Dii seems to offer all that the 70D does and more, save for its fixed non-touch screen and Wifi.

Well you said it, the touch swivel screen and wifi. The IQ is basicly the same. The 70d is smaller and lighter. The 7dii's big body size is good if you are shooting with big lenses but for normal people its a brick. I would prefer to carry and use the 70d over the 7dii. The only reason I would recommend the 7dii to anyone is if they really need the hot rod af, buffer and frame rate.

 

[East Wind Photography]

Here are a couple of test pics to illustrate. Once I had focused on the background, not locked on just focused and released, zone AF refuse to focus on the depth gauge in the foreground as long as any of the 15 points could see the background. Since the gauge wasn't big enough in this angle to cover all of the points. No matter how much I panned the camera horizontally, the 7D2 always chose whichever AF point fell on the background. As I panned back and forth it completely ignored the 9-12 points which would have focused on the gauge.

Repeated this a dozen or so times using all of the different AF and tracking modes. Totally consistent. However, if you fire the shutter without AF ON, it releases the lock. Point it back at the scene and it will instantly lock on the gauge instead of the background. So basically its retaining it focus lock, even when you aren't focusing if that makes sense.

Even if you manually de-focus the lens it jumps right back to the background. Imagine that the depth gauge is a sideline coach and you can see the benefit of this to sports shooters.

The cormorant was probably operator error. But it did peak my interest and I'm glad I took a look at this.

Ok...looks like iTR has a role in zone AF. Manual page 128. Might actually explain not only the zone AF issue but the AF lock lag as I have iTR enabled. This was introduced from the 1dx in this model. According to the documentation when iTR is disabled zone, expanded zone, and 65 point AF will only be based on AF data, not colors, faces and other information...I assume infrared data as well...which is one feature of this new sensor.

More testing in order...

Good call on iTR having a role. That would be great because you could then turn it on and off as circumstances dictate. Adds a whole new dimension, outside of facial recognition, I hadn't considered.

I assumed that it was off by default and that I had to turn it on. I hadn't planned to use iTR until I had other aspects of the AF squared away. I think is slows down the frame rate to that means the 7D2 is even faster then I though. Awesome.

Seems like that could definitely play a role in what I was seeing today. Holding focus on a sort of uniformly lit and colored background vs the post. If that's what was causing what I saw today, I have to say that it really is impressive. I could not get it to drop focus as long as even one AF point could see those trees in the background. The plot thickens. Can't get out again for a few days but when I can I'll go back to the same spot and see if iTR makes a difference. Super.

Well I'm finding that iTR does not have much of a role in the Zone AF issue. I ran some tests in the house and found that when iTR is off it sometimes still has difficulty locking on a foreground object. I would even go as far as saying that even when initial AF has locked on the closer object, AF can switch to the background and hunt around a bit trying to figure itself out. I had this happen with 3 different lenses. With iTR enabled the same things were happening. This is clearly not how it is described in the user manual. Could be useful for some situations but I'd rather it be consistent than questionable. Questionable only makes me want to use that mode less.

I ran the same AF tests with my 5DIII using the same lenses and zone AF just locks on the closest object and stays there. Nothing in the background can make it change focus. I will strike this up as a firmware bug, do more tests outside on a sunny day and see if the condition also remains with more EV.

 

[candc]

Here are a couple of test pics to illustrate. Once I had focused on the background, not locked on just focused and released, zone AF refuse to focus on the depth gauge in the foreground as long as any of the 15 points could see the background. Since the gauge wasn't big enough in this angle to cover all of the points. No matter how much I panned the camera horizontally, the 7D2 always chose whichever AF point fell on the background. As I panned back and forth it completely ignored the 9-12 points which would have focused on the gauge.

Repeated this a dozen or so times using all of the different AF and tracking modes. Totally consistent. However, if you fire the shutter without AF ON, it releases the lock. Point it back at the scene and it will instantly lock on the gauge instead of the background. So basically its retaining it focus lock, even when you aren't focusing if that makes sense.

Even if you manually de-focus the lens it jumps right back to the background. Imagine that the depth gauge is a sideline coach and you can see the benefit of this to sports shooters.

The cormorant was probably operator error. But it did peak my interest and I'm glad I took a look at this.

Ok...looks like iTR has a role in zone AF. Manual page 128. Might actually explain not only the zone AF issue but the AF lock lag as I have iTR enabled. This was introduced from the 1dx in this model. According to the documentation when iTR is disabled zone, expanded zone, and 65 point AF will only be based on AF data, not colors, faces and other information...I assume infrared data as well...which is one feature of this new sensor.

More testing in order...

Good call on iTR having a role. That would be great because you could then turn it on and off as circumstances dictate. Adds a whole new dimension, outside of facial recognition, I hadn't considered.

I assumed that it was off by default and that I had to turn it on. I hadn't planned to use iTR until I had other aspects of the AF squared away. I think is slows down the frame rate to that means the 7D2 is even faster then I though. Awesome.

Seems like that could definitely play a role in what I was seeing today. Holding focus on a sort of uniformly lit and colored background vs the post. If that's what was causing what I saw today, I have to say that it really is impressive. I could not get it to drop focus as long as even one AF point could see those trees in the background. The plot thickens. Can't get out again for a few days but when I can I'll go back to the same spot and see if iTR makes a difference. Super.

Well I'm finding that iTR does not have much of a role in the Zone AF issue. I ran some tests in the house and found that when iTR is off it sometimes still has difficulty locking on a foreground object. I would even go as far as saying that even when initial AF has locked on the closer object, AF can switch to the background and hunt around a bit trying to figure itself out. I had this happen with 3 different lenses. With iTR enabled the same things were happening. This is clearly not how it is described in the user manual. Could be useful for some situations but I'd rather it be consistent than questionable. Questionable only makes me want to use that mode less.

I ran the same AF tests with my 5DIII using the same lenses and zone AF just locks on the closest object and stays there. Nothing in the background can make it change focus. I will strike this up as a firmware bug, do more tests outside on a sunny day and see if the condition also remains with more EV.

I have been doing some bif shooting the last couple days below a dam, giving the camera a good shakedown and seeing what works best. I also tried turning itr on and off using zone af and I don't see a difference, if anything it works better with it on. it tracks really well but doesn't always lock on to the closest thing. Sometimes if I would press and release af-on a couple times it will lock on to what I want it to but there is an issue with it not just doing it right the first time. I think there is a setting to make it prioririze a particular af start point with zone af, maybe you could try clearing that preference?

 

[East Wind Photography]

Here are a couple of test pics to illustrate. Once I had focused on the background, not locked on just focused and released, zone AF refuse to focus on the depth gauge in the foreground as long as any of the 15 points could see the background. Since the gauge wasn't big enough in this angle to cover all of the points. No matter how much I panned the camera horizontally, the 7D2 always chose whichever AF point fell on the background. As I panned back and forth it completely ignored the 9-12 points which would have focused on the gauge.

Repeated this a dozen or so times using all of the different AF and tracking modes. Totally consistent. However, if you fire the shutter without AF ON, it releases the lock. Point it back at the scene and it will instantly lock on the gauge instead of the background. So basically its retaining it focus lock, even when you aren't focusing if that makes sense.

Even if you manually de-focus the lens it jumps right back to the background. Imagine that the depth gauge is a sideline coach and you can see the benefit of this to sports shooters.

The cormorant was probably operator error. But it did peak my interest and I'm glad I took a look at this.

Ok...looks like iTR has a role in zone AF. Manual page 128. Might actually explain not only the zone AF issue but the AF lock lag as I have iTR enabled. This was introduced from the 1dx in this model. According to the documentation when iTR is disabled zone, expanded zone, and 65 point AF will only be based on AF data, not colors, faces and other information...I assume infrared data as well...which is one feature of this new sensor.

More testing in order...

Good call on iTR having a role. That would be great because you could then turn it on and off as circumstances dictate. Adds a whole new dimension, outside of facial recognition, I hadn't considered.

I assumed that it was off by default and that I had to turn it on. I hadn't planned to use iTR until I had other aspects of the AF squared away. I think is slows down the frame rate to that means the 7D2 is even faster then I though. Awesome.

Seems like that could definitely play a role in what I was seeing today. Holding focus on a sort of uniformly lit and colored background vs the post. If that's what was causing what I saw today, I have to say that it really is impressive. I could not get it to drop focus as long as even one AF point could see those trees in the background. The plot thickens. Can't get out again for a few days but when I can I'll go back to the same spot and see if iTR makes a difference. Super.

Well I'm finding that iTR does not have much of a role in the Zone AF issue. I ran some tests in the house and found that when iTR is off it sometimes still has difficulty locking on a foreground object. I would even go as far as saying that even when initial AF has locked on the closer object, AF can switch to the background and hunt around a bit trying to figure itself out. I had this happen with 3 different lenses. With iTR enabled the same things were happening. This is clearly not how it is described in the user manual. Could be useful for some situations but I'd rather it be consistent than questionable. Questionable only makes me want to use that mode less.

I ran the same AF tests with my 5DIII using the same lenses and zone AF just locks on the closest object and stays there. Nothing in the background can make it change focus. I will strike this up as a firmware bug, do more tests outside on a sunny day and see if the condition also remains with more EV.

I have been doing some bif shooting the last couple days below a dam, giving the camera a good shakedown and seeing what works best. I also tried turning itr on and off using zone af and I don't see a difference, if anything it works better with it on. it tracks really well but doesn't always lock on to the closest thing. Sometimes if I would press and release af-on a couple times it will lock on to what I want it to but there is an issue with it not just doing it right the first time. I think there is a setting to make it prioririze a particular af start point with zone af, maybe you could try clearing that preference?

Based one everything that I have found on it so far Zone AF is not suppose to prioritize based on a starting AF point. There is none to start with in that mode. It's supposed to start on the closest thing it can focus on within the selected zone and stay there. Thats supposed to be the priority and what makes it different from the rest of the modes. iTR should really do the same but then use faces color and IR to track the object it selected to focus on.