In my experience the 1dx III outperformed it's EV by a bit. I never did an exhaustive comparison to see it's limit. But needless to say the lighting was so low you couldn't see very well it was so dark. This was on the Sigma 105mm f/1.4, which has quite good AF along with a wide aperture. So that always helps.
As we all know it's only partly indicative of AF performance, but with that said. -7.5 EV is indeed very impressive!
I sent the body in, got a message from Canon to call. Their initial check out showed nothing. They asked for some pics so I sent a few pics which showed how it looses focus when tracking and blows highlights occasionally. The pics were of my new Labrador pups running from shade to sun. I would randomly loose focus then it would re-acquire.Originally Posted by Jonathan Huyer
I just got it back and this is their response:
"Your product has been examined and it was found that the adjustment of the imaging sensor was out of specifications causing the auto focus to function improperly. Electrical adjustments were performed. Product functions were confirmed...."
As for the blown highlights they recommended using a set ISO as it would swap from shade to sun while running.
I doubt this does anything for the low light performance we were talking about earlier.
So the moral of the story is, if your under warranty and not sure I wouldn't hesitate.
That is interesting news and may explain why some users are not too impressed with the R5's auto focus capability. Mine has been amazing for birds and people since I first acquired it and I think the latest firmware update made it even better.
I have to say that if I were just taking people photos that the R5 has been amazing.
You mention birds, it would has been great at portrait distance like many that you excel at. How did it hold up for you with BIF?
With Eye-Detect AF, distance (really, subject size within frame) will always be a factor, which is why I have multiple buttons programed to different AF modes. But, I've found eye-detect AF to be fairly remarkable with BIF. A few examples:
537A7609-2 by kayaker72, on Flickr
537A6508 by kayaker72, on Flickr
537A4951 by kayaker72, on Flickr
537A5149 by kayaker72, on Flickr
My experience is similar to Brant with BIF, it's not 100% perfect but works very very well
Even at extreme distances the Eye AF performs amazingly well:
I was on a boat ride at a local lake this past weekend and saw a Bald Eagle .... it was in the top of a tall tree and even with the RF 800mm f/11 lens it was very small in the frame but eye AF locked on its head immediately, I was quite impressed.
Stuff like this just makes sense, but BIF against a relatively clean background, I have had the AF lock on and be successful from significant distances. As the background gets increasingly complex the subject needs to fill more of the frame. But, it is still extremely good. One item I have noted in R3 videos, the blue box seems to track faster than my R5, so I do see room to improve, but it is improving from an extremely good point.
Just my 2 cents.
Last edited by Kayaker72; 07-14-2022 at 12:23 AM.
To illustrate what I described earlier this is a screen shot from DDP4 showing the focus point.
When I raised the camera and pointed it at the bird the AF immediately locked on as shown.
This was with the RF 800mm f/11 lens on the R5
This an example in very low light just before dark
An image of my Grandson taken with the RF 24-105 f/4 and the R5
As you can see it is at ISO 12,800 so very low light conditions and, like most little guys, he is constantly moving but Face Detect still nailed it
I actually wasn't even looking through the camera just pointing it his direction with one hand and snapping away
I have been very pleased with the R5's AF performance
Last edited by Joel Eade; 07-14-2022 at 02:51 PM.
That one is really face or head focus. I did a little reading about how it works a few weeks ago. When it can not find an eye it hunts for a face.
I did go out and try the R5 last night now that I got it back and use the electronic shutter at high speed. It is improved. Out of 1200 shots of running black pup I had a 92.5% keeper rate. Half of the throw away shots were bad framing, the other half was missed focus. I would say it was well over 95% on satisfactory in focus shots.
A common theme last night for lost focus was if the pup blinked it would loose a frame almost every time, the other is when the pup is running to pick up a bumper it comes in at full speed hits the brakes and turns to grab it. The camera would loose about three frames every time, it couldn't keep up with the 20 to 30 mph deceleration and turn in about two feet.
I also tried spot focus single shot and it seems to be working better as well.
The R5 performed very well and it appears my complaints were corrected.
Another note I had the R3 out for comparison, it goes farther into the night, the AF system can utilize face / eye tracking on all the AF settings including spot where the R5 does not. In addition I haven't taken a picture yet that I would say the increased resolution of the R5 mattered. Maybe it will on some close up bird photos or landscape but I haven't had a chance to do those comparisons.
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