Was fixing to pick up one as my first mirrorless camera at my local brick and mortar store. But, then I remembered that canon had messed up the AF on the camera with the latest firmware.
Has it been resolved yet? Or is it still a problem with the AF not working.
gkinard1952 wrote:
Was fixing to pick up one as my first mirrorless camera at my local brick and mortar store. But, then I remembered that canon had messed up the AF on the camera with the latest firmware.
Has it been resolved yet? Or is it still a problem with the AF not working.
Google your question long enough, you will find whatever answer you are looking for-
If the R5mk2 meets your needs just go buy it and stop having analysis drama.
I would get the R5II for sure, but with the older firmware 1.0.2. Having angst about a new gadget is no fun.
There is a reason many of us wont get the latest firmware before the early adopters have done the testing for us. I´m rather far behind with my R5 as I´m very happy with it as it is. Why change a winning team?
Plenty of controversy to go around. I tried out the 1.0.2 and found the 1.0.3 was superior on my newer R5MkII. To each their own or specific circumstances I guess. I use a 24-105 f4L and 100-500L and with those 2 lenses the 1.0.3 works perfectly for me whether birding or portrait shooting or in low light.
My "open box" R5 II (bought last month) came with firmware 1.0. I haven't found any need to update it (although I do have a copy of FW 1.02 stored away...)
First, to clarify, it isn't that AF isn't working (or else there'd be a massive outcry and recall, can you imagine thousands of R5iis not focusing?). It's been reported that at some focal lengths, the AF struggles to lock on. The ones I've seen the most reports on are at 500mm (for the 100-500L lens, which I have) and tracking birds in flight, or trying to focus on birds with things around them like branches that could fool the AF. If all images were out of focus at all focal lengths, Canon would have rushed out a 1.0.4 (likely just a repackaged 1.0.2) to fix. This was something that affected only a certain percentage of shooters at certain focal lengths in certain situations (there was never a consensus).
Then a "workaround" was suggested that disabling all the power saving settings somehow addressed the issue. The Canonrumors guy says in his YT video he noticed the failure to focus happening after the camera had gone to sleep (power save) and woken up. Like somehow it wouldn't focus at all after waking from sleep--which is distinctly different than others who said their AF just wasn't grabbing or staying in focus, or capturing perfect focus. The CR guy basically implied his AF just stopped after wake from sleep. This lack of AF waking up is something I'd never experienced on my 1.0.3 body.
So you can see why the issue is so elusive to describe, because people are reporting different things. Does it not wake up? Is it less sticky than before? Is it user error? A lot of people don't report any issues at all. There's a lot of R5ii users out there, including many professionals, and if this was a universal problem, Canon would have a PR nightmare on their hands.
Now back to your question about whether you should buy one. Unless your store just got a batch direct from the factory floor, there's a high likelihood it will come with firmware 1.0.2 or earlier. This is considered the "safe" firmware. Just stay on that firmware until 1.0.4 (or later) comes out if you want to be safe.
Last weekend I took my two R5ii to photograph hummingbirds at max focal length. On one body with 1.0.3 firmware I had my 100-500L @ 500mm (the suspected troublesome combinations). On the other body with firmware 1.0.2 I had my 200-800 @800.
I shot probably close to 1000 photos and haven't had a chance to go through them all yet, but just quickly scanning through the SOOC jpgs both seem to have had similar high rates of in-focus keepers (it's hummingbirds so yes both setups did miss some shots). FYI I shoot RAW+JPG with Neutral (N) setting for jpg conversion, and high ISO NR disabled. I did do the "disable power save settings" recommendation for the 1.0.3 body, and no I didn't have time (or to be honest the desire, as I didn't want to risk missing shots) to turn them all back on and test if the AF got worse.
So in my case, for the body that's on 1.0.3 with the 100-500L @ 500mm, worst case is I'm affected but the disable power saving trick works. Best case: I'm not affected by it. If you don't own the 100-500L it's may not even be a concern for you as I haven't seen many other lenses mentioned that were affected by 1.0.3. If you find yourself affected by the "AF just doesn't wake back up" variant like the CR guy, just disable all your power saving modes.
It's an amazing camera, I traded in my R6ii for it last year and was so impressed by it that I ended up buying a 2nd body six weeks ago (it came with 1.0.1). In the last six months I've taken thousands of priceless photos and videos of my friends and their children (several infants in their very early stages of life doing cute baby things, and several pre-teens who are playing youth sports like soccer which the R5ii's Action Priority captures insanely well!). My advice is to start capturing your priceless memories ASAP!
Never thought of asking to open it up, and seeing what firmware is on it, good idea arbitrage!
Have to drive to Austin to get it, since that is where I shop when back in town. Hope it is as good as the 7DII. With the reduction in pixels I have my doubts. Anyone here shoot the 7DII and switched to the R5II?
gkinard1952 wrote:
Never thought of asking to open it up, and seeing what firmware is on it, good idea arbitrage!
Have to drive to Austin to get it, since that is where I shop when back in town. Hope it is as good as the 7DII. With the reduction in pixels I have my doubts. Anyone here shoot the 7DII and switched to the R5II?
You get 17.3 mp if you crop an R5 Mark ii to APS-C. About the same as a 7D and very close to a 7D Mark II. You get even more pixels, up to 45 mp, if you crop less. You can't do that with a 7D Mark ii. You get improvements in dynamic range, noise, and AF performance, especially the eye detect AF. I went from a 7D to an R5 and I'm very happy with that decision.
Just to add to my earlier post, I took my 1.0.3 camera out yesterday with the 200-800 lens in a low stakes, local bird shoot. I did not have my 100-500L on me.
I tested the "re-enable power save mode" (I chose the shortest options for each setting) and let the camera go to sleep on its own. Upon re-powering it up by half pressing the shutter button, the AF came back to life and was functioning. So that confirms I am not suffering from the CanonRumors YouTube video about AF not starting back up after going to sleep.
I shot some birds around the area at 800mm and had what I would consider an acceptable number of keepers--well north of 50% but not perfect since many of these subjects were very far away. I can't even 100% say all of the not-tack-sharp photos were all because AF missed, or if was because of atmospheric haze (I live in Los Angeles so...).
Here's a SOOC jpg (N setting, no NR), both the full image and a crop. The both the full and cropped images will be downrezzed by imgur since they exceed the 5MB limit to prevent downrezzing, but hopefully you will still get an idea of the sharpness and focus, and this was for a crow at 800mm with very little contrast for the camera to grab onto.
Carlo_M wrote:
It's an amazing camera, I traded in my R6ii for it last year and was so impressed by it that I ended up buying a 2nd body six weeks ago (it came with 1.0.1). In the last six months I've taken thousands of priceless photos and videos of my friends and their children (several infants in their very early stages of life doing cute baby things, and several pre-teens who are playing youth sports like soccer which the R5ii's Action Priority captures insanely well!). My advice is to start capturing your priceless memories ASAP!
I'll echo this sentiment: the R5 II is an astonishing piece of equipment and by far the nicest camera I have ever used, and has allowed me to capture so many priceless moments in the few months I've owned it. It is also a Canon product, which means you get the benefit of best-in-the-industry support, should you run into any issues. I don't trust major corporations as far as I can throw them, but it's hard to argue with Canon's service reputation. I say buy and enjoy.
As of now, the AF issue on the Canon EOS R5 Mark II caused by the latest firmware has not been fixed. Canon has not yet released an official solution. If reliable autofocus is crucial for you, consider waiting for an update or checking if your store can downgrade the firmware.
nightnight wrote:
I'll echo this sentiment: the R5 II is an astonishing piece of equipment and by far the nicest camera I have ever used, and has allowed me to capture so many priceless moments in the few months I've owned it. It is also a Canon product, which means you get the benefit of best-in-the-industry support, should you run into any issues. I don't trust major corporations as far as I can throw them, but it's hard to argue with Canon's service reputation. I say buy and enjoy.
I would have to agree. Canon's support has always been exceptional. And for what it's worth I'm using 1.0.3 firmware with NO issues nailing what I aim at. Let alone tracking. Not sure why some are having issues. This is photo NOT video by the way.
gkinard1952 wrote:
Never thought of asking to open it up, and seeing what firmware is on it, good idea arbitrage!
Have to drive to Austin to get it, since that is where I shop when back in town. Hope it is as good as the 7DII. With the reduction in pixels I have my doubts. Anyone here shoot the 7DII and switched to the R5II?
Yes, I owned 7DII for many years. I owned R5 for about 6 months and I've used the R3, R5II and R1 for short periods borrowed from friends or CPS test drive.
The R5II images are beautiful. I'd take a cropped R5II image any day of the week over a 7DII. Yes, the 7DII has 20MP and the R5II at 1.6x is 17.6MP. But the improvements in sensors over the years makes a cropped R5II file even better than a 7DII even with the missing 2.4MPs.
But the more important thing is the AF is so far ahead of a 7DII that you will have better IQ and way more keepers just because focus will be way more precise. The 7DII always produced some of the worst focus inconsistency of any camera I ever owned (accepting maybe the 80D which was even worse). Any Canon MILC and especially the R5II will just blow your mind once you see how consistent the focus is even in challenging BIF settings.
Now, that said, switching to MILC is a learning curve. Many get frustrated by things and how AF works a bit differently. You have to have some patience but in the end it will be worth it.
As a starting point to setting up the camera I'd watch some of Jan's YT vids on the camera or even invest in his PDF setup guide.
You may adapt your settings after some time to things you like better but I do feel Jan's latest button setup and AF settings are close to perfect. Every time I get a new R camera in the bag I go back to his videos and start from there.
gkinard1952 wrote:
Was fixing to pick up one as my first mirrorless camera at my local brick and mortar store. But, then I remembered that canon had messed up the AF on the camera with the latest firmware.
Has it been resolved yet? Or is it still a problem with the AF not working.
Do note that the R5II handles buffer management in a strange way. Typically, in drive mode, Canon cameras will shoot at full fps until the buffer is full, and then slow down to the data rate of your memory card.
However, the R5II instead shoots at full fps until the buffer is full, then stops shooting entirely.
I think the camera does not begin writing to the memory card until shooting has stopped.
aCuria wrote:
Do note that the R5II handles buffer management in a strange way. Typically, in drive mode, Canon cameras will shoot at full fps until the buffer is full, and then slow down to the data rate of your memory card.
However, the R5II instead shoots at full fps until the buffer is full, then stops shooting entirely.
I think the camera does not begin writing to the memory card until shooting has stopped.
This is something to keep in mind. I've found that shooting in CRAW I don't typically buffer out. And at least the CFe-B cards are fairly quick at clearing it.
That said, it would be nice if it could just slow down as it clears and not stop entirely. As an example, the Sony A1II shoots 30FPS Compressed RAW and then drops to a steady 17FPS once the buffer is maxed but can continue like that for a long time if not indefinitely. 17 is nothing to sneeze at and you won't totally miss some of the tail end action.
