Question of R5 II autofocus
p.1 #1Question of R5 II autofocus
I recently bought an R5 II with the intention of replacing my R5. However, I am not understanding how to set up the AF the way I like. On my original R5 when I half-pressed the shutter it would focus on my AF point (I like spot AF). Since I love shooting wildlife, I often just press the * button which I had programmed to detect the eyes on the animal. Rarely, however, it would get the eye wrong or perhaps I wanted to focus on another aspect of the animal, or choose to focus on a different animal in the frame, and in all such cases spot AF came in handy.
With the R5 II I can't get this to work. I have the * set to detect the eye of the animal but when I try to use spot AF I am often overridden with a focus box of varying size that chooses what it thinks I want to focus on. Yesterday, for example, I couldn't get the eye detect to recognize the eye of a basking turtle. No problem, I'll just use spot AF. WRONG! With the R5 II when I place the spot AF box over the eye the camera overrides my decision and a large focus box floated over the turtle's carapace (upper shell) and in none of my photos was the eye sharp. I want to be the decider of where to focus in spot AF, and when I want help or a quicker eye recognition I want to use the * button.
Any thoughts on how to fix this problem?
With the R5 II I can't get this to work. I have the * set to detect the eye of the animal but when I try to use spot AF I am often overridden with a focus box of varying size that chooses what it thinks I want to focus on. Yesterday, for example, I couldn't get the eye detect to recognize the eye of a basking turtle. No problem, I'll just use spot AF. WRONG! With the R5 II when I place the spot AF box over the eye the camera overrides my decision and a large focus box floated over the turtle's carapace (upper shell) and in none of my photos was the eye sharp. I want to be the decider of where to focus in spot AF, and when I want help or a quicker eye recognition I want to use the * button.
Any thoughts on how to fix this problem?
Sep 13, 2026 at 04:02 PM
p.1 #2Question of R5 II autofocus
If I'm understanding you properly you need to turn off Whole area tracking AF and also change subject to detect to none. That should make it work the old school way.
Sep 13, 2026 at 04:10 PM
p.1 #3Question of R5 II autofocus
Yes, with the R5, IIRC, only wide area AF worked with subject detection and the other focus point types did not. With the R5II, subject detection can be activated with all AF point types and you need to enable or disable it for each.
Additionally, when setting up a button for AF, in the set up menu for buttons, with that one active, press the INFO button to bring up the submenu of AF options to assign to the button. One of these options will be the AF point type and another will be whether or not to enable subject detection. This way, whenever you switch to this button, these submenu settings will override whatever other AF settings were active with another button.
I believe you can also assign a button turn on/off subject detection/tracking independently if you don't have this setting active in the submenu when setting up a button for AF.
Additionally, when setting up a button for AF, in the set up menu for buttons, with that one active, press the INFO button to bring up the submenu of AF options to assign to the button. One of these options will be the AF point type and another will be whether or not to enable subject detection. This way, whenever you switch to this button, these submenu settings will override whatever other AF settings were active with another button.
I believe you can also assign a button turn on/off subject detection/tracking independently if you don't have this setting active in the submenu when setting up a button for AF.
Sep 13, 2026 at 06:49 PM
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p.1 #4Question of R5 II autofocus
The shutter half press uses the AF method that is set at that moment. The focus area you picked is "spot AF" I assume based on you post.
Like others have mentioned, you can shut down the tracking, otherwise the camera will try to use the tracking and advanced AF functionality and not strictly your selected AF area.
The R5ii also has AF areas with a small padlock in the icon.If you select an area with the padlock, the camera only uses the respective area and does not go wider or outside it by tracking etcetera.
The padlock option might be useful as you do not have to shut down other AF functions. If you would do that, your star button override might need to be reconfigured to enable features that you generally shut down.
Given your description, I think selecting the padlock focus area rather than spot would suit you best.
Like others have mentioned, you can shut down the tracking, otherwise the camera will try to use the tracking and advanced AF functionality and not strictly your selected AF area.
The R5ii also has AF areas with a small padlock in the icon.If you select an area with the padlock, the camera only uses the respective area and does not go wider or outside it by tracking etcetera.
The padlock option might be useful as you do not have to shut down other AF functions. If you would do that, your star button override might need to be reconfigured to enable features that you generally shut down.
Given your description, I think selecting the padlock focus area rather than spot would suit you best.
Sep 14, 2026 at 05:31 AM
p.1 #5Question of R5 II autofocus
Not sure if this would work, but perhaps worth a fry?
In the AF Menu / EYE Detection select Disable, which should disable Eye detection in any AF Area including SPOT.
Customize the * button, as before to Eye Detection.
Hopefully/maybe pressing the * button will re-enable eye detection, and when you go back to initial AF method (Half press Shutter button, or AF-On) Eye Detection will return to Disabled?
In the AF Menu / EYE Detection select Disable, which should disable Eye detection in any AF Area including SPOT.
Customize the * button, as before to Eye Detection.
Hopefully/maybe pressing the * button will re-enable eye detection, and when you go back to initial AF method (Half press Shutter button, or AF-On) Eye Detection will return to Disabled?
Sep 14, 2026 at 11:20 AM
p.1 #6Question of R5 II autofocus
Phew, lots to digest there. Thank you everyone for chiming in!
I think I got it working
Time will tell. This is what I did:
AF menu, page 1: I selected spot AF with the padlock icon to restrict the AF to that spot AF zone. I had no clue this existed. Thank you, jkaper1977, for bringing that to my attenion!
AF menu, page 2: subject to detect I set to None. Eye detection I set to disable.
But I assigned my * button to have eye detection for animals, so it is there when I need it.
I know there are going to be a million better ways to use AF but for now I'm happy, haha.
I think I got it working
Time will tell. This is what I did:AF menu, page 1: I selected spot AF with the padlock icon to restrict the AF to that spot AF zone. I had no clue this existed. Thank you, jkaper1977, for bringing that to my attenion!
AF menu, page 2: subject to detect I set to None. Eye detection I set to disable.
But I assigned my * button to have eye detection for animals, so it is there when I need it.
I know there are going to be a million better ways to use AF but for now I'm happy, haha.
Sep 15, 2026 at 06:52 AM