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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I just rented a Canon R5 for a days to try it out. I was using it with my 100-400 with an adapter.

In many ways I love it. I still suck at flight shots but have more success with it than before. It is amazing for tight portraits when the animal is constantly turning its head. I don't have to keep trying to move the AF point onto the eye and missing shots as a result.

But one thing that really concerned me is this. If I was following a bird quite far away and then tried to focus on one just a few meters away, the camera would just not focus! I had to manually get it into a closer focus range before the AF would take over.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]And the reverse was true. If I was photographing a bird very near to me and then switched to one flying quite far away, again it just would not focus! Again I had to manually focus at a greater distance before the camera took over. And of course I missed a ton of shots having to manually change the focus like that.[/font]

I then did a test for this issue just in my office with an RF 70-200 and no adapter and I had a similar with that as well so it does not seem to be the adapter at fault.

This issue is very concerning. Is there some setting I am missing here?

Thanks,
Roberta Olenick
www.neverspook.com

I had the same problem the other day with my Sony A1. I’m pretty sure this is a common trait of mirrorless cameras. Ray Hennessy has just put out a utube video on the problem. Steve Perry also mentions the issue.

I have had this issue from day one and it is indeed the number one reason I do not fully love mirrorless cameras for bird photography. It happens to me every use. I get around the problem by manually focusing on very close birds. In many ways, I preferred my 7Dmk2 except for the pixel count and eye focus.

merlinator wrote:I had the same problem the other day with my Sony A1.  I’m pretty sure this is a common trait of mirrorless cameras.  Ray Hennessy has just put out a utube video on the problem. Steve Perry also mentions the issue.

All mirrorless cameras??

Watched Hennessy's video. Tried my five year or so old and lowly Olympus m43 mirrorless camera with the 300f4 lens. Focused back and forth on subjects between infinity and five feet away in C-AF mode. No problem noticed.

Thanks everyone. Not very encouraging. At least it was not operator error.

It may also be how you have set the AF#3 menu item “Lens drive when AF impossible”. Try both ON and OFF.

bryantjl wrote:It may also be how you have set the AF#3 menu item “Lens drive when AF impossible”. Try both ON and OFF.

Right, I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me. It was a rental which has now gone back so can't try it but will make a note for if/when I buy one. You might be onto something there.
Thanks!

The problem is that effectively the camera looks right through the subject and needs a kick to get it to realize a subject is in the foreground. Quickly twisting the focus dial in the right direction allows it to recognize there is something there to focus on.