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That would be me, and I actually have a number of reasons not to use the EVF at all wherever possible - some not even anything to do with EVF quality.
Canon EOS R Series Cameras
TimHughes
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Hi George, I think it works like this:
- In the Custom Controls menu, select the button you want to customize AF-ON or AE Lock (✱).
- Assign metering and AF start, then Use the Info button or a details submenu to further configure which specific AF area (e.g., Spot AF, Expanded AF area) you want for this button.
TimHughes
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Seems to - use your eye to target the AF point, half press shutter to start tracking and preshooting, then full press to shoot.
You can have the back button focus too, it's mutually exclusive. After a few events I'm using back button less and less.
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Ah thanks Tim that sounds like the answer, it’s these crafty dum menus that caught me out. Will try tomorrow. Not sure the eye focus would work, after all few glasses of wine I might be photographing the ceiling????
TimHughes
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All good here, put your 200-400 to good use again yesterdayI skipped the R3 so the R1 s a big step up for me. I have the eye control working, but not yet ideal. I'm not completely following the manual for how to adjust it so I might try running it through a gen ai to see if that can make sense of it.
Ok so a prototype custom GPT is ready if anyone want to have a play. It has knowledge of the R1 advanced user manual https://chatgpt.com/g/g-1yNA4nZDl-visual-content-planner
I've tried a few questions and it's looking good. The answer for this question that it gave was as below. There is some improvement compared to flipping back and forth in the manual.
To set up your Canon R1 for eye-controlled autofocus (AF) to move the AF point to a face and track it during shooting, follow these steps:
1. Perform Calibration for Eye Control
Access Calibration: Go to [ : Eye control ] in the menu.
Start Calibration:
Select [Calibration (CAL)] and then [Start].
Look through the viewfinder ensuring the four corners are evenly spaced.
Follow the on-screen indicators without blinking until they disappear.
Refine Calibration for Vertical Orientation (optional for improved accuracy):
Repeat the calibration process while holding the camera vertically.
Calibration is essential for accurate detection of your line of sight.
2. Enable Eye Control AF
Activate Eye Control:
Go to [ : Eye control ] in the menu.
Set [Eye control] to [On].
Select Calibration Data:
Choose the appropriate [CAL no.] matching your eyewear condition (e.g., with or without glasses).
3. Set Up AF Area and Subject Detection
Set the [ : AF area] to [Whole area AF] for the system to automatically detect and track subjects, focusing near the pointer controlled by your eye movement.
Configure [ : Subject to detect] to prioritize faces.
4. Shooting Workflow
Focusing:
Look at the face you wish to track.
Press the shutter button halfway to confirm and lock focus on the detected subject.
Tracking:
The camera will continue to track the face while you hold the shutter button halfway.
To switch focus to another subject, release the button and repeat the process on the new subject.
5. Tips for Optimal Performance
Perform calibration under similar lighting and eyewear conditions to shooting scenarios.
Ensure your eye is centered relative to the viewfinder for accurate pointer movement.
Use accessories like the Eyecup ER-iE for improved viewfinder visibility outdoors.
6. Optional: Customize Button Assignments
Assign different buttons for eye-controlled subject confirmation and AF activation under [ : Customize buttons for shooting].
These steps should ensure seamless setup and operation of eye-controlled AF for subject tracking on your Canon R1.
DemiLion
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Yes. Because frequently I'm not looking at what I want to be in focus but the surrounding detail and action.
TimHughes
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this is what distracted me with it when I first used it out of the box, so I switched off the eye control and set up back button focus. However, I now have the eye control back on to start the tracking only. So once I have the sutter half or fully pressed I can continue to scan the surroundings without moving the af point. I still have the back button focus available, I'm just not using it much at all.
Hanley
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So I had a good first outing with the R1 on Saturday.
My wife was doing her 250th volunteer at our local parkrun so I went along as the photographer, I think I've done that over 140 times now so I'm way behind my wife!!
The AF on the R1 is incredible, honestly I can't believe how quickly it finds a subject in the frame and once locked on it sticks like glue. I think we all probably agree there won't be anything in terms of pciture quality differences from my R3 or R5, but more about how the R1 does everything better and quicker, ultimately making my life a bit easier.
I tested the 40 frames per second which worked really well, ended up with a lot more images but Photo Mechanic rips them to shreds when culling so that's no big deal.
So then I headed off to Manchester Airport as I wanted to test how the R1 can capture full HD video and still images (up to L JPEG) at the same time.
A couple of things that surprised me, when I changed the tracking from People to Vehicles, it locked on to a plane lightning fast and stuck to it, I've been to this spot with my R3 and R5 and sometimes the tracking would get a little confused with something in the background, didn't happen on the R1, although I will caveat I've only done it once so far.
I tested the 4K Fine, which the quality is incredible as you would imagine, I attached my Ninja V+ so I could record a lot more footage.
I then switched to dual video / stills mode, once in this mode you set your exposure and press the Red record button (on the Stills/Video switch) to start recording video, the AF locked on to the plane and I'm tracking it as it flies down the runway, at the same time I'm pressing the shutter button, and you get a very quick flicker in the viewfinder, indicating you're also taking still images, this doesn't seem off putting to me as it's very quick but it's good to get an indication you are capturing the stills.
The quality of the resulting video and stills was fantastic, yes it obviously has its limitations, you can't video in 4K, although most of my 4K footage gets down sampled to 1080P anyway to post to social media, and you don't get RAW files.
I've uploaded the video to my flickr - Saudia Boeing 787 Dreamliner
And an example of the JPEGs that come out of it
One thing to bear in mind when doing this, whatever exposure settings you've set for your video will obviously be applied to your stills.
So I was shooting the video at 1080P 60FPS so my shutter was set to double, 1/125 and aperture was f/7.1 so I had to be mindful to get my panning right.
This feature was one of the main reasons for me upgrading to be honest, I go to the Mach Loop and other airbases to shoot military aircraft and I've increasingly wanted to capture video but it's at the expense of stills, especially at the Mach Loop, when you see a jet come through you have no idea if you're getting just one or multiple passes, so have to decide if you want video or stills. I'm hoping to get to the Mach Loop soon to test this a bit more.
My wife was doing her 250th volunteer at our local parkrun so I went along as the photographer, I think I've done that over 140 times now so I'm way behind my wife!!
The AF on the R1 is incredible, honestly I can't believe how quickly it finds a subject in the frame and once locked on it sticks like glue. I think we all probably agree there won't be anything in terms of pciture quality differences from my R3 or R5, but more about how the R1 does everything better and quicker, ultimately making my life a bit easier.
I tested the 40 frames per second which worked really well, ended up with a lot more images but Photo Mechanic rips them to shreds when culling so that's no big deal.
So then I headed off to Manchester Airport as I wanted to test how the R1 can capture full HD video and still images (up to L JPEG) at the same time.
A couple of things that surprised me, when I changed the tracking from People to Vehicles, it locked on to a plane lightning fast and stuck to it, I've been to this spot with my R3 and R5 and sometimes the tracking would get a little confused with something in the background, didn't happen on the R1, although I will caveat I've only done it once so far.
I tested the 4K Fine, which the quality is incredible as you would imagine, I attached my Ninja V+ so I could record a lot more footage.
I then switched to dual video / stills mode, once in this mode you set your exposure and press the Red record button (on the Stills/Video switch) to start recording video, the AF locked on to the plane and I'm tracking it as it flies down the runway, at the same time I'm pressing the shutter button, and you get a very quick flicker in the viewfinder, indicating you're also taking still images, this doesn't seem off putting to me as it's very quick but it's good to get an indication you are capturing the stills.
The quality of the resulting video and stills was fantastic, yes it obviously has its limitations, you can't video in 4K, although most of my 4K footage gets down sampled to 1080P anyway to post to social media, and you don't get RAW files.
I've uploaded the video to my flickr - Saudia Boeing 787 Dreamliner
And an example of the JPEGs that come out of it
One thing to bear in mind when doing this, whatever exposure settings you've set for your video will obviously be applied to your stills.
So I was shooting the video at 1080P 60FPS so my shutter was set to double, 1/125 and aperture was f/7.1 so I had to be mindful to get my panning right.
This feature was one of the main reasons for me upgrading to be honest, I go to the Mach Loop and other airbases to shoot military aircraft and I've increasingly wanted to capture video but it's at the expense of stills, especially at the Mach Loop, when you see a jet come through you have no idea if you're getting just one or multiple passes, so have to decide if you want video or stills. I'm hoping to get to the Mach Loop soon to test this a bit more.
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TimHughes
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how many frames in total? With 40 fps and a couple of bodies and remote I came back with 25k on Sunday... as you say it doesn't take long to find the best ones, but still I need to be more selective. I'm testing After Shoot again to see if that does a quicker and better selection job.And a couple of shots from the R1 at parkrun, the first and last runner (shooting L JPEG)
View attachment 440139View attachment 440140
Hanley
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In total when I got home I had 7k frames, not sure if you use Photo Mechanic but it renders full screen RAW files immediately so these 7K JPEGs were no problem for it, took me around 10 minutes to cull them down to the 451 keepers. Parkrun starts at 9am and I posted the link to my final pics at 11:16am so from leaving parkrun at 10am, driving home, making a coffee, culling the pictures and uploading them to my website took just over an hour.
After Shoot - this is new to me, just searched it, is it any good? Worth a try?
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Tim, thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for, just set it up. It seems to me that the R5/2 and R1 menus are the same to all intents, so I'm just going to piggy back on you guys experience!!
It's a far more customisable camera than the mk2 Dx, which is great but takes a bit of setting up.
Not at all sure about the eye control, had a few bodies in the past starting with a film eos3!!!...but never really liked it.
Worth a try though by all accounts!
Thanks again.
TimHughes
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not at all, 2 or 3k is normal. 40fps creates a huge amount of frames...clearly don't need that all the time!
TimHughes
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3 bodies x 7k is close to my 25 haha! I think After Shoot is worth keeping an eye on, maybe trialling. Like you, I'm faster than it is at the moment. However this will likely change in the future and if I can rely on it doing a decent job culling I can use the time for something else.
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I guess it depends what you shoot, but it should be easy to set the AF button to spot or larger and * to eye detect. Thats exactly what I do and I’m not alone.
Edit I see you already got that response
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Hanley
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Looks interesting, you're probably the same as me, I can grab a coffee, put the radio on and my Photo Mechanic / Lightroom workflow is embedded into muscle memory and I almost do it without even thinking. With running I'm simply flicking through picking the flying feet pics, most others get deleted.
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Thanks, Phil, I've been using Tim's suggestions this morning and I was missing the fact that there was a sub menu option...but all sorted now I hope!!
Mainly wildlife shooting that I'm involved with, however my long haul travel is now a thing of the past, very fortunate to have done a lot but being stuck in a remote part of Mexico when Covid struck wasn't funny...
Anyway looking forward to getting to grips with the R5/2 annd thanks again!!
TimHughes
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Getting tempted too. I'm using the EF MII version when I need a zoom and the results are just not as good as with the EF or RF primes. But I'm not using zooms very often so hard to make the case.
Hanley
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I'll put my current RF 70-200 up for sale for around £1,600 which I offset against the cost of the new one. That's the line I use with my wife.
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EF one might be just ok on 24mp but just get it done if you need one at all
TimHughes
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right - it's "good enough" for the occasions when I need it so keeping for the time being. It's mostly used on an old super35 cinema camera, which is EF mount, and it's great with that.
when you say "it doesn't take long to find the best ones". I don't have any problems on my main camera as I rate as I go, but for remotes it still takes me ages to find "the best ones" - any advise for speeding that up?
Hanley
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What are you using to cycle through to pick out the good ones? Not Lightroom hopefully as that's terribly slow at rendering previews.
That's where Photo Mechanic is worth its weight in gold, even RAW files you can cycle through full screen previews with no delay and simply hit a key for the ones you want to keep to then import into Lightroom.
That's where Photo Mechanic is worth its weight in gold, even RAW files you can cycle through full screen previews with no delay and simply hit a key for the ones you want to keep to then import into Lightroom.
Lightroom, yes I as i do need to import them all - if i could do that later though its an option. I don't fancy another subscription model though - which I beleive is what photo mechanic is? I did download the trial, but been such a busy year with events - Prep, event, post, next event that I haven't really had time to use it - i,e any time where its been relaxed enough to change the workflow!
TimHughes
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It really depends on what you’re shooting. For me, I cover a wide range of events, and my focus is on capturing moments of peak action. Over time, I’ve got better at understanding what participants or performers tend to select when they buy, which helps me anticipate the kinds of shots I need. Asking better questions ahead of time also helps me stay prepared for those moments.
I aim to shoot in short bursts, looking out for those decisive moments. A recent example was a 3-hour gymnastics show where I used two R1s at 40fps and a 1DXM2 as a remote with focus locked at 16fps. I ended up with around 25k frames—about 10 minutes, or roughly 5%, of the showtime. Since I’m always alert for the next moment, I don’t usually ratie as I go.
To streamline things, I always make sure the cameras’ clocks are synced precisely before starting. This makes it much easier to review later, especially when using tools like Photo Mechanic, which I’ve found to be the quickest for culling. I usually shoot in CRAW + JPEGs—maybe this is faster compared to RAW-only. From what I’ve seen, AfterShoot also works quicker when it has JPEG and RAW pairs to analyze, so that could be worth considering if you’re using it.
For the remote, reviewing takes a bit longer because some of the action overlaps with the main cameras. It’s a bit like watching a movie and pausing now and then to grab the standout frames. With how good AF is, nearly all the shots are technically keepers, so it’s more about selecting the ones with the best composition or timing.
I'd look into Photo Mechanic if you didn't already.
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@Hanley - how do you rate the RF 100-500 especially if you have had the EF 100-400 (which I have the Mk I version)
I’m thinking of changing a few of my lenses and was tempted by the RF 100-500 as it’ll remove the need for the adapter and also I understand you can use the RF extender but only from 300mm upwards?
I’m thinking of changing a few of my lenses and was tempted by the RF 100-500 as it’ll remove the need for the adapter and also I understand you can use the RF extender but only from 300mm upwards?
Hanley
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I never had the 100-400, it was always a lens I wanted but as I was making the switch to mirrorless I waited and jumped straight into the 100-500.
I love it, I've used it for wildlife and aviation and it never lets me down, and not actually that heavy either, much easier taking that than my 400mm prime.
There are rumours of a 200-500 f4 coming out so that'll be interesting (and expensive)!!
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They're shifting to a subscription model. You can still buy a perpetual licence (which gives you only 1 year of software upgrades) for close to £ 300.00
Hanley
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Ah you're right, my licence is perpetual I've just checked and I'm obviously still getting upgrades, looking back I think I paid £200 about 3/4 years ago.
I guess it depends on how useful it would be to someone, for me it's a lifesaver when dealing with large number of images, even when I'm doing personal stuff I still use it as it has a great feature to rename the file based on the capture date/time.
Hanley
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Or if you are a teacher or have a child in school / college then use the educational discount, I use educational discount for my Adobe subscription, get All Apps for £15 a month, I'll be gutted when my youngest finishes Sixth Form next year
TimHughes
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R1's performance at high ISO seems very good. With 1DXM2, I usually limit ISO to 12800 and R5 I set to 6400. For R1, it looks like I'll be able to put the limit at 25600. Nothing scientific, just based on the first few jobs so far. It's a big improvement - more chances of freezing fast action in bad light.
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I think that will be better, perhaps much better than the R5/2, bigger pixels etc. Think Topaz may be called in to action in low light situations as I don't now have 2.8 or faster glass.
Of course it depends on how much cropping etc you're having to do.
Might have just bought one of these.... as soon as Panamoz got it in stock
panamoz.com
Replaces a good old 70-200 F4L (non IS - it didn't exist at the time) bought in March 2005. The focus motor failed earlier this year and uneconomical to repair (but I still use it as a remote) - Its a phonominal lens even now. Thats my excuse at least...
Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Z Lens (White, Canon RF)
Why Buy From Panamoz.com? Free 3 Year UK/EU/US Local Warranty 14 Day Money Back Guarantee Prices include taxes and duties All inclusive prices with no hidden fees Products are 100% brand new and in box Express shipping with insurance and tracking Delivery in 7-14 business days only Secure...
panamoz.com
Replaces a good old 70-200 F4L (non IS - it didn't exist at the time) bought in March 2005. The focus motor failed earlier this year and uneconomical to repair (but I still use it as a remote) - Its a phonominal lens even now. Thats my excuse at least...
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Brentor
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Do you have any issues with the lower pixel count in the R1 compared with your R5?
TimHughes
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It’s early days. So far no and I don’t expect any major problems as I’m not cropping very often. This was a key consideration between the R5 M2 or the R1. probably it will happen one day that I just don’t have the reach for something and can’t crop as much as I’d like to. For the studio and when I need more pixels (but not fast AF or fps) I still have the GFX100.