# Missing focus with 5D4 a little too often



## drolo61 (May 6, 2019)

Valued community,

I run a semi-professional career as a child photographer for the business of my wife (www(dot)pickapooh[dot]de)

All the pictures you see there are mine.

I do work with a 5D4 since it came out, and after swapping from the 5D3 I seem to miss focus a little too often for my liking.

I use the center AF point in spot mode only, BB focussing, manual exposure and AF servo almost exclusively.

Keeping track of the little ones is no easy task and I believe I can tell user error from "funny behavior".

In a total static subject there is a couple of soft images interlaced with razor sharp ones.

My current assumption is, that AF servo needs a minimum change in subject distance to re-focus while on target.
If I defocus and re-focus, it seems to become better, but that should not be the point.

I have given up on wide open apertures but even with 5,6 to 8 there is more than the occasional loss of critically sharp images.

Any ideas, what might explain the behaviour?
Gear is AMFDed and I consider to send it to recalibration after this round.

Thankful for any feedback, input, solutions

Best
drolo61


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## JuanMa (May 6, 2019)

@ drolo61, Love your photos, natural attitudes and beautiful colours. I went from the 5D mark II to the mark IV and I also use a 7D mark II very often. Most used lenses are the 24-70 II, the 70-200 IS II and 100mm 2.8 L which I often use at their maximum apertures f2.8. The mark IV is by far the best of the 3 cameras at focussing and miss very few shots. I do a lot of portraits and pets photography for which the focus has to be locked in the the eyes most of the time. In fact the mark IV is my first camera i find his AF capacities to be ok.
The AF servo is constantly working and keeping the focus, so you might consider to send yours to Canon to check it.


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## AlanF (May 6, 2019)

I also use AI servo, BBF and centre AF point, and find very reliable AF with the 5DIV, certainly better than my 5DIII. Seems your 5DIV has problems.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (May 6, 2019)

Use liveview if possible, AF will be more accurate and you can view at 5X on the screen (if you are on a tripod). 

If you are using the small spot size on the center point, it may not be exactly where you think its at, the red square and the AF sensor can be misaligned. Try using a larger focus area, or face AF and see if it picks up and focuses on the face. My 5D MK IV never has a problem with accurate AF, when I miss its virtually always my fault. I use live view whenever possible.


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## StoicalEtcher (May 6, 2019)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> If you are using the small spot size on the center point, it may not be exactly where you think its at, the red square and the AF sensor can be misaligned


Mt Spokane,
That's very interesting - I have occasionally wondered at how I've missed focus (5Diii) on portraits, where I was sure I had the eye picked out - and maybe your point is a reason - is this something you have read about, or a personal finding? (I'm not challenging your opinion, just interested to read more if possible).
Thanks
Stoical


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## Viggo (May 6, 2019)

Probably not what you want to hear, but this is one of the main reasons I switched from DSLR’s to mirrorless.

ALL bodies I’ve had, mainly. 1-series, starts to miss and need alignment and adjusting after a couple of years. After 4-5 years they started to miss so much I switched for the new model and did the same thing over. Incredibly annoying.

I believe that without mirror and prism etc and the separate AF sensor the problem is down to an absolute minimum...


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## Valvebounce (May 7, 2019)

Hi StoicalEtcher. 
I’ll answer this for you, I’m sure I have seen this in print, with a picture of the AF and the problem is very visual, though I cannot find it now! 
I did find these two items on the Canon Professional Network pages which help understand the issue. 
https://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/tipsandtricks/1110.do
https://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/tipsandtricks/1021.do
I hope this helps. 

Cheers, Graham. 



StoicalEtcher said:


> Mt Spokane,
> That's very interesting - I have occasionally wondered at how I've missed focus (5Diii) on portraits, where I was sure I had the eye picked out - and maybe your point is a reason - is this something you have read about, or a personal finding? (I'm not challenging your opinion, just interested to read more if possible).
> Thanks
> Stoical


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## StoicalEtcher (May 8, 2019)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi StoicalEtcher.
> I’ll answer this for you, I’m sure I have seen this in print, with a picture of the AF and the problem is very visual, though I cannot find it now!
> I did find these two items on the Canon Professional Network pages which help understand the issue.
> https://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/tipsandtricks/1110.do
> ...


Graham,
Many thanks for digging these out.
Cheers
Stoical


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## Rocky (May 15, 2019)

StoicalEtcher said:


> Graham,
> Many thanks for digging these out.
> Cheers
> Stoical


There is a remote possibility that is due to the “aging” of the camera. I have a 40D that is very reliable in AF for 4 year. After that it becomes less and less reliable.


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