-
Hi @rubys_light
I know how frustrating this can be, but I may have some – partial – good news.
Last week I’ve had my first 2 dives with the Canon R5 Mark2/RF 100mm lens and the EMWL (focus unit 2) and was very happy with the AF performance: over 90% of images tack-sharp on the eye, and we’re talking (mostly) moving subjects, continuous tracking (servo), less than ideal visibility, and the animal detection kicked in on most (fish) species, WOW!
Now I’ve only tried it during night dives, with the straight relay and the 100° objective lens. I do want to also shoot it during the day, trying both the 100 and 160° optics, before I can confirm there are no issues with this setup, but I am optimistic.
I realise you’re using the Canon R5 mark 1, but if you’re thinking to upgrade cameras, I’d say you’ll probably be very, very happy by staying with Canon, keeping the same lenses and getting the R5 Mark2. I am preferring it to my Nikon Z9 on a number of areas, and I like it better than the Sony A1 on most. If you can wait, my comprehensive review is due in August, but I am happy to answer a couple of questions in TUC forums beforehand: https://theunderwaterclub.com/forums/discussion/canon-r5-mark-ii-review-anything-youre-curious-about/
The EMWL focus situation is frustrating for users, and tricky for Nauticam too: the system worked really well on pretty much all DSLRs, but we’re seeing those issues with some camera models/lens combinations. For example, Sony shooters had the problem with the Sony 90mm up to the A7R3 camera (from memory), whereas the same lens with more recent Sony bodies seems to play nicely. Unfortunately, that sort of thing sits beyond Nauticam’s control.
With Nikon, I initially thought it was a mirrorless-only issue, but it turns out the Z9/Z8 with the older Nikon 105mm lens works like a charm.
Sometimes it’s down to firmware changes, have you tried upgrading your R5 to the latest firmware?
In anycase, I’ll share an update here once I have had a few more dives with it with other optics, hopefully by end of next week once the ocean calms down here…