R8 & RF 100-400 difficulties with autofocus?

Discussion in 'Canon EOS R Series' started by pirix, Apr 26, 2026.

  1. pirix

    pirix New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2024
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    Location:
    Finland
    Equipment:
    Canon EOS R8
    Canon RF 100-400mm f:5.6-8.0 IS USM
    Especially after put the power on, the autofocus does not work. After many trying to different target the AF wakes up. Is the fault of the camera or the lens. Or maybe the photographer?
     

  2. johnsey

    johnsey Site Moderator Staff Member Site Supporter

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    5dMk4, 5dsR, 5dMk2, 20D, 70-200 2.8L IS, 100mm 2.8 Macro USM, 50mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8, 17-40mm 4.0L, TS-E 24mm 3.5L II, Rokinon 14mm 2.8; Pixma Pro-100
    I have not used RF lenses to speak to this lens or camera combination....

    But, are you finding it consistently has issues finding focus regardless of the brightness/contrast of the scene?
    Autofocus thrives on good contrast in the scene for the focus points to lock onto, so if the situation is dimly lit you may have some struggles. With a slower lens like a f5.6 or f8 this can show a bit more.
    brightly lit situations should not have any issues however so if you go outside on a sunny day and the AF is not snappy, I would think the lens may have an issue with its focus system.
     
  3. Caladina

    Caladina Well-Known Member

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    Equipment:
    Canon M50
    Canon 18-45mm m, Canon 18-150mm m, Canon 55-200mm m, Canon 22mm m, Canon 28mm m macro,
    Sigma 100-400c ef, Sigma 18-35mm art ef,
    7artisans 7.5mm m, Laowa 100mm macro ef, laowa 9mm zeroD m, Vintage M42 Lenses:
    Ashi Super - Takumar 1.8 / 55mm,
    do you have any images where the af was struggling, you could swith the lens / camera to manual focus at that point and take an image even if its not focused so we can see what may be causing it
    maybe if you have it in a Manual mode on the main dial your settings may be hard for the camera to gain focus.
    switching to auto mode on the main dial it should find focus straight away if conditions are normal as this will over ride any settings you would have in the camera yourself, ie if you have set iso far too bright or shutter speed far too slow the camera will ignore all that in full auto, if it still has trouble focusing there maybe something to look at with the lens or body itself
     

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