Focus confirmation light on canon 6d

Clarification, please. When you say manual mode you are refering to the camera mode dial set in Manual not Shutter priority or Aperture priority or Green Full Auto. And you are not refering to the lens being in MF (manual focus) as opposed to AF. If you are talking MF (manual focus), not AF the 6D camera will not confirm focus in manual focus mode, it does not have that feature like you might find on a Sony A7III or A7RIII. I believe Sony calls The feature Manual Focus Peaking. With the 6D in manual focus you will need to rely on your eyes to determine focus sharpness. One trick however is to go into Liveview mode and zoom in on the LCD screen so you can manually focus and see if the details you are interested in are sharp.

If AF is on, on the lens and you can not get AF lock, is this in low light, is it a particular lens. Some lenses work better than others in low light and you may find best performance with center point focus as this is the only cross type focus point on the 6D. I know when I used my 6D with a Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 sometimes it would take a few tries to focus in low light.

If the problem happens in good light and this is a native Canon EOS lens, see if the contacts between the lens and camera body are clean. Try another lens to rule out a camera or lens issue.

If this is a non Canon native lens, try the above, but there are times some third party lenses and Canon camera bodies don't play nice and there may be a camera body and/or lens firmware update needed to fix issues.

In MF, the focus confirmation light has come on in every Canon DSLR I've owned (with a half press of the button, and the center AF point in focus of course). It even flashes.

However, I too would like clarification.

If the autofocus sensor is working at all (you're getting a flickering light)... It might just be very sensitive, especially at shorter distances. If you or your subject is swaying at all, or if an area of contrast is moving away from the AF point (it won't focus on a blue sky or white wall, obviously), it may genuinely not be able to tell if you're in focus.

The lens does work in autofocus, though? Just checking for dirty contacts.

In MF, the focus confirmation light has come on in every Canon DSLR I've owned (with a half press of the button, and the center AF point in focus of course). It even flashes.

 

However, I too would like clarification.

I think that is just the point it is metering from, but no focusing is taking place. Or are you saying you are doing half a press and manually focusing and it beeps when in focus? :confused: I am pretty sure it will beep even if the image is not perfectly focused.

It works on my 6D, in MF mode, focus point lit up for split second and beep sounds, green confirmation light below stays on if I can keep camera steady enough.

And is the lens in focus on the subject, near focus or noticably not in focus. Does it not light up if not in focus? If so it is a feature I never used. Perhaps I would just see the focus light up because I got good a nailing manual focus. When in manual focus I would use my eyes or liveview magnify to confirm sharpness. If this is tack sharp guranteed, gee I wish I knew that years ago. Lol.

For what it's worth, Nikon's autofocus confirmation is (I believe) less precise in manual focus mode - that is, if the AF confirmation light is on in manual mode and you switch to autofocus, the autofocus will still shift before providing confirmation. You can see the difference if you use back-button focus (which is, from the system's perspective, "autofocus") and focus manually. Presumably the idea was to make the autofocus confirmation less "twitchy" when in true manual focus mode. I don't remember Canon doing this, but I probably never checked.

I don't tend to trust my eyes (or the mirror/finder alignment) for more than approximate focus. Although at wide apertures I don't entirely trust the AF system either, and use live view if I have the chance. I used to like the old A-Dep Canon mode that would light up AF points as you hit them - particularly (although not necessarily reliably) with a tilt-shift lens; I gather this behaviour is no longer present on recent bodies. Focus peaking is the nearest modern equivalent, but that's only "in focus" at the resolution of the LCD.

For the OP's issue, I'm still assuming a dodgy lens connection that's affected by moving the lens on the mount, since (IIRC) Canon's AF system won't play unless it think it has an AF lens attached. It'd be nice to know, though.

And is the lens in focus on the subject, near focus or noticably not in focus. Does it not light up if not in focus? If so it is a feature I never used. Perhaps I would just see the focus light up because I got good a nailing manual focus. When in manual focus I would use my eyes or liveview magnify to confirm sharpness. If this is tack sharp guranteed, gee I wish I knew that years ago. Lol.

If I move camera, green confirmation light is gone.