The Amazing Sony A1/A7/A9/APS-C & Anything else welcome Mega Thread!

I'm using an a7rii and I can't get much luck with keeping the kids in focus when they are running around. I've got the right SS etc etc and do get the images on a D750 so what am I doing wrong? I suspect horses for courses and I'm using a fine art camera for action photos but I was drawn in by the eye-af. Any tips or words of wisdom appreciated and thanks in advance.
 
I do find the auto focus system can miss some obvious static stuff which seems weird given how well it does with action.
jonneymendoza said:
You don't. I'd buy the sigma all day between the two. It's just that the metabones was the first to come out
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The Metabones still seems to work better than the Sigma from the little I've used both.
 
simonbarker said:
I do find the auto focus system can miss some obvious static stuff which seems weird given how well it does with action.

The Metabones still seems to work better than the Sigma from the little I've used both.
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Interesting, the take I get from recent videos is that Sigma is the one to go with over the metabones?
 
WWA said:
I'm using an a7rii and I can't get much luck with keeping the kids in focus when they are running around. I've got the right SS etc etc and do get the images on a D750 so what am I doing wrong? I suspect horses for courses and I'm using a fine art camera for action photos but I was drawn in by the eye-af. Any tips or words of wisdom appreciated and thanks in advance.
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What AF settings did you use on the D750 and what are you using on the A7iii. From what I’ve seen Eye-AF is good for static portraits and subjects moving in a constant direction but not so good with erratic movement. That’s only from watching videos though.
 
snerkler said:
What AF settings did you use on the D750 and what are you using on the A7iii. From what I’ve seen Eye-AF is good for static portraits and subjects moving in a constant direction but not so good with erratic movement. That’s only from watching videos though.
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A7r2, the d750 af is superior in comparison.
 
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WWA said:
I'm using an a7rii and I can't get much luck with keeping the kids in focus when they are running around. I've got the right SS etc etc and do get the images on a D750 so what am I doing wrong? I suspect horses for courses and I'm using a fine art camera for action photos but I was drawn in by the eye-af. Any tips or words of wisdom appreciated and thanks in advance.
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I would expect the D750 to perform better. From what Sony say the 3rd gen models are twice as good AF wise that the 2nd gen models.

So the A7R3 and A73 will perform much better. I know this doesn’t really help much!

Also lens dependent too!
 
One thing I am disliking a lot on the A73 is the smaller the aperture the more the frame rate drops. So over f/8 if you move the screen it rather feels like looking at a computer from the 90's trying to play a video, this occurs after acquiring focus via a button or half pressing the shutter.

I don't understand why it behaves this way, what's the advantage of stopping down the aperture before the shot is taken?
 
simonbarker said:
One thing I am disliking a lot on the A73 is the smaller the aperture the more the frame rate drops. So over f/8 if you move the screen it rather feels like looking at a computer from the 90's trying to play a video, this occurs after acquiring focus via a button or half pressing the shutter.

I don't understand why it behaves this way, what's the advantage of stopping down the aperture before the shot is taken?
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To simulate depth of field
 
simonbarker said:
One thing I am disliking a lot on the A73 is the smaller the aperture the more the frame rate drops. So over f/8 if you move the screen it rather feels like looking at a computer from the 90's trying to play a video, this occurs after acquiring focus via a button or half pressing the shutter.

I don't understand why it behaves this way, what's the advantage of stopping down the aperture before the shot is taken?
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dancook said:
To simulate depth of field
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I thought it was to prevent focus shift errors? I know people complained of this is the earlier models but Sony fixed it on the A9 and A7riii apparently when you turn settings effect (or whatever it’s called) off. It does appear like the gremlin is back with the A7iii with certain lenses for some reason.
 
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jonneymendoza said:
No it's not.the a7r2 Is good at af.ive owned and used it for over 2years Vs you who's used it for 2min and then sold it
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You’re saying the D750 AF is not better than the A7rii? I know you’re pro Sony and all that Jonney but..... ;) :p
 
snerkler said:
You’re saying the D750 AF is not better than the A7rii? I know you’re pro Sony and all that Jonney but..... ;) :p
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I’m sorry to say this, but to me the Fuji XT-2 seemed to AF better than my Sony A7R II’s, especially in AF-C / tracking etc.
I’m pretty sure the Nikon D750 would perform better than the Sony A7R II, especially in lower light situations.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I’m walking backwards, with the 5D4 I’m using single point focus so when I’m walking backwards there’s a little wobble with each step and the focus point can move off the eye or even the face. With the Sony it doesn’t matter, the focus locks on to the eye no matter what.
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Reason for using single point on the 5D4 rather than zone with face tracking (and selecting initial AF point if needed)?
 
snerkler said:
You’re saying the D750 AF is not better than the A7rii?
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There are cases where A7RII would work better and also many cases where D750 would handle things better.
But A7RII isn't as bad as it's sometimes portrayed here (or conversely as good as some people may think it is ;) )
 
Riz_Guru said:
I’m sorry to say this, but to me the Fuji XT-2 seemed to AF better than my Sony A7R II’s, especially in AF-C / tracking etc.
I’m pretty sure the Nikon D750 would perform better than the Sony A7R II, especially in lower light situations.
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Perhaps you would know better if you shot with your cameras ;)
 
nandbytes said:
There are cases where A7RII would work better and also many cases where D750 would handle things better.
But A7RII isn't as bad as it's sometimes portrayed here (or conversely as good as some people may think it is ;) )
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In what scenario would the A7rii be better?
 
snerkler said:
In what scenario would the A7rii be better?
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Any place you can make good use of eye-AF. A7RII was the first body to make it work very well along with a very good AF frame coverage over the sensor. Also for video A7RII will fair lot better than D750 for AF.
 
Riz_Guru said:
That’s fine, I just found the Fuji XT-2 better for tracking and it just felt more snappier.
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Not my experience despite it being rather limited. Tbh I was put off by their slow lenses especially the 56mm f1.2 which is the slowest lens ever. In comparison my FE85/1.8 is lightning speed. So for me it doesn't matter if they have the world's best AF system with a snail pace 85mm F1.8 equivalent.
 
nandbytes said:
Not my experience despite it being rather limited. Tbh I was put off by their slow lenses especially the 56mm f1.2 which is the slowest lens ever. In comparison my FE85/1.8 is lightning speed. So for me it doesn't matter if they have the world's best AF system with a snail pace 85mm F1.8 equivalent.
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Some of the earlier Fuji glass is quite slow, 14, 23, 35, 56 - probably all needing a “modernisation” now.
 
chrism_scotland said:
Some of the earlier Fuji glass is quite slow, 14, 23, 35, 56 - probably all needing a “modernisation” now.
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But they are the best ones ! :p

CmyO9hi.jpg
 
nandbytes said:
Not my experience despite it being rather limited. Tbh I was put off by their slow lenses especially the 56mm f1.2 which is the slowest lens ever. In comparison my FE85/1.8 is lightning speed. So for me it doesn't matter if they have the world's best AF system with a snail pace 85mm F1.8 equivalent.
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I found the 23 and 35 much improved on the x-t2.
My keeper rate wasn’t so high with the 56. But it is lovely bit of glass. X-t2 focus system comes into its own with the 16-55, 90, 50-140 and 100-400. The smaller primes are meant to be very good but apart from the 23f2 I stuck with the 1.4’s.

The Sony 85mm 1.8 is very snappy though. really good lens.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Face tracking on 5D4 ?

Are you shooting via the LCD in Live view?
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Hi Raymond, using back button continuous AF with EOS iTR AF and face detection selected. (Page 147 of the manual?)
 
addicknchips said:
I found the 23 and 35 much improved on the x-t2.
My keeper rate wasn’t so high with the 56. But it is lovely bit of glass. X-t2 focus system comes into its own with the 16-55, 90, 50-140 and 100-400. The smaller primes are meant to be very good but apart from the 23f2 I stuck with the 1.4’s.

The Sony 85mm 1.8 is very snappy though. really good lens.
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Supposed to be improved again on the XH1, if it ever turns up!
Not good for my procrastination... if the XH1 had arrived as expected I’d have been shooting with it, as it stands it might be the end of the week... having second thoughts now!
 
snerkler said:
I thought it was to prevent focus shift errors? I know people complained of this is the earlier models but Sony fixed it on the A9 and A7riii apparently when you turn settings effect (or whatever it’s called) off. It does appear like the gremlin is back with the A7iii with certain lenses for some reason.
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Well I really hope they fix it, it's a nuisance I can tolerate but that's mainly because I don't use af-c. It'd pretty much mean you should avoid this camera if that's how you like to shoot.
 
newbie1 said:
Hi Raymond, using back button continuous AF with EOS iTR AF and face detection selected. (Page 147 of the manual?)
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I have to admit even though that is actually switched on, I never knew it can do that but I also never shoot wide focus points spread and let the camera pick, it’s just never my way of using a DSLR. I’ve always used spot focus because I almost always shoot wide open so I want to land at X spot always.
 
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