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

Bobsyeruncle said:
Why is the bird eye af such a deal breaker?
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not a deal beaker but a deal maker for canon :)
like human eyeAF was when Sony first camera out with it.

GyRob said:
I think it's too early to say bird eyeAF doesn't work I really hope it does perhaps it just settings need Mark Galer on it , but it doesn't put me off, the A9 af is so good and this is said to be better so i don't see it as a problem .
That said they should at leased match The r5 for bird eye if the canon really does beat the a1 that won't help them sell so many .
Rob.
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All reports seems to say the same i.e. the animal eyeAF is great but the birds' isn't.
 
Would bird eye af be something wick firmware could sort out, or is it a hardware restriction?
 
Back and forth, back and forth. I personally think unless you are at a point swapping from DSLR to mirrorless and need a new mount, going between Sony to Canon or Canon to Sony is much of muchness if you already have one.

My point is Sony will be working on it to get it better.
 
gman said:
Would bird eye af be something wick firmware could sort out, or is it a hardware restriction?
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It may well be fixable by FW update but I don't buy bodies (especially no 6.5K one) hoping they'll improve it via. a firmware update. Especially not sony anyway.

Raymond Lin said:
Back and forth, back and forth. I personally think unless you are at a point swapping from DSLR to mirrorless and need a new mount, going between Sony to Canon or Canon to Sony is much of muchness if you already have one.

My point is Sony will be working on it to get it better.
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My point is why isn't it already better especially on a £6.5K body with stacked sensor, dual processors and whatnots. canon seems to have managed with £2.5k and £3.9k bodies.
 
nandbytes said:
My point is why isn't it already better especially on a £6.5K body with stacked sensor, dual processors and whatnots. canon seems to have managed with £2.5k and £3.9k bodies.
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In an perfect world if Sony and Canon share the same programmer and IP, sure. I am sure they don't so since Canon took time to catch up with Eye EF (at the same time developed Animal and Bird), Sony had to play catch up, and still is.

Not a perfect world. I understand your frustration, it is similar to my dual card rant, the difference here is rather they wouldn't but rather they simply don't have the tech yet, or refined it enough.
 
GyRob said:
I think it's too early to say bird eyeAF doesn't work I really hope it does perhaps it just settings need Mark Galer on it , but it doesn't put me off, the A9 af is so good and this is said to be better so i don't see it as a problem .
That said they should at leased match The r5 for bird eye if the canon really does beat the a1 that won't help them sell so many .

Rob.
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I’ve seen enough to know that bird eye af isn’t as good as Canon,....... yet
nandbytes said:
not a deal beaker but a deal maker for canon :)
like human eyeAF was when Sony first camera out with it.



All reports seems to say the same i.e. the animal eyeAF is great but the birds' isn't.
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I’m not sure eye-af was a deal maker was it, did people swap just for this feature?

Bird eye af wouldn’t be a deal breaker per se, however for £6.5k I would expect it to be the best at that current time. If they fix it via firmware then I’d question why they released it in the first place before it was ready.
 
snerkler said:
I’m not sure eye-af was a deal maker was it, did people swap just for this feature?

Bird eye af wouldn’t be a deal breaker per se, however for £6.5k I would expect it to be the best at that current time. If they fix it via firmware then I’d question why they released it in the first place before it was ready.
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I know many people mainly those that shot humans swap for human eyeAF.
 
Raymond Lin said:
In an perfect world if Sony and Canon share the same programmer and IP, sure. I am sure they don't so since Canon took time to catch up with Eye EF (at the same time developed Animal and Bird), Sony had to play catch up, and still is.

Not a perfect world. I understand your frustration, it is similar to my dual card rant, the difference here is rather they wouldn't but rather they simply don't have the tech yet, or refined it enough.
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I think Sony is doing what canon did. Doing only just enough to keep people interested but not going over and above because they don't need to. They have captured the customer base now.

Hardware wise because they are a market leader in sensors and they have huge R&D so that'll always be top class. But even there that recycle their old sensors and processors if they can get away with it.
 
Sadly it makes good business sense. At work we have only a couple of camera modules we use in various configurations, features get turned off for cheaper cameras for instance. We update maybe once every 10 years.
 
nandbytes said:
I think Sony is doing what canon did. Doing only just enough to keep people interested but not going over and above because they don't need to. They have captured the customer base now.

Hardware wise because they are a market leader in sensors and they have huge R&D so that'll always be top class. But even there that recycle their old sensors and processors if they can get away with it.
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Have Sony got much of the Pro share, I’d imagine that’s still predominantly Canon?
 
snerkler said:
Have Sony got much of the Pro share, I’d imagine that’s still predominantly Canon?
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Not sure how much of a pro market share they have. And they are mostly useless from a purely profits and sales number of view. They are more a "prestige" thing. For example a common reason people used to give on dpreview for buying canikon was that all the "pros" use them so they much be good. Even though the person may be buying a £500 D3000 but the fact that D5 appears in Olympics makes them feel good about their choice.
This video explains sentiment pretty well
View: https://youtu.be/4iMu14-LVmw


Sony is clearly going after that too and most of them probably couldn't care less about the bird eyeAF.
 
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Watching the rugby but seemingly Scotland do better when I'm on my phone instead of watching, so the wife has demanded I get back on my phone :D, so I stated looking up the dual card setup of the A9 and came across this page link, in particular the last line of the second last post. It would suggest I can record my raw files to the uhs-ii slot and video to the uhs-i slot? I've copied the text below. Could this be true?


Sort(/):
Records a still image to a memory card in the memory card slot that you select in [Select Rec. Media], and records a movie to the other memory card.
 
gman said:
Watching the rugby but seemingly Scotland do better when I'm on my phone instead of watching, so the wife has demanded I get back on my phone :D, so I stated looking up the dual card setup of the A9 and came across this page link, in particular the last line of the second last post. It would suggest I can record my raw files to the uhs-ii slot and video to the uhs-i slot? I've copied the text below. Could this be true?


Sort(/):
Records a still image to a memory card in the memory card slot that you select in [Select Rec. Media], and records a movie to the other memory card.
Click to expand...
Try it and see.
It works for raw to card 1 and jpeg to card 2
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
Try it and see.
It works for raw to card 1 and jpeg to card 2
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Alas I only have one card as the UHS-II one hasn't arrived yet. I had two UHS-I cards but left one in the D750, whoops. Got tons of CF cards though lol
 
gman said:
Watching the rugby but seemingly Scotland do better when I'm on my phone instead of watching, so the wife has demanded I get back on my phone :D, so I stated looking up the dual card setup of the A9 and came across this page link, in particular the last line of the second last post. It would suggest I can record my raw files to the uhs-ii slot and video to the uhs-i slot? I've copied the text below. Could this be true?


Sort(/):
Records a still image to a memory card in the memory card slot that you select in [Select Rec. Media], and records a movie to the other memory card.
Click to expand...

I've seen a few guides that claim the Sony cameras can store images to one card and videos to another. I was caught out one time as I'd filled the buffer which took a while to empty and wanted to take a video in the meantime but couldn't until the buffer emptied so meant to get around to setting it up.
 
snerkler said:
As mentioned, read speed is essentially just how quickly your files will transfer to the computer. If using an SD card reader (as I do) as opposed to cable from the camera just make sure it's a UHS-II card reader otherwise you'll only get UHS-I read speeds.
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Sorry, I missed this part of your post. I'm using a Kingston FCR-HS4. I've had it for a long time but it's been ultra reliable. It transfers from my Sandisk Extreme 90MB/s rated card at about 83MB/s so I guess that's ok. Will be interesting to see how it does with UHS-II.
 
gman said:
Watching the rugby but seemingly Scotland do better when I'm on my phone instead of watching, so the wife has demanded I get back on my phone :D, so I stated looking up the dual card setup of the A9 and came across this page link, in particular the last line of the second last post. It would suggest I can record my raw files to the uhs-ii slot and video to the uhs-i slot? I've copied the text below. Could this be true?


Sort(/):
Records a still image to a memory card in the memory card slot that you select in [Select Rec. Media], and records a movie to the other memory card.
Click to expand...
Yes, it works.
You can have various combinations.
I was sent this for recording raw stills on one card and jpeg on the other by @Fuji Dave .....
When in the menu, you can see the different combinations that you can use....works for raw stills, raw movies and jpegs

visualsbychin.com

How to Record RAW in Slot 1 and JPEG in Slot 2 on Sony Alpha Cameras - VisualsByChin.com

Step by step instructions on how to configure your Sony Alpha camera to record RAW in Slot 1, and JPEG in Slot 2.
visualsbychin.com visualsbychin.com
 
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Bobsyeruncle said:
Yes, it works.
You can have various combinations.
I was sent this for recording raw stills on one card and jpeg on the other by @Fuji Dave .....
When in the menu, you can see the different combinations that you can use....works for raw stills, raw movies and jpegs

visualsbychin.com

How to Record RAW in Slot 1 and JPEG in Slot 2 on Sony Alpha Cameras - VisualsByChin.com

Step by step instructions on how to configure your Sony Alpha camera to record RAW in Slot 1, and JPEG in Slot 2.
visualsbychin.com visualsbychin.com
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Nice one thanks, I'll favourite that for when my card arrives.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
I don't either.....
I would if it was something important, but not for day to day stuff.
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I am too lazy to keep swapping, it would be just my luck to swap it back for a wedding and knowing my luck it will be the day when the card fails.

Plus why would I be such a rush for write speed shooting day to day stuff? So it's Dual RAW 100%.
 
The unpredictability of children and dogs playing can often mean an even better shot presents itself right after you've just fired off a long burst trying to capture that one perfect moment. I suppose I need to weigh up which is more important, this or the loss from a card failure.
 
If it's day to day stuff surely it doesn't THAT much in terms of it's not fast enough for the buffer to clear? But whatever floats your boat I guess. I just think the day I forget to switch it back will be the day a card fail at a job.
 
snerkler said:
I’ve seen enough to know that bird eye af isn’t as good as Canon,....... yet
I’m not sure eye-af was a deal maker was it, did people swap just for this feature?

Bird eye af wouldn’t be a deal breaker per se, however for £6.5k I would expect it to be the best at that current time. If they fix it via firmware then I’d question why they released it in the first place before it was ready.
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well they all seem to do that my new 1dmk3 had to go back for a new mirrow box and even now the r5 can over heat and some have had lock ups the 1dxmkIII had lubricant splatter problems I'm sure there are more too from other manufactures
I had Canon from the AE1 and really liked them so i'm not knocking them they all seem to be in a rush to get things out Sony just wanted to beat the new top mirrow less from Canon .
Rob.
 
gman said:
The unpredictability of children and dogs playing can often mean an even better shot presents itself right after you've just fired off a long burst trying to capture that one perfect moment. I suppose I need to weigh up which is more important, this or the loss from a card failure.
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They get a bit more predictable when they become teenagers :ROFLMAO:
 
GyRob said:
well they all seem to do that my new 1dmk3 had to go back for a new mirrow box and even now the r5 can over heat and some have had lock ups the 1dxmkIII had lubricant splatter problems I'm sure there are more too from other manufactures
I had Canon from the AE1 and really liked them so i'm not knocking them they all seem to be in a rush to get things out Sony just wanted to beat the new top mirrow less from Canon .
Rob.
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That’s slightly different though (except the overheating), they’re problems that they didn’t see. Sony clearly know how well the af works.

Maybe they don’t care as they see it as a sports cam, it’s just picky people like me that expect a new flagship camera to be at least as good as the current leader ;)
 
snerkler said:
That’s slightly different though (except the overheating), they’re problems that they didn’t see. Sony clearly know how well the af works.

Maybe they don’t care as they see it as a sports cam, it’s just picky people like me that expect a new flagship camera to be at least as good as the current leader ;)
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The way I see it they either don't know in which case thier market research is poor and they won't be able to compete or they do know in which case it's either:
1. They just don't have the technical capability to do it
OR
2. It's just not a priority for them over other things so they don't care.

Considering Sony started this whole animal eyeAF business with their massive A9 firmware update 2 years ago, I don't believe that they are so technically lacking they couldn't hack it after two years. They haven't dedicated the required R&D effort in this area.

Time for one of my engineering vs. marketing conversations :D

Marketing: is the A1 ready yet, the R5 is getting all the attention and we need a headline flagship with massive specs
Engineering: it's getting there....
Marketing: what's missing?
Engineering: well there is the bird eyeAF thing
Marketing: you still haven't added it? How much longer?
Engineering: we have added the option but it'll take more optimization to.....
Marketing: ship it!
Engineering: but it's not....
Marketing: don't worry most YouTubers and online reviewers with test it on their pet dog or cat and we'll get a couple artisans to say it's the best thing since sliced bread. Sorted!
So shall we say Jan 2021 release then?
 
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Is the DoF really that shallow when photographing birds that you need eye-AF?
 
gman said:
Is the DoF really that shallow when photographing birds that you need eye-AF?
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Any photo needs correct focus, but yes dof can be very shallow and even the slightest missed focus can ‘ruin’ the shot.

But do you need eye-af? No not at all, I with everyone else have managed to capture animal and human photos with pin point focus on the eye without the need for such features. It can make life easier though.
 
snerkler said:
Any photo needs correct focus, but yes dof can be very shallow and even the slightest missed focus can ‘ruin’ the shot.

But do you need eye-af? No not at all, I with everyone else have managed to capture animal and human photos with pin point focus on the eye without the need for such features. It can make life easier though.
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I was just having a look at a DoF calculator and putting in something like a 600mm lens, f2.8 and with a x2 tele and say the bird is 100m away then it returns a DoF of 2.33m, almost equal front and rear. If you are on focus with the bird then would the eyes not fall well within the DoF?

EDIT: Although perhaps not so straight forward for birds flying directly towards you?
 
gman said:
I was just having a look at a DoF calculator and putting in something like a 600mm lens, f2.8 and with a x2 tele and say the bird is 100m away then it returns a DoF of 2.33m, almost equal front and rear. If you are on focus with the bird then would the eyes not fall well within the DoF?

EDIT: Although perhaps not so straight forward for birds flying directly towards you?
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100m is a long way away, if I’m lucky some of the bird shots I’ve taken have been 10 feet away with a 600mm lens, and even then they’re a way off filling the frame (garden birds such as bluetits and robins)
 
snerkler said:
That’s slightly different though (except the overheating), they’re problems that they didn’t see. Sony clearly know how well the af works.

Maybe they don’t care as they see it as a sports cam, it’s just picky people like me that expect a new flagship camera to be at least as good as the current leader ;)
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The fact that they did not see it just shows they did not test it enough like Sony if this is true about the bird AF, but I do agree these things should work from the start they should do before release .

Rob.
 
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