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

snerkler said:
Lol. Tbh there’s still a number of back focussed images when she’s running towards the camera even though the AF point is on her face when I’ve reviewed the images.

It’s very odd as every camera and lens combo I’ve had suffers the same. I initially thought it was poor AF performance of the Z7, and the A7RIV, but then I still get it with the A9ii. Now clearly it could be user error, but I’m not sure how when it’s set to AF-C and the AF point is smack bang in the centre of her face. I’ve tried all AF sensitivity levels from 1-5.

With eye-AF it’s definitely worse and it’s often her harness which is in focus. Without eye-af it’s ‘acceptable’ but there’s still a number of back focussed, again tending to be her harness which is focussed.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Betty’s face doesn’t suit AF systems ;) Even when she’s static eye-af struggles to find her eyes and often thinks her ears are her eyes :rolleyes: I have seen it sometimes jump to her harness too.

On the flip side it means the shots I do get are more rewarding as I’ve had to work harder to get them ;)
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Personally I wouldn’t bother with animal eye af for moving animals on the a9. It’s seems quite a way off the a74 and a1 in that regard.

Having said that, the 135mm on the a9 with the animal eye af turned off seems to focus on the eye with my dog running towards me 9 times out of ten. Much better than with the eye af turned on.
 
addicknchips said:
Personally I wouldn’t bother with animal eye af for moving animals on the a9. It’s seems quite a way off the a74 and a1 in that regard.

Having said that, the 135mm on the a9 with the animal eye af turned off seems to focus on the eye with my dog running towards me 9 times out of ten. Much better than with the eye af turned on.
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Mine's the mark II so I'd have expected it to be decent. Eye-AF works better with the animals at Yorkshire Wildlife Park than it does with Betty :lol:
 
addicknchips said:
Personally I wouldn’t bother with animal eye af for moving animals on the a9. It’s seems quite a way off the a74 and a1 in that regard.

Having said that, the 135mm on the a9 with the animal eye af turned off seems to focus on the eye with my dog running towards me 9 times out of ten. Much better than with the eye af turned on.
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Maybe it depends on the subject or there is an issue with your A9.

Both our A9's are superb using animal eye a.f with 3 of our dogs as is our A9II, no issues at all with both of our Jack Russel's and our Labrador. It doesn't have any where near the same hit rate with our Japanese Akita, but does out perform both the A7RIV which is pretty pants on all 4 dogs and our A7IV's which is better than the A7RIV but not as good as the A9.
 
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There was an almost unbelievable thread on Luminous Landscape some time ago in which someone accused Sony of racism as their focus system didn't work so well with non white faces. I have seen this with my ancient A7 but in my innocence I had assumed that any focus issues were down to the lighting and the contrast etc on the subjects face. Mrs WW's skin tone varies and she gets a bit darker when she's been back to Thailand and sometimes even though she's programmed in as the face to look for the camera will rather grab whoever is stood next to her. A clear example of white privilege maybe.

I think LL banned that poster :D
 
Ah Ha! Just what the Sony universe needs... A 55mm manual focus f1.4...

Kamlan 55mm f/1.4 FE lens will be released on August 26th | sonyalpharumors

Kamlan announced that their new 55mm f/1.4 lens will be available for preorder on August 26th for 30,690 yen (tax included). That's around $225. Some image samples can be found at sightron.co.jp/kamlan/55mmF1.4.html Key Features: A standard lens with a maximum aperture of F1.4 for full frame...
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com

They say it's clickless, I'd prefer the option to be able to go clicky or clickless.

Still no option to go out with a camera again today, flat dead light and rain here.
 
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f/2.8 said:
Maybe it depends on the subject or there is an issue with your A9.

Both our A9's are superb using animal eye a.f with 3 of our dogs as is our A9II, no issues at all with both of our Jack Russel's and our Labrador. It doesn't have any where near the same hit rate with our Japanese Akita, but does out perform both the A7RIV which is pretty pants on all 4 dogs and our A7IV's which is better than the A7RIV but not as good as the A9.
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I think for use cameras genuinely struggle to focus on Betty's face, I've had no issue with AF in any other scenario.

Here's another series.

In focus

Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.02.26 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.02.34 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.02.40 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.02.47 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.02.58 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr


Continued next post.......
 
snerkler said:
I think for use cameras genuinely struggle to focus on Betty's face, I've had no issue with AF in any other scenario.

Here's another series.

In focus

Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.02.26 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.02.34 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.02.40 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.02.47 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.02.58 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr


Continued next post.......
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All good but love the last two, Susie never goes near water as the RSPCA told us she has a very big fear of it.
 
OK so I think I've made a step in the right direction to sussing it out. Despite the review on camera appearing to zoom in on the face this software suggests something very different. Now the next question is why is it not sticking to her face. I could understand it more if it jumped to something of a similar colour but to jump from her black face to light tan fur is not something I'd expect.


Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.30.51 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.31.32 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.31.58 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.32.25 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.32.54 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.33.29 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
 
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Apparently the Sigma 24-70 f2.8 is available just under £600 on Amazon Germany right now.
 
A little review...

phillipreeve.net

Laowa FFii 90mm F2.8 CA-Dreamer Macro 2x: getting close! - phillipreeve.net

A couple of years ago, with samples taken on the last major overseas trip I took before Covid closed the world for quite a while, I reviewed the Laowa 100mm macro. I concluded it was good and sharp, a little challenged for flare at longer distances, but absolutely superb in the macro range...
phillipreeve.net phillipreeve.net

Maybe a touch better than the Sony 90mm f2.8?
 
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woof woof said:
Sony regains No.1 spot in Japan...

Sony recaptures the top market share in Japan after resuming orders for popular products | sonyalpharumors

Sony is back on top in Japan after resuming orders on camera like the A6xxx series. Now let's hope the new ZV and A7rV are coming soon! via BCNretail
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com

and as we can see this involves taking orders for popular models which were unavailable for order recently. This could matter for people in the UK.
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I wonder what’s caused the sudden rise again? I’m surprised how low Fuji is.
 
snerkler said:
I wonder what’s caused the sudden rise again? I’m surprised how low Fuji is.
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I assume they stopped taking orders because of chip shortages and wanted available chips to go into higher profit products. I'd assume that they now have enough to produce the less high profit goods again.
 
snerkler said:
OK so I think I've made a step in the right direction to sussing it out. Despite the review on camera appearing to zoom in on the face this software suggests something very different. Now the next question is why is it not sticking to her face. I could understand it more if it jumped to something of a similar colour but to jump from her black face to light tan fur is not something I'd expect.


Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.30.51 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.31.32 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.31.58 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.32.25 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.32.54 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

Screenshot 2022-08-22 at 13.33.29 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
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I get endless back focussed dog pics in the this situation usually hits the mid back area whether they're wearing a harness or not (and yes while taking the shots it shows the focus staying with the face). That's with A7iii and various lenses, I was hoping for future upgrades that the A9/A9ii really dealt with this situation better but it seems not.
 
NewBeetle said:
I get endless back focussed dog pics in the this situation usually hits the mid back area whether they're wearing a harness or not (and yes while taking the shots it shows the focus staying with the face). That's with A7iii and various lenses, I was hoping for future upgrades that the A9/A9ii really dealt with this situation better but it seems not.
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I'm glad it's not just me ;) I'll probably go back to the 'oldschool' method of using AF-C without tracking and 'manually' making sure the AF point stays on her face (y) At least with this I know it's due to the AF point moving off and that it's no back focussing per se.
 
woof woof said:
A little review...

phillipreeve.net

Laowa FFii 90mm F2.8 CA-Dreamer Macro 2x: getting close! - phillipreeve.net

A couple of years ago, with samples taken on the last major overseas trip I took before Covid closed the world for quite a while, I reviewed the Laowa 100mm macro. I concluded it was good and sharp, a little challenged for flare at longer distances, but absolutely superb in the macro range...
phillipreeve.net phillipreeve.net

Maybe a touch better than the Sony 90mm f2.8?
Click to expand...
Depends if it's purely for macro IMO is a lot better than the Sony.
 
f/2.8 said:
Maybe it depends on the subject or there is an issue with your A9.

Both our A9's are superb using animal eye a.f with 3 of our dogs as is our A9II, no issues at all with both of our Jack Russel's and our Labrador. It doesn't have any where near the same hit rate with our Japanese Akita, but does out perform both the A7RIV which is pretty pants on all 4 dogs and our A7IV's which is better than the A7RIV but not as good as the A9.
Click to expand...

Strange. I’ve had 5 a9’s and while the animal eye af works it doesn’t work as well as the canons or the a7iv when it comes to tracking fast moving animals.
 
addicknchips said:
Strange. I’ve had 5 a9’s and while the animal eye af works it doesn’t work as well as the canons or the a7iv when it comes to tracking fast moving animals.
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5xA9. !! You need to settle on one mate !!! lol ..
 
T_J_G said:
Played with an A1 at the weekend - what a camera. Still I don’t be spending £4.5k on one.
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Where've you seen an A1 for £4.5k, or does that include trade in?
 
nog said:
Who was it that said similar about the 70-200 GM II:thinking::)
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True enough :lol: However, I did have some camera gear I could sell to make up most of the cost, I don’t have that luxury anymore. I’ve not looked into it but I’d imagine I’d get around £2k for the A9ii meaning I’d have to magic £2.8k from somewhere ;)
 
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