p.178 #1 · Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
Makes sense because if you are shooting a face, you will anyway want the focus point there and not some place else in the frame...
itai195 wrote:
My A7 certainly doesn't do that. My Fuji cameras do. On the A7, it will show the face detection box, but if the face is not inside of the single AF point then the face detection box will not turn green and focus will not be on the face. Switching to wide area AF mode is what's needed to make this work similarly to Fuji, where the camera will always focus on a face if it sees on.
p.178 #2 · Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
nandadevieast wrote:
Makes sense because if you are shooting a face, you will anyway want the focus point there and not some place else in the frame...
not exactly... I want to switch FD on/off w/o changing my prev. focus mode at all - so for example in m43 that works way better, if I want to detect faces and focus on faces I do not need to change the prev. focusing mode at all, even if I have the smallest AF point set in a corner of a screen I can switch FD on and focus on a face w/o any hassle and then just return back to my prev. focusing mode or if FD fails I still can move that small AF point to focus on area of the face that I need...
p.178 #3 · Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
itai195 wrote:
My A7 certainly doesn't do that. My Fuji cameras do. On the A7, it will show the face detection box, but if the face is not inside of the single AF point then the face detection box will not turn green and focus will not be on the face. Switching to wide area AF mode is what's needed to make this work similarly to Fuji, where the camera will always focus on a face if it sees on.
I'm fairly certain that it worked for me. In most cases, I have the AF point set to center and I've gotten the face detect to lock and focus no matter where in the frame it was. I know in one case the AF was in the center and there were three faces in the frame (left, center, and right). I half pressed the shutter and it locked on the face on the left. The AF point was set to smallest size so I'm pretty certain there was no overlap.
I'm 100% certain that if you press the eye focus button that the AF point and face don't have to overlap.
p.178 #5 · Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
bcaslis wrote:
I'm fairly certain that it worked for me. In most cases, I have the AF point set to center and I've gotten the face detect to lock and focus no matter where in the frame it was. I know in one case the AF was in the center and there were three faces in the frame (left, center, and right). I half pressed the shutter and it locked on the face on the left. The AF point was set to smallest size so I'm pretty certain there was no overlap.
I'm 100% certain that if you press the eye focus button that the AF point and face don't have to overlap. ...Show more →
I tried it with my A7 and could not get it to lock focus if the face is out of the focus box area (small point, center point, etc.). If you figure out how you got this to work, please post settings.
The only thing I found surprising is his comment that for normal exposures, 200 is the best ISO setting. DXO shows more dynamic range at 100, so I'm not sure why 200 would be better. If anyone can explain this, I'd appreciate it.
p.178 #7 · Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
mco_970 wrote:
I tried it with my A7 and could not get it to lock focus if the face is out of the focus box area (small point, center point, etc.). If you figure out how you got this to work, please post settings.
This does seem to work if you hold down the eye detection button. I suppose the advantage is that you can avoid having to switch AF modes and just stay in single point, hitting the button when you want to use face detection.
p.178 #8 · Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
itai195 wrote:
This does seem to work if you hold down the eye detection button. I suppose the advantage is that you can avoid having to switch AF modes and just stay in single point, hitting the button when you want to use face detection.
Yes you have to hold the center button (default) and let the camera lock the subject's eye. If there is no lock, that means there is not enough contrast. While holding the center button, press the shutter button to capture the image.
p.178 #11 · Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
By default, it's the center button in the wheel. If you hold that, it triggers eye detection AF mode. It's actually a nice feature when implemented well (e.g. on Oly bodies).
p.178 #13 · Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
phigment wrote:
Perhaps my search abilities are lacking, but I couldn't find too many comments about the placement of the shutter release.
Does its placement bother anybody else?
I find it awkward to move my finger to the top of the camera (and around the strap when it's attached). It just doesn't feel naturally placed.
I hate it and find it awkward in the same way. I wish it were the same as the NEX-6 & 7. The front dial and the shutter button should be switched. It's something I'll work past for now, but if someone came out with an "extension" gizmo that let me press to the left of the front dial, I'd buy it.
p.178 #14 · Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
I don't like the shutter button placement, either. Basically, I've taken off the strap lugs and it bothers me less. I've also swapped the functions of the dials, so that I can use the back dial for aperture and simply leave my index finger on the shutter button rather than having to hunt for the aperture dial all the time. That makes it workable enough for me.
p.178 #18 · Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
I've been wondering about HIGH ISOs on the A7(r). When I'm using AUTO ISO on my A7, I have my ISO maxed at 6400. For B+W images, 6400 isn't all that bad, but in low light color images it can me a pain to rid of the noise while recovering detail.
I just wanted to get a general consensus on the average maximum, whether using AUTO or manually controlling, ISO for the A7 & A7r user.
Any thoughts, advice and/or reasoning on choice of maximum ISO applied/allowed?
p.178 #19 · Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
A stated ISO 6400 for both the 24Mp and 36Mp sensors, that is the short answer for quasi-normal image finishing. At 100% you are looking much more closely at the 36Mp of the identically performing a7r sensor, so swap back to full view as you work the noise/sharpening controls. A 1200 pixel wide window is 16% of the a7r image but 20% of the a7/RX1/a99 image.
Stated ISO 8000 is fine if you accept the commensurate loss of DR/colour integrity as colours block up and recovery gets more problematic at both ends. At the top is ISO 10000 to 'get the shot' and do the work. All personal preferences based on colour representation.
At high ISO, don't underexpose or push shadows much in post, and if possible shoot RAW and stay in a wide space (e.g. ProPhoto) until the output stage. Manipulate files in inverse proportion to ISO levels. Retain enough noise to provide bite to details - don't overdo NR.
Finally, ISO in Sony cameras is almost totally linear so the maxim that all ISO levels up to ISO xxxx are much the same could not be more incorrect. Therefore for low light work I recommend manual ISO setting, the lower the better to ISO 100, 50 for over-exposure control. I am no fan of Auto ISO, except when necessary. Each stop costs you plenty.
p.178 #20 · Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
philip_pj wrote:
A stated ISO 6400 for both the 24Mp and 36Mp sensors, that is the short answer for quasi-normal image finishing. At 100% you are looking much more closely at the 36Mp of the identically performing a7r sensor, so swap back to full view as you work the noise/sharpening controls. A 1200 pixel wide window is 16% of the a7r image but 20% of the a7/RX1/a99 image.
Stated ISO 8000 is fine if you accept the commensurate loss of DR/colour integrity as colours block up and recovery gets more problematic at both ends. At the top is ISO 10000 to 'get the shot' and do the work. All personal preferences based on colour representation.
At high ISO, don't underexpose or push shadows much in post, and if possible shoot RAW and stay in a wide space (e.g. ProPhoto) until the output stage. Manipulate files in inverse proportion to ISO levels. Retain enough noise to provide bite to details - don't overdo NR.
Finally, ISO in Sony cameras is almost totally linear so the maxim that all ISO levels up to ISO xxxx are much the same could not be more incorrect. Therefore for low light work I recommend manual ISO setting, the lower the better to ISO 100, 50 for over-exposure control. I am no fan of Auto ISO, except when necessary. Each stop costs you plenty.
I've been spoiled by AUTO ISO from my (now sold) 5DMkIII, that I rarely went manual ISO control on my A7. I think part of it has to do with when I shoot since a majority of my free time is after dusk (due to work schedule) or in very bad (indoor) lighting.
As a PP newb, I've recently learned to work in ProPhoto color space (?) in LR and in PS CC, but when you mention "until the output stage" Philip, what do you mean by that
And by manipulating files in inverse proportion to ISO levels, am I correctly interpreting this as:
- low ISO = more leeway for PP manipulation
- high ISO = less room for PP manipulation (unless you want to suffer noise, reduced detail/DR/color and other artifacts)
