@genji
Thank you again for this FAQ and thread. It’s been an incredible resource to our community!
genji wrote:
With longer focal length lenses, it depends on the subject distance. My Tessar ZM 85/4 and M-Hexanon 90/2.8 behave similarly with close subjects. But for distant subjects, with the lens focused at infinity, AF should work as expected.
Fred Miranda wrote:
@genji@
Thank you again for this FAQ and thread. It’s been an incredible resource to our community!
With longer focal length lenses, it depends on the subject distance. My Tessar ZM 85/4 and M-Hexanon 90/2.8 behave similarly with close subjects. But for distant subjects, with the lens focused at infinity, AF should work as expected.
Thank you, Fred, for your kind words and for all your hard work in creating and maintaining this wonderful forum. I've benefited so much from the contributions of my fellow members over the years that it's been a pleasure to have been able to give something back.
My Techart Pro (firmware v5) has suddenly stopped working on my Sony A7ii. I'm still able to detect the version (V5) via my Sony A7ii menu. In fact I was even able to update the firmware to v6.
However, nothing moves, it happened just like that. I've contacted techart via email, but have not received a reply.
To add, I put on my friend's copy of techart pro adapter and it works.
Would like to seek some advice from the esteemed members.
I suppose you already tried to shut down everything, unmount the Techart and put it up again to no avail right? (just asking because once it happened to me and doing like that fixed the issue).
Sadly it seems that yours is likely in needing of servicing, the Techart seems not the most long-term reliable device, for what I'm reading on the web, and they aren't even particularly good nor swift to answer to support requests unfortunately..
My Techart Pro (firmware v5) has suddenly stopped working on my Sony A7ii. I'm still able to detect the version (V5) via my Sony A7ii menu. In fact I was even able to update the firmware to v6.
However, nothing moves, it happened just like that. I've contacted techart via email, but have not received a reply.
To add, I put on my friend's copy of techart pro adapter and it works.
Would like to seek some advice from the esteemed members.
Thank you all in advance
I have one like that.
Can still be used in manual focus mode.
Looks like the motor died.
I have a couple others that work.
Unfortunately, i have yet to receive a reply from techart.
Further my techart is stuck at a near focus position, hence i cant even use it for manual focus.
Hopefully i can get a reply. More than willing to pay for repair.
I don't use Facebook so I don't have any personal experience of this but I recall that some members have had greater success by contacting Techart via their Facebook page.
ken.vs.ryu wrote:
is TAP better/faster with the a7iii vs a7r2 ?
I have both the A7RII and A7 III and have used the TAP a lot with both of them. Haven't done any scientific comparisons, but here's a summary of my anecdotal impressions:
Compared to A7RII + TAP firmware 5.0, the A7III + TAP firmware 6.0:
- has Eye AF! (works, but not as well as native glass)
- is more consistently able to achieve focus stopped down or in low light, using AF points outside the center of the frame, using the single point focus area (“flexible spot small”), and on small or low contrast details due to A7III’s improved AF sensors, BUT...
- has overall slightly slower AF aquisition AND...
- has slightly less dependable AF *accuracy*, especially when stopped down and/or when using lenses with spherochromatic aberrations or smearing issues caused by the sensor coverglass (My M-Rokkor 40mm f/2 is a prime example of this type of lens).
This seems to be mostly due to adjustments in firmware 6.0 to use a slower or more gradual/tapered lead up to “in-focus” in order to avoid the spasmodic “jitter” problems caused (ironically) by the new camera's faster AF. Where on the A7RII it could go slightly past focus and then quickly back up, on the A7III it will sometimes be fooled by the depth of field, color fringing, and/or astigmatism into stopping just short of ideal focus, seemingly to avoid overshooting focus and triggering the back and forth jitter caused by the A7III taking AF readings faster than the TAP motor can respond.
So, overall, I've found the A7III + TAP 6.0 to be very usable and often much better than the A7RII + TAP 5.0, but, sadly, also less *dependable* and therefore less well suited to professional work, weddings, etc. I find myself having to use focus magnification to confirm accurate af much more often than I ever did on the A7RII.
Right now I'm thinking that I'm going to get my A7RII modded with the Kolari UT and primarily dedicate that camera to using the TAP and the A7III to native lenses where it excels.
NateWeatherly wrote:
I have both the A7RII and A7 III and have used the TAP a lot with both of them. Haven't done any scientific comparisons, but here's a summary of my anecdotal impressions:
Compared to A7RII + TAP firmware 5.0, the A7III + TAP firmware 6.0:
- has Eye AF! (works, but not as well as native glass)
- is more consistently able to achieve focus stopped down or in low light, using AF points outside the center of the frame, using the single point focus area (“flexible spot small”), and on small or low contrast details due to A7III’s improved AF sensors, BUT...
- has overall slightly slower AF aquisition AND...
- has slightly less dependable AF *accuracy*, especially when stopped down and/or when using lenses with spherochromatic aberrations or smearing issues caused by the sensor coverglass (My M-Rokkor 40mm f/2 is a prime example of this type of lens).
This seems to be mostly due to adjustments in firmware 6.0 to use a slower or more gradual/tapered lead up to “in-focus” in order to avoid the spasmodic “jitter” problems caused (ironically) by the new camera's faster AF. Where on the A7RII it could go slightly past focus and then quickly back up, on the A7III it will sometimes be fooled by the depth of field, color fringing, and/or astigmatism into stopping just short of ideal focus, seemingly to avoid overshooting focus and triggering the back and forth jitter caused by the A7III taking AF readings faster than the TAP motor can respond.
So, overall, I've found the A7III + TAP 6.0 to be very usable and often much better than the A7RII + TAP 5.0, but, sadly, also less *dependable* and therefore less well suited to professional work, weddings, etc. I find myself having to use focus magnification to confirm accurate af much more often than I ever did on the A7RII.
Right now I'm thinking that I'm going to get my A7RII modded with the Kolari UT and primarily dedicate that camera to using the TAP and the A7III to native lenses where it excels. ...Show more →
Glad to know I'm not the only one with the same observation! I have the A7III and A7II and notice the exact same issue. Strangely enough, I also notice my A7II + TAP w/firmware 5.0 does better in low light (less jitter) than my A7III + TAP w/firmware 6.0. I notice a tad better performance with the A7III + TAP/fw6.0 if you turn the live view effects setting -off-.
I'm a little bummed the A7III isn't has stable with the TAP as the previous generation though.
Can anyone recommend a M or M39 prime (within reasonable budget) in the 35mm to 50mm range that has good corner sharpness on the TAP? I currently use the Voigtlander 40mm 1.4 Nokton MC, while center sharpness is good, corner sharpness suffers, making it hard to shoot half and full length portraits with sharp faces. I want to keep close to native in order to keep size down. Thanks!
BTW - Techart's customer service is literally non-existent and despite being a knock-off, I've shifted my support to Fotodiox's Pronto Pro adapter. It has a warranty for 2 years and Fotodiox is more apt to reply to customer inquiries. My only worry is that Techart is the one supplying the firmware updates and if they decide to shut down the app, it'll probably be impossible to update the firmware through conventional means.
Jonathan F wrote:
Glad to know I'm not the only one with the same observation! I have the A7III and A7II and notice the exact same issue. Strangely enough, I also notice my A7II + TAP w/firmware 5.0 does better in low light (less jitter) than my A7III + TAP w/firmware 6.0. I notice a tad better performance with the A7III + TAP/fw6.0 if you turn the live view effects setting -off-.
I'm a little bummed the A7III isn't has stable with the TAP as the previous generation though.
I used to have an A7II and I think that the TAP actually worked better on that in low light than it did on my A7RII, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the A7II is close to or a little better in low light than the A7III.
And yeah, I always notice better AF performance with Live View Setting Effect “off”. Also, I think that using PP10 (Hybrid log gamma) helps in low light too. Mess around with the “detail” settings until you find the best settings.
I will say though that I really don’t get any jitter on my A7III since updating to 6.0. Maybe make sure your A7III has the latest Sony firmware?
Jonathan F wrote:
BTW - Techart's customer service is literally non-existent and despite being a knock-off, I've shifted my support to Fotodiox's Pronto Pro adapter. It has a warranty for 2 years and Fotodiox is more apt to reply to customer inquiries. My only worry is that Techart is the one supplying the firmware updates and if they decide to shut down the app, it'll probably be impossible to update the firmware through conventional means.
That's exactly what I did also and also for the same reasons. With such an unreliable product I wanted to get some security with a two year warranty and a working customer service. I know some may say it is unethical to buy a knock-off, but I think it is also unethical to sell such an unreliable product having fundamental issues like the famous wobble with such a high price and a short warranty.
My first TAP was dead straight out of the box. It was sent to me to Finland from TAP UK office, but to get a replacement I had to send the adapter to Hong Kong. That was WAY more expensive than sending it back to England -and they certainly didn't offer to pay for the shipment either. It also took ages to get the UK office to send me a replacement. And after just 16 months of of very moderate use that adapter stopped working also. It was then I decided to order a Fotodiox Pronto instead.
When I first heard about the Fotodiox adapter, I posted a negative comment here since it didn't feel right that they just copied TechArt's idea and product. But as time has gone by and TechArt continues to provide sub standard support for an expensive product, I understand and approve of people who purchase the Fotodiox version. Of course, no-one needs or cares about my approval, but I wanted to retract my original negative comment.
Jeff Kott wrote:
When I first heard about the Fotodiox adapter, I posted a negative comment here since it didn't feel right that they just copied TechArt's idea and product. But as time has gone by and TechArt continues to provide sub standard support for an expensive product, I understand and approve of people who purchase the Fotodiox version. Of course, no-one needs or cares about my approval, but I wanted to retract my original negative comment.
As far as I recall, my original comment was similar to yours, for the same reasons though perhaps even more scathing. In the light of Techart’s appallingly poor support, I join you in endorsing and encouraging the purchase of the Fotodiox version.
Did some more (even low-light) testing with my A7III: it seems to me that it basically works only in AF-C, in AF-S it confirms focus but but when looked magnified, the images are definitely softer than the ones shot with AF-C or manually focussed.
Quite the opposite I was expecting to tell the truth..
Tirpitz666 wrote:
Did some more (even low-light) testing with my A7III: it seems to me that it basically works only in AF-C, in AF-S it confirms focus but but when looked magnified, the images are definitely softer than the ones shot with AF-C or manually focussed.
Quite the opposite I was expecting to tell the truth..
IIRC the TAP works of PDAF, no?
That’s why it’s not recommended to use on CDAF only A7r.
AF-S uses CDAF, AF-C uses PDAF.
"The D850 does phase-detection autofocus (PDAF) in the finder and contrast-detection autofocus (CDAF) using the sensor. The user gets to control which system is employed. The a7RIII is more flexible by design, and more opaque in its implementation. It, too, has both CDAF and PDAF, but both systems are sensor-based, since there is no finder, ground glass, nor flipping mirror. Sony doesn’t talk much about how the two systems are arrayed in battle against defocus blur, but the camera appears to employ both depending on the settings, the lens attached, and even, in the case of the a7RII, the firmware revision number."
Jim goes into detail about the interaction between AF-S, AF-C, CDAF, PDAF, Face Detection, and Eye AF. It's really worth reading. I'm not sure, however, how much the A7III's autofocus system differs from that of the A7RIII.
