Isn't there still a problem of af fine tuning required on the Nikon D750? If a lens is not fine tuned, wouldn't the eye AF captured image still be out of focus whereas on Sony A7rii, the lens doesn't need af fine tuning? Also, is the zone for eye focus tracking larger on the sony body than the Nikon body?
charles.K wrote:
Yes the Nikon eye AF does work very well. It is not well documented and I recently started a thread. I have the D750 and D850 and it works extremely well in a dynamic AF situations. It is not obvious as all you have to do is change the metering (b) matrix metering to face detection on. The AF-C is set Auto and it will find the face and nearest eye. The only issue with the OVF is that the AF may track onto any part of the face but the algorithm will find the nearest eye accurately. I have used this a lot with difficult lenses like the 58/1.4G, 85/1.4G and 105/1.4G
Haven't got any direct experience of either but the ZA 135/1.8 requires the LAEA-4 adapter with the semi-tranlucent mirror and screw drive. This put me off the lens.
The Canon is by far the best value but image quality with the Sigma will be better.
I have both the Zeiss 135mm f1.8 ZA and the Sigma Art 135mm. The Sigma wins because I get native AF options. With the Zeiss 135mm f1.8 ZA I get focus errors thanks to the LA-EA4.
GMPhotography wrote:
Been a busy month bud. Sony 85 , Sony 50 1.4 , Sigma 135 1.8
I'm done or I'm going to get in real trouble here with the misses. This could cost me big time in 👠 and 👛
Pretty much the same for me as far as purchases so far this year.. I picked up the GM 85mm, Zeiss 50mm and the Sigma 135mm. Also had the STF 100mm but returned that and also a Nikkor 105mm but ended up returning it too as I got a previously returned copy with a ton of dust in it not to mention my Commlite adapter was bad and wouldn't update firmware.
p.4 #10 · Sigma 135 1.8 thoughts? AF functionality
There is a reviewer of this lens on B&H website and that guy has/uses two systems with this lens, the Canon 5D IV and Sony A7r II with MC-11 adapter. According to him, the AF on the Canon is superb without any issues. On the Sony, is less so. This is his verbatim quote:
"I'm also using this on my Sony A7RII via Sigma's MC-11 adapter, but with disappointingly less success than natively on my 5DIV. The body, adapter, and lens are running the most current firmware. Infinity focus (and even near-infinity) is way off in all AF modes (AF-S, AF-C). Face-detect and eye-focus works competently a-la-native E-mount lens, but consistency is not reliable. It hunts from time-to-time even in bright daylight conditions, racking back and forth through the entire focus range before giving up. Perhaps a future firmware update for the MC-11 would fix this."
That experience reminds me of my own when I had an MC-11 and a Sigma lens back then. Granted the lens wasn't the 135mm f/1.8 Art. I am not discouraging folks not to go this route but to proceed cautiously if your livelihood depends on and you expect the combo to work flawlessly on the A7r II just like a native lens.
p.4 #11 · Sigma 135 1.8 thoughts? AF functionality
AGeoJO wrote:
There is a reviewer of this lens on B&H website and that guy has/uses two systems with this lens, the Canon 5D IV and Sony A7r II with MC-11 adapter. According to him, the AF on the Canon is superb without any issues. On the Sony, is less so. This is his verbatim quote:
"I'm also using this on my Sony A7RII via Sigma's MC-11 adapter, but with disappointingly less success than natively on my 5DIV. The body, adapter, and lens are running the most current firmware. Infinity focus (and even near-infinity) is way off in all AF modes (AF-S, AF-C). Face-detect and eye-focus works competently a-la-native E-mount lens, but consistency is not reliable. It hunts from time-to-time even in bright daylight conditions, racking back and forth through the entire focus range before giving up. Perhaps a future firmware update for the MC-11 would fix this."
That experience reminds me of my own when I had an MC-11 and a Sigma lens back then. Granted the lens wasn't the 135mm f/1.8 Art. I am not discouraging folks not to go this route but to proceed cautiously if your livelihood depends on and you expect the combo to work flawlessly on the A7r II just like a native lens....Show more →
Did the reviewer tell which firmware was installed in his MC-11?
p.4 #12 · Sigma 135 1.8 thoughts? AF functionality
AGeoJO wrote:
There is a reviewer of this lens on B&H website and that guy has/uses two systems with this lens, the Canon 5D IV and Sony A7r II with MC-11 adapter. According to him, the AF on the Canon is superb without any issues. On the Sony, is less so. This is his verbatim quote:
"I'm also using this on my Sony A7RII via Sigma's MC-11 adapter, but with disappointingly less success than natively on my 5DIV. The body, adapter, and lens are running the most current firmware. Infinity focus (and even near-infinity) is way off in all AF modes (AF-S, AF-C). Face-detect and eye-focus works competently a-la-native E-mount lens, but consistency is not reliable. It hunts from time-to-time even in bright daylight conditions, racking back and forth through the entire focus range before giving up. Perhaps a future firmware update for the MC-11 would fix this."
That experience reminds me of my own when I had an MC-11 and a Sigma lens back then. Granted the lens wasn't the 135mm f/1.8 Art. I am not discouraging folks not to go this route but to proceed cautiously if your livelihood depends on and you expect the combo to work flawlessly on the A7r II just like a native lens....Show more →
We have to take in consideration that the Canon 5D IV auto-focus system is superior to the A7RII to begin with...that's just undeniable.
I get some hunting even with native FE lenses.
p.4 #13 · Sigma 135 1.8 thoughts? AF functionality
That B&H review was written by me.
Firmware was indeed the most recent (1.04). I also tried reloading it as per Guy's suggestion, but it made no difference.
p.4 #14 · Sigma 135 1.8 thoughts? AF functionality
I hit a issue today testing my Sony 85 1.8 where at F11 it was doing pulsating focus in AFC mode. Now at F8 and wider it was dead on no issue. Now I believe this is more a function of the lens more than a bug issue. We don't know what settings or F stops happened with theB&H review. So a lot of unanswered questions on functionality here. We don't know firmware and such. I think that firmware put out by Sigma recently was specifically for the 135.
p.4 #15 · Sigma 135 1.8 thoughts? AF functionality
bjornthun wrote:
Did the reviewer tell which firmware was installed in his MC-11?
Fw. version 1.04 was released on March 21st.
The 135mm f/1.8 lens became available about 2-3 weeks ago and the MC-11 will have to be updated to work on that lens. So, I assume he did that since the lens was working on his setup. He also mentioned that every gear was running on the most current firmware.
Fred Miranda wrote:
We have to take in consideration that the Canon 5D IV auto-focus system is superior to the A7RII to begin with...that's just undeniable.
I get some hunting even with native FE lenses.
As we all know that DSLR may experience some issues with back and front focus. Although Canon 5D IV may have a faster AF system but not necessarily better or more accurate, at least not all all fronts. Yes, I do experience some hunting with my FE lenses only under low lighting conditions but not outdoors under good lighting conditions. In addition, I do believe that the bottle neck with the A7r II + MC-11 + Sigma lens (of the Global Imaging group) is not the lens nor the camera but the MC-11. It seems that even Sigma could not fully crack (or is hack a better term here?) the Sony AF algorithm/system yet, just like the folks at Metabones.
p.4 #16 · Sigma 135 1.8 thoughts? AF functionality
AGeoJO wrote:
The 135mm f/1.8 lens became available about 2-3 weeks ago and the MC-11 will have to be updated to work on that lens. So, I assume he did that since the lens was working on his setup. He also mentioned that every gear was running on the most current firmware.
As we all know that DSLR may experience some issues with back and front focus. Although Canon 5D IV may have a faster AF system but not necessarily better or more accurate, at least not all all fronts. Yes, I do experience some hunting with my FE lenses only under low lighting conditions but not outdoors. In addition, I do believe that the bottle neck with the A7r II + MC-11 + Sigma lens of the Global Imaging group is not the lens nor the camera but the MC-11. It seems that even Sigma could not fully crack (or is hack a better term here?) the Sony AF algorithm/system yet, just like the folks at Metabones. ...Show more →
After being 'AF micro adjusted' for the Canon, I still don't think this comparison would be apple to apples.
My GM 85/1.4, 55/1.8 natives hunt from time to time (even with good light) when not quickly locking on the subject (due the lack of cross-type focusing points on the Sony AF system)
p.4 #18 · Sigma 135 1.8 thoughts? AF functionality
Fred Miranda wrote:
After being 'AF micro adjusted' for the Canon, I still don't think this comparison would be apple to apples.
My GM 85/1.4, 55/1.8 natives hunt from time to time (even with good light) when not quickly locking on the subject (due the lack of cross-type focusing points on the Sony AF system)
My last Canon body was the 5D Mark III. So, definitely I am not "comparing" the current Canon 5D IV with the A7r II. At any rate, with the Lock-On AF and Eye-AF, my most used AF modes, I would say that the number of images that are OOF using the A7r II is quite a bit less compared to that generated by the 5D Mark III. I didn't do any direct comparison but just more a general impression. Maybe we are talking about the same thing but my point is, the AF system of the A7r II is more accurate and more convenient to use, especially using the two AF modes mentioned above. The speed may not be up to Canon's AF system, such hunting, etc. however and the accuracy is not lagging behind, IMHO.
p.4 #19 · Sigma 135 1.8 thoughts? AF functionality
khoido77 wrote:
Isn't there still a problem of af fine tuning required on the Nikon D750? If a lens is not fine tuned, wouldn't the eye AF captured image still be out of focus whereas on Sony A7rii, the lens doesn't need af fine tuning? Also, is the zone for eye focus tracking larger on the sony body than the Nikon body?
This is now outside the scope of the thread. Please send a PM instead. Cheers
p.4 #20 · Sigma 135 1.8 thoughts? AF functionality
Darn I missed your post. Glad you tried the firmware. I should be getting mine by next Monday I believe but we should start documenting what's going on so we can get this data to Sigma to start looking at working on future firmware. Let me ask did problems happen stopped down or where you more wide open when issues are happening. I ran into pulsating hunting at F11 with the Sony 85 1.8 and depending how these lenses operate as far as opening up to focus than close down actual capture F stop. F8 up I was fine in AFC mode and no problems at all in AFS mode. Which sort of makes sense as in AFC it continually try's to focus.
drewle wrote:
That B&H review was written by me.
Firmware was indeed the most recent (1.04). I also tried reloading it as per Guy's suggestion, but it made no difference.
