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Archive 2017A7rIII pulsating?

  
 
GMPhotography
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p.2 #1A7rIII pulsating?
Got to remember Sonys focus ONLY on vertical line , not horizontal lines. Got to watch that
Dec 12, 2017 at 03:15 PM
Fred Miranda
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p.2 #2A7rIII pulsating?
Did you guys try playing with the tracking sensitivity in AF-C?
By default, "AF Track Sens" is set to "3". Try changing to "2" or "1" and see if this continues.

On the menu, AF Track Sens "1" is called "Locked On".
Dec 12, 2017 at 03:23 PM
Fred Miranda
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p.2 #3A7rIII pulsating?
GMPhotography wrote:
You need to realize also Sony’s focus on verticals


Yes, many Canon shooters may not know this but if you try focusing on a horizontal pattern, there will definitely be hunting. That's for all Sony mirrorless bodies including the A9.
Dec 12, 2017 at 03:26 PM
GMPhotography
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p.2 #4A7rIII pulsating?
I’ll test it more in the morning . Going to head out and test the 50 anyway which is the worst offender
Dec 12, 2017 at 03:26 PM
GMPhotography
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p.2 #5A7rIII pulsating?
Fred might be on to something with tracking. I think this is new the setup for it. I can’t remember but I don’t think the A7R2 is the same or not. Or even the A9
Dec 12, 2017 at 03:29 PM
Holger
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p.2 #6A7rIII pulsating?
Fred Miranda wrote:
GMPhotography wroteYou need to realize also Sony’s focus on verticals
Yes, many Canon folks may not know this but if you try focusing on a horizontal pattern, there will definitely be hunting. That's for all Sony mirrorless bodies including the A9.


That is true.

I used sensitivity on the 5div to minimize pumping, too. But I would like the A7riii to behave like the A9. Otherwise I would need to avoid muscle memory when switching from A9 to A7riii during a wedding when needing another focal length. Sucks in fast paced situations.
Dec 12, 2017 at 03:30 PM
GMPhotography
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p.2 #7A7rIII pulsating?
Have to be honest as much as I loved the A9 this thing is damn close. As far as AF. Right now the A9 is smoother until we get the solution here . I think Fred has the right idea mine is at 4 so I’ll bump it back down. Now my Batis 135 is rock solid. The 50 1.8 is known for focus issues so the FE 85 would be the better lens here to test with.

Edited on Dec 12, 2017 at 03:36 PM · View previous versions
Dec 12, 2017 at 03:33 PM
chrisgibbs
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p.2 #8A7rIII pulsating?
For me AF-C has always displayed this behavior when using small center-point on static subjects, its the major reason I adopted AF-S and small center-point with my portrait work prior to getting EyeAF. I figured AF-C is maybe a little "oversensitive" to certain environmental factors, AF-C is basically useless in inclement weather where consistency of focus is concerned IMO, it'll ping something different frame to frame more often than not. By contrast, AF-S small center-point is more akin to a laser rangefinder.

YMMV, but I do tend to prefer shooting in crappy conditions!
Dec 12, 2017 at 03:36 PM
GMPhotography
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p.2 #9A7rIII pulsating?
Chris I switched my AF-c to the joystick as my primary focusing but I added a Recall function to the AF/on which I set for AF-S and center zone for quick shots and sort of the backup. Was shooting it today back and forth and really liked having both available. Eye Af I kept on AEL button n

I’m having a harder time reaching over the joystick with my thumb so I switched AF/on to joystick center press and it’s much better operationally wise over the A9 joystick. Not sure why that is but I think they improved the action on the joystick. Pretty cool setup
Dec 12, 2017 at 03:41 PM
Fred Miranda
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p.2 #10A7rIII pulsating?
chrisgibbs wrote:
For me AF-C has always displayed this behavior when using small center-point on static subjects, its the major reason I adopted AF-S and small center-point with my portrait work prior to getting EyeAF. I figured AF-C is maybe a little "oversensitive" to certain environmental factors, AF-C is basically useless in inclement weather where consistency of focus is concerned IMO, it'll ping something different frame to frame more often than not. By contrast, AF-S small center-point is more akin to a laser rangefinder.

YMMV, but I do tend to prefer shooting in crappy conditions!


I agree and don't see much difference from the A7R II here, except that focusing is faster. However, AF function could be tweaked by a firmware update.

Something else to play with is the "Priority Set in AF-C" with options for "AF", "Release" and "Balanced Emphasis".
Dec 12, 2017 at 03:42 PM
chrisgibbs
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p.2 #11A7rIII pulsating?
GMPhotography wrote:
Chris I switched my AF-c to the joystick as my primary focusing but I added a Recall function to the AF/on which I set for AF-S and center zone for quick shots and sort of the backup. Was shooting it today back and forth and really liked having both available. Eye Af I kept on AEL button n

I’m having a harder time reaching over the joystick with my thumb so I switched AF/on to joystick center press and it’s much better operationally wise over the A9 joystick. Not sure why that is but I think they improved the action on
...Show more →

I'm left eyed, so maybe a little different. But my setup is basically opposite yours, AF-C (wide) on the AF-ON and AF-S (centerpoint) on the joystick, the joystick being a little easier to find wearing gloves and my most used mode. That AEL button for me is actually far more intuitive and easier to find than the others though, but I keep that set to default as its handy for video, and I'm nearly always in Aperture priority riding the exposure compensation dial for stills.

My DIAL is setup with three flavours of Aperture Priority:

DIAL "1" - Standard - my default shooting position Portraits
DIAL "2" - FASTER - AUTO-ISO set to faster for people in Motion
DIAL "3" - FASTEST - AUTO-ISO set to min shutter 1/1000th (for action & longer lenses)
MOVIE - Configured to drop out of stills into a manual focus mode (AF/MF Toggle on C1 button)
AEL default for both stills & Movie shooting.

I'm configured this way so its a short trip between my shooting modes and easy without removing my eye from the EVF).

Hope this makes sense!



Edited on Dec 12, 2017 at 05:02 PM · View previous versions
Dec 12, 2017 at 04:45 PM
chrisgibbs
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p.2 #12A7rIII pulsating?
Fred Miranda wrote:
chrisgibbs wroteFor me AF-C has always displayed this behavior when using small center-point on static subjects, its the major reason I adopted AF-S and small center-point with my portrait work prior to getting EyeAF. I figured AF-C is maybe a little "oversensitive" to certain environmental factors, AF-C is basically useless in inclement weather where consistency of focus is concerned IMO, it'll ping something different frame to frame more often than not. By contrast, AF-S small center-point is more akin to a laser rangefinder.

YMMV, but I do tend to prefer shooting in crappy conditions!
I agree and don't see much difference from the A7R II here, except that focusing is faster. However, AF function could be tweaked by a firmware update.

Something else to play with is the "Priority Set in AF-C" with options for "AF", "Release" and "Balanced Emphasis".


In my "FASTEST" DIAL setting I've done just what you suggest with "Priority Set in AF-C" effectively turned everything up to 11 (Spinal Tap reference).


Dec 12, 2017 at 04:49 PM
tn1krr
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p.2 #13A7rIII pulsating?
Did some testing on this too and gotta agree I do not see much different from A7RII. Used my FE 90/2.8 on purpose (and FE 55/1.8) as the macro does not exactly fly in AF I could find several low light places where going from F/2.8 to F/4 (F/5 etc. depending on light/contrast) introduced pumping when there was absolutely zero on the F/2.8. I tested with Expand Flex spot, the "neighbour" PDAF points lightning or not visualized this quite nicely.

So here's a theory: when using AF-C lenses stop down to selected aperture after initial lock and with low light or low contrast situation that stopping down can make a difference whether or not PDAF can get accurate reading on subject/distance, when it is unable to do so CDAF pumping ensues. Just like happens always when stopping down to smaller than F/8 or subject is outside PDAF point coverage.

If you mount the camera on a tripod and point to a badly lit or low contrast object this is quite easy to test. Start wide open and stop down until pumping starts happening.

Using larger spot can obviously help since there are more PDAF points in play and so it is more likely there is enough contrast for one of the PDAF points work work efficiently.
Dec 12, 2017 at 04:55 PM
fpoet
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p.2 #14A7rIII pulsating?
This is not exactly good for folks who intend to use the A7rIII for bird photography, with AF-C and Smal flexible spot.
Dec 12, 2017 at 05:07 PM
BlueBomberTurbo
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p.2 #15A7rIII pulsating?
Pulsing usually means the camera has defaulted to CDAF. One way to get this to happen all the time is to stop the lens down. Past F/8, I believe. Otherwise, it usually means the camera is struggling with PDAF So it goes back to purely visual confirmation of focus, CDAF, which requires pulsing to compare in and out of focus. Now the question is, why is this happening? As said above, most likely it's a firmware issue, since the III should be noticeably better than the II in AF.
Dec 12, 2017 at 06:06 PM
echelonphoto
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p.2 #16A7rIII pulsating?
MY pumping is occurring at wide apertures like 2.8
Dec 13, 2017 at 08:59 AM
echelonphoto
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p.2 #17A7rIII pulsating?
GMPhotography wrote:
Chris I switched my AF-c to the joystick as my primary focusing but I added a Recall function to the AF/on which I set for AF-S and center zone for quick shots and sort of the backup. Was shooting it today back and forth and really liked having both available. Eye Af I kept on AEL button n

I’m having a harder time reaching over the joystick with my thumb so I switched AF/on to joystick center press and it’s much better operationally wise over the A9 joystick. Not sure why that is but I think they improved the action on
...Show more →

I also like the joystick press...but I use it for eye af....I also have the ael button set for eye af as a backup.
Dec 13, 2017 at 09:01 AM
tn1krr
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p.2 #18A7rIII pulsating?
echelonphoto wrote:
MY pumping is occurring at wide apertures like 2.8


That really does not exclude PDAF giving up and falling back CDAF. It is all about light and horizontal contrast; if using flex spot small only single PDAF spot used does not get enough light/contrast say hello to pumping/pulsating. The PDAF points in sensor are not cross type and are very small (and A7RIII has smaller pdaf points than A9 for example) compared to the one used in DSLRs so they will "give up" sooner than large cross type point in the DSLRs do.

The strength of on-sensor PDAF is using several points (they are rather densely grouped) so using Flex spot Medium/Large or Expand Flex spot will likely to help in many cases. These are not DSLRs, so best results are not obtained by using them like DSLRs which often is using center-spot only.

Like I commented above: put the camera to tripod and point it to a low light object any test will show that larger spot is likely to pulsate less than small and you'll find a spot that will start pulsate when you close the aperture step by step.
Dec 13, 2017 at 09:11 AM
GMPhotography
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p.2 #19A7rIII pulsating?
Make release priority not balanced emphasis. Playing with it nowalso I had tracking at 4 knock it down to 3. Much better

Edited on Dec 13, 2017 at 09:26 AM · View previous versions
Dec 13, 2017 at 09:17 AM
Viramati
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p.2 #20A7rIII pulsating?
Would I be right in saying that people who are seeing this are on the updated firmware?
Dec 13, 2017 at 09:21 AM
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