I just picked up a Sony A7iii and relatively new to the sony system. I have a a6300 that I have briefly messed around with. Anyways, I purchased the body with an FE 85mm 1.8 and was under the impression that this lens would be compatible with the eye af on the body. Everything that I have looked up and read states that it is, including people referencing this exact combination. When I try to select the feature, it is greyed out due to it being invalid with this lens. Is this lens not able to utilize the eye af? Are there specific settings needed?
It should work easily. For earlier bodies, you have to set it as a custom button and then it will work. I set it as a back button focus (AEL for me) and then it works every time.
Sounds like you are trying to enable 'eye start AF' instead.
That feature is only available with A mount lenses adapted using "selected" sony adapters. The 'eye' means your own eye that looks at the EVF, which I assume is not what you actually want?
To enable the 'eye AF' that looks for one of the eyes of your subject, you need to find a menu that assigns custom features to buttons, and scroll horizontally across a few (22?) pages, in which one would have 'eye af' on it. Would recommend assign it to the AF stop button on the side of the lens.
btw. You can also aim the thing at a person or a photo of a person and press the center button of the mult-selector which IIRC defaults to eye af, and a small green square should overlay on top of one of his/her eyes.
Make sure you're not getting EYE START AF with EYE AF. I use Eye AF with my A7Rii with the 85mm f1.8, and 50mm f1.8. It even works with some older APSC Sigma lenses (30mm f2.8, 19mm f2.8).
Eye AF
Focuses on a person’s eyes when you press the button.
MENU → (Custom Settings) → [Custom Key Settings] → assign the [Eye AF] function to the desired key.
Press the key to which you have assigned the [Eye AF] function and focus on the eyes.
Press the shutter button while pressing the key.
Note
Depending on the circumstances, the camera may not be able to focus on the eyes. In such cases, the camera detects a face and focuses on the face.
If the camera cannot detect a person’s face, you cannot use [Eye AF].
Depending on the circumstances, you cannot use [Eye AF], such as when [Focus Mode] is set to [Continuous AF] or [Manual Focus], etc.
[Eye AF] may not function in the following situations:
When the person is wearing sunglasses.
When the front hair covers the person’s eyes.
In low-light or back-lit conditions.
When the eyes are closed.
When the person is in the shade.
When the person is out of focus.
Hint
When the camera focuses on the eyes and [Smile/Face Detect.] is set to [On], a detection frame is displayed on the face after it is displayed on the eyes. When [Smile/Face Detect.] is set to [Off], a detection frame is displayed on the eyes for a certain time.
I just picked up a Sony A7iii and relatively new to the sony system. I have a a6300 that I have briefly messed around with. Anyways, I purchased the body with an FE 85mm 1.8 and was under the impression that this lens would be compatible with the eye af on the body. Everything that I have looked up and read states that it is, including people referencing this exact combination. When I try to select the feature, it is greyed out due to it being invalid with this lens. Is this lens not able to utilize the eye af? Are there specific settings needed?
