MedicineMan404 wrote:
Using the Riv with the EOS 400DO ii via Sigma MC-11 (updated last night).
So far really enjoying this new crop body from Sony.
Shot in APS-C mode.
Processed RAW via ACR's Beta profile for the Riv.
Sony ILCE-7RM4
DT 400mm F4 SAM
/8.0 400.0 mm 1/1600 400 Flash (off, did not fire)
Please let me know how this combo performs, esp. with the 1.4TC. As a dual system user myself (Sony and Canon) this is a combo that has my keen attention. Have you noticed the feast of moiré on the feathers though? I guess the 400DOII has no problems resolving this sensor.
Nice shots of the lighthouse and West Cliff. Lived there back in the late eighties when I attended UCSC. Took lots of sunset photos at Natural Bridges. Lots of rolls of film! Need to go back soon after seeing these photos.
I always do use small for stationary birds, but I was playing with tracking and may have switched to medium. I do remember that I had placed the focus point on the head, but it could have ended up focusing on the feathers on the head.
Has anyone else noticed that, even with small, and the focus point right on a subject, occasionally the camera (including A7Riii) ends up focusing on something just outside the box?
mogul wrote:
I think that the size of the autofocus point comes into play...you really need small with 60mpix and get it only on the eye.
kimknapp wrote:
I always do use small for stationary birds, but I was playing with tracking and may have switched to medium. I do remember that I had placed the focus point on the head, but it could have ended up focusing on the feathers on the head.
Has anyone else noticed that, even with small, and the focus point right on a subject, occasionally the camera (including A7Riii) ends up focusing on something just outside the box?
I seem to be having this issue more with the RIV than the A9. It might just be DOF combined with AF point size (even on small) + the small target area of the bird + the effective pixel movement with such a dense sensor. I'm not really well versed on how the PDAF points work vs pixel pitch of the sensor. What I know is my critical focus is much better on the a9 vs the rIV.... I don't know how much I can see that difference if I downsample the RIV shots to be the same size as the a9 (meaning maybe its just me and my settings not the actual camera AF performance)
This is better.
Reddish Egret at the inlet again, today, which is very rare. Usually just Snowy and, sometimes, Cattle and Great Egrets or some Great Blue Herons.
Anyway, changing back to my usual small point, eye looks good. Plus, lighting was a bit better and I used f10 for a slightly bigger DOF.
Added some sharpening and clarity. No noise reduction.
Overall, I am finding that it is more difficult to get perfect focus. Most likely because of the higher pixel density which makes focus more critical.
When you get a good result, it looks great.
Following is a 100% crop.
Š Maynard Knapp 2019
A7R4, 100-400GM, 1.4tc @ 560mm 1/1600 @ f/10 ISO 640
ChrisMak wrote:
Please let me know how this combo performs, esp. with the 1.4TC. As a dual system user myself (Sony and Canon) this is a combo that has my keen attention. Have you noticed the feast of moiré on the feathers though? I guess the 400DOII has no problems resolving this sensor.
Chrismak I did not notice the moire until it was pointed out to me by a forum friend. I didn't see it one one monitor, but did see it on another.
This morning (no images, zero light) I tried the Riv+MC11+Sigma 1.4TC+ 400DOii and focus snaps quickly in place and any distance. So for perched bierds no problem. For BIF? We'd need some like Alex Phan to chime in....or I think Geoff has all these partss/pieces. My gut is the 400DOii alone won't be a problem for BIF with the Riv and to a lesser (although smaller) degree with the 1.4TC....but proof is in the pudding eh, and no BIF here to practice on.
It's a bit ironic that the R4 has better/stickier AF, yet it's seemingly harder to nail perfect focus because of the res bump.
I'm wondering what the keeper rate with TCs is like between the R3 and R4. I've been hesitant myself to put a 1.4x on my 100-400 on the R3 because I've heard it's not great, and the R4 was looking appealing for that reason. If the keeper rate is about the same all told...not sure that's a great upgrade reason.
MedicineMan404 wrote:
Chrismak I did not notice the moire until it was pointed out to me by a forum friend. I didn't see it one one monitor, but did see it on another.
This morning (no images, zero light) I tried the Riv+MC11+Sigma 1.4TC+ 400DOii and focus snaps quickly in place and any distance. So for perched bierds no problem. For BIF? We'd need some like Alex Phan to chime in....or I think Geoff has all these partss/pieces. My gut is the 400DOii alone won't be a problem for BIF with the Riv and to a lesser (although smaller) degree with the 1.4TC....but proof is in the pudding eh, and no BIF here to practice on. ...Show more →
Thanks, that sounds very good, and a good step up from my current A7RII, which is my "allround" body. I may well get the A7RIV if it is a viable option for birding, because it can also replace the A7RII for general shooting. There is no hurry though, because It may surprise you to hear, but I have fully made my peace with the "ancient" Canon 7DII, much to my own surprise, but with the neccessary changes in my PP'ing, I now honestly think it is a superb camera. And it does BIF a great deal better than my former Pentax set-up did, I can assure you of that....
Little astro.... noise is obviously much harder to deal with than on my a7 III although in fairness depending on output size might not matter. I wouldn't print this shot at full size but thats not all the camera. My exposure was too long for the sensor (30 seconds, 16mm) so the stars trail a bit.
buffalowolff wrote:
Little astro.... noise is obviously much harder to deal with than on my a7 III although in fairness depending on output size might not matter. I wouldn't print this shot at full size but thats not all the camera. My exposure was too long for the sensor (30 seconds, 16mm) so the stars trail a bit.
The 500 rule becomes a 300 rule!
In your case a 20ish second exposure.
Spent the day yesterday photographing the Rockford,IL WWII Days. The largest WWII re-enactment in the US. I shot with the A7rIV exclusively, 24mm GM, Zeiss 55mm (a lot!), 24-105mm G, 100-400mm GM (all battle scenes).
Everything performed wonderfully, add to that the fact that we had a lot of rain. It's like shooting fish in a barrel getting good focus with this camera.
I'm not gonna post all of the photos here, as there are 100 at the minute, still processing, link to the album below for anyone interested in either the camera or the re-enactment. It really is impressive to see the re-enactors doing their thing, closest I've been to a time machine...
