p.1 #1 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
I was just trying my A7RIV and it wouldn’t allow me to select any of the tracking modes when I had Animal selected even though I had Face Priority AF set to OFF. On my A9 Fw6 there is no such limitation. Is this normal or did I miss some setting while setting the camera up?
p.1 #2 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
I discovered the same discrepancy between the a9 6.0 and the a7r4. And I read there was no tracking with animal eye AF with the a7r4.
I've had some success with animal eye AF on stationary dog portraits and a little bit with close deer and elk but since there is no tracking, I rarely use it.
p.1 #3 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
A9Lon wrote:
I discovered the same discrepancy between the a9 6.0 and the a7r4. And I read there was no tracking with animal eye AF with the a7r4.
I've had some success with animal eye AF on stationary dog portraits and a little bit with close deer and elk but since there is no tracking, I rarely use it.
Thanks for the confirmation.
It is sort of annoying even though I don't find much use for Animal-eye AF either (so far just on racoons) but at least on the A9 I'd leave it on the Animal setting (as I don't shoot people) and toggle on or off the Face detect if I wanted to use it. Now I'd have to not only toggle on/off the face detect but also change from people to animal anytime I'd want to use it. Because otherwise I can't use Tracking modes for my regular bird shooting with the Animal AF ready to go.
p.1 #4 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
Geoff, I asked Mark Galer the same question last week:
Douglas Liu
6 days ago
Great stuff, Mark! Quick question, why is real time tracking disabled when animal eye AF is enabled? If I want to use eye AF on a running dog, I can't use real time tracking?
Thanks,
Mark Galer's Alpha Creative Skills
3 days ago
Maybe it will be available in future versions - it’s probably disabled because of the calculations required would be too great.
p.1 #5 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
kdrk888 wrote:
Geoff, I asked Mark Galer the same question last week:
Douglas Liu
6 days ago
Great stuff, Mark! Quick question, why is real time tracking disabled when animal eye AF is enabled? If I want to use eye AF on a running dog, I can't use real time tracking?
Thanks,
Mark Galer's Alpha Creative Skills
3 days ago
Maybe it will be available in future versions - it’s probably disabled because of the calculations required would be too great.
p.1 #6 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
Geoff, thanks for starting this thread. I have gotten messages from the a7R4 saying that the camera is disabling tracking in order to do whatever shooting I am trying to do. I haven't figured out why that is happening, but it seems likely to be related to this.
p.1 #7 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
This is mentioned in the Help Guide, no tracking with Animal Eye AF
When [Subject Detection] is set to [Animal], the following functions cannot be used.
- Tracking function
- Face Priority in Multi Metering
- Regist. Faces Priority
p.1 #8 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
arbitrage wrote:
Thanks for the confirmation.
It is sort of annoying even though I don't find much use for Animal-eye AF either (so far just on racoons) but at least on the A9 I'd leave it on the Animal setting (as I don't shoot people) and toggle on or off the Face detect if I wanted to use it. Now I'd have to not only toggle on/off the face detect but also change from people to animal anytime I'd want to use it. Because otherwise I can't use Tracking modes for my regular bird shooting with the Animal AF ready to go.
Are you still using this camera for wildlife? If yes, or you would share how you did if no, I would be really grateful. It seems to tracking (but not necessarily to eye/face??) works in zone mode only. If you shut off Face detect and use Animal AF, does that then track with med or lg. expand spot? Any help on how to use this as backup to A1 (until I can afford a second A1) would really be helpful. I have searched internet, watched Smith and Gahler, use Steve's setup for the A1....just kind of frustrated.
TIA!
p.1 #9 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
kimmeisinger wrote:
Are you still using this camera for wildlife? If yes, or you would share how you did if no, I would be really grateful. It seems to tracking (but not necessarily to eye/face??) works in zone mode only. If you shut off Face detect and use Animal AF, does that then track with med or lg. expand spot? Any help on how to use this as backup to A1 (until I can afford a second A1) would really be helpful. I have searched internet, watched Smith and Gahler, use Steve's setup for the A1....just kind of frustrated.
TIA!
I don't have A7RIV anymore as I sold it once A1 came out. Basically A7RIV can't do the Tracking AF modes if you have Animal selected for Face/Eye AF. As long as you leave it set to Human then you will get access to the Tracking versions of all the AF modes. If you have Animal selected (even if Face/Eye is set to OFF) then you can't use the Tracking modes. You can still use Wide (non-tracking) to have it "track" a subject around the entire frame (where it dances the green squares). You just can't use the Real-time Tracking (the icon that is a square with two vertical lines on either side).
p.1 #11 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
jeffbuzz wrote:
a7RM4 firmware 1.20 released in 2020 enables real time animal eye AF tracking. You need to use AF-C, wide zone, subject animal, eye AF on.
What happens there is sort of tracking, but it's not the mode people are talking about when they say "real time tracking".
RTT doesn't work with wide zone: it works by having one of the tracking points placed over the subject, which it then tracks around.
Of course your suggestion does something similar to tracking, it keeps looking for animal eyes anywhere in the frame, but it doesn't do the specific thing people are asking for: track a particular subject as it moves, and keep looking for that subject's eyes.
p.1 #12 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
It would be nice if you could still actually select the tracking mode and it would then override the animal eye AF. As it stands at the moment you need to change animal eye AF to human eye AF before you can select tracking.
Basically if the animal is a fair way away I'll use tracking center mode to acquire the target and it will track the face or body. If i'm looking to do more of a animal portrait I'll switch to wide-zone non tracking with animal eye AF.
For something that is not really talked about, I did find it one of the big benefits of switching to an A9.
p.1 #13 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
jeffbuzz wrote:
a7RM4 firmware 1.20 released in 2020 enables real time animal eye AF tracking. You need to use AF-C, wide zone, subject animal, eye AF on.
The release notes for FW 1.20 were as follows:
* Improves the Auto Focus (AF) performance when recording movies with the FE 12-24mm F2.8 GM (SEL1224GM) lens
* Improves the overall stability of the camera
It did not enable real time tracking AF modes when Animal is selected for Subject detection. The A7RIV had Animal Eye detect since the beginning but it never had the ability to use the Tracking modes when it was selected. The fact that it didn't have this ability wasn't a big deal to me as you can still use Wide to have it look and track eyes all over the frame. However, the annoying thing was even if Face/Eye detect was turned off it wouldn't allow you to use the Tracking AF modes if you had it set to Animal (for when you wanted to turn it back on and use it without tracking). That is where my annoyance came from. I'd want to leave it on Animal so I could toggle Face/Eye on when I wanted to use it (and accept I couldn't use a Tracking mode when I did) but I had to do two steps in this case...switch it from Human to Animal and turn it On.
p.1 #15 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
arbitrage wrote:
The release notes for FW 1.20 were as follows:
* Improves the Auto Focus (AF) performance when recording movies with the FE 12-24mm F2.8 GM (SEL1224GM) lens
* Improves the overall stability of the camera
It did not enable real time tracking AF modes when Animal is selected for Subject detection. The A7RIV had Animal Eye detect since the beginning but it never had the ability to use the Tracking modes when it was selected. The fact that it didn't have this ability wasn't a big deal to me as you can still use Wide to have it look and track eyes all over the frame. However, the annoying thing was even if Face/Eye detect was turned off it wouldn't allow you to use the Tracking AF modes if you had it set to Animal (for when you wanted to turn it back on and use it without tracking). That is where my annoyance came from. I'd want to leave it on Animal so I could toggle Face/Eye on when I wanted to use it (and accept I couldn't use a Tracking mode when I did) but I had to do two steps in this case...switch it from Human to Animal and turn it On. ...Show more →
Yes, it only enabled it as a new feature when using the LA-EA5 A-Mount Adapter. I never used the 7RM4 prior to firmware 1.20 and mistakenly thought RTT was added in there. Thanks for clarifying.
p.1 #16 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
DavidBM wrote:
What happens there is sort of tracking, but it's not the mode people are talking about when they say "real time tracking".
RTT doesn't work with wide zone: it works by having one of the tracking points placed over the subject, which it then tracks around.
Of course your suggestion does something similar to tracking, it keeps looking for animal eyes anywhere in the frame, but it doesn't do the specific thing people are asking for: track a particular subject as it moves, and keep looking for that subject's eyes.
Real-time tracking only works in wide zone mode.
Sony has a video describing how to enabled it here
p.1 #17 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
All of this, and no mention that RTT is a very poor performer on the R4? Strongly suggest not even bothering with it, you're better in Wide 99% of the time. The A9/A1 changes the formula substantially.
p.1 #18 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
arbitrage wrote:
The release notes for FW 1.20 were as follows:
* Improves the Auto Focus (AF) performance when recording movies with the FE 12-24mm F2.8 GM (SEL1224GM) lens
* Improves the overall stability of the camera
It did not enable real time tracking AF modes when Animal is selected for Subject detection. The A7RIV had Animal Eye detect since the beginning but it never had the ability to use the Tracking modes when it was selected. The fact that it didn't have this ability wasn't a big deal to me as you can still use Wide to have it look and track eyes all over the frame. However, the annoying thing was even if Face/Eye detect was turned off it wouldn't allow you to use the Tracking AF modes if you had it set to Animal (for when you wanted to turn it back on and use it without tracking). That is where my annoyance came from. I'd want to leave it on Animal so I could toggle Face/Eye on when I wanted to use it (and accept I couldn't use a Tracking mode when I did) but I had to do two steps in this case...switch it from Human to Animal and turn it On. ...Show more →
Thank you for this...it really helps me sort out what I can and cant do. I think my bigger issue is shooting one way with the A1 and then having to tap dance around capability with the A7. Weirdly, I am oddly attached to the A7....guess it's the bird portraiture excellence.
Thanks for help!
p.1 #19 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
RoamingScott wrote:
All of this, and no mention that RTT is a very poor performer on the R4? Strongly suggest not even bothering with it, you're better in Wide 99% of the time. The A9/A1 changes the formula substantially.
True, true, true but sometimes it is the camera I have in the moment until I can get another A1! I am noticing people are saying Wide...vs. zone. They seem to both offer a type of tracking...or am I missing something?
p.1 #20 · A7RIV: No Real-time tracking in Animal Eye-AF?
dave unwin wrote:
It would be nice if you could still actually select the tracking mode and it would then override the animal eye AF. As it stands at the moment you need to change animal eye AF to human eye AF before you can select tracking.
Basically if the animal is a fair way away I'll use tracking center mode to acquire the target and it will track the face or body. If i'm looking to do more of a animal portrait I'll switch to wide-zone non tracking with animal eye AF.
For something that is not really talked about, I did find it one of the big benefits of switching to an A9....Show more →
