nobody23 wrote:
According to Alex Phan it doesn't keep up with the A9 and according to youtubers it does....
If you can lend and test one, please let us know your findings!
Kind regards
What doesn’t keep up with the A9? The 600mm GM? When or where did Alex say that?
AGeoJO wrote:
What doesn’t keep up with the A9? The 600mm GM? When or where did Alex say that?
R5 animal eye AF cant keep up with Sony's AF.
He told me so on FB and it would be glad if he confirms it soon with a review.
Anyway, as I said it needs more testing to make a final conclusion.
The Belted Kingfishers in my area seem to enjoy staying just far enough away to frustrate all the photographers. Atmospherics this time of year August in FL is never fun to deal with either. A few very heavily cropped images:
nobody23 wrote:
R5 animal eye AF cant keep up with Sony's AF.
He told me so on FB and it would be glad if he confirms it soon with a review.
Anyway, as I said it needs more testing to make a final conclusion.
Ah, okay, I misunderstood you since you used “it”. I thought you were referring to one of the lenses mentioned in the previous post. Nevermind then .
LBJ2 wrote:
The Belted Kingfishers in my area seem to enjoy staying just far enough away to frustrate all the photographers. Atmospherics this time of year August in FL is never fun to deal with either. A few very heavily cropped images:
What settings have you been using for the much maligned RIV/200-600? I'm most interested in your Tracking Sensitivity, OSS, Drive Mode, Shutter Mode and AF-C Release/Focus/Balanced priority. Thanks. It looks like it did good on the KF.
arbitrage wrote:
What settings have you been using for the much maligned RIV/200-600? I'm most interested in your Tracking Sensitivity, OSS, Drive Mode, Shutter Mode and AF-C Release/Focus/Balanced priority. Thanks. It looks like it did good on the KF.
Thank you. FWIW, or anyone that cares, for BIF, I shoot the G 200-600 handheld without the tripod foot with the A7rIV + Vertical Grip.
A7rIV:
-Mechanical Shutter ( have had some problems with Silent and very fast moving targets towards the edge of the frame)
-Focus Mode: Continuous AF
-Priority Set in AF-C: Balanced Emphasis
-Focus Area: Wide, I use touch focus for temporary tracking while in Wide AF mode for perched or targets that are otherwise obscured
-AF Tracking Sens: 5(Responsive) Picked this up from Mark Smith's settings
-Aperture Drive in AF: Standard
G 200-600:
-OSS: on 100% of the time
-Mode 3 for Long Distance BIF
-Mode 2 for Closer targets
-Focus Limiter: Switch between Full and Infinity as needed.
* I shot with the new A7rIV firmware ver. 1.20 this weekend to include the KF
I tried Mark Smiths settings for a few months with my A7riv and 200-600G and still had very inconsistent results (especially in brighter days or backlit scenes). I also tested with OSS on mode 2 vs. mode 3, as well as “off” when shutter speeds were at 1/2000th or greater. I just couldn’t get it to Be consistent so I sold the body. Enough was enough for me...moved to the A9ii and the lense shines on that body. I also find images sharper at pixel level on A9II vs. A7RIV (go figure?)
LBJ2 wrote:
Thank you. FWIW, or anyone that cares, for BIF, I shoot the G 200-600 handheld without the tripod foot with the A7rIV + Vertical Grip.
A7rIV:
-Mechanical Shutter ( have had some problems with Silent and very fast moving targets towards the edge of the frame)
-Focus Mode: Continuous AF
-Priority Set in AF-C: Balanced Emphasis
-Focus Area: Wide, I use touch focus for temporary tracking while in Wide AF mode for perched or targets that are otherwise obscured
-AF Tracking Sens: 5(Responsive) Picked this up from Mark Smith's settings
-Aperture Drive in AF: Standard
G 200-600:
-OSS: on 100% of the time
-Mode 3 for Long Distance BIF
-Mode 2 for Closer targets
-Focus Limiter: Switch between Full and Infinity as needed.
* I shot with the new A7rIV firmware ver. 1.20 this weekend to include the KF...Show more →
Maxxus46 wrote:
Hello Arbitrage - is this combo (A7RIV + 200-600G) truly working better for you since the 1.20 firmware update or is it just a placebo affect? Thanks
It is truly working better. I would never have trusted it to quickly raise and fire on a killdeer, kingfisher and even a blackbird and yet it succeeded at all three yesterday. Also just normal birds on water or sticks was very, very consistent.
But as I've said I started seeing improved results before 1.2 FW. But I hadn't tried too much BIF yet. So I really don't know if it was all my setting changes or now a combination of FW and settings. It seems a number of others think it is better after FW so it is probably doing some good.
Nikon user here that will be renting the A7RIV 200-600 combo for an upcoming snowy owl trip. Has a consensus been reached on settings for this combo? I've been searching threads and wonder if someone can help lead me to the menu settings I should use to maximize my chances of success. Who knows, maybe my Nikon gear will be for sale soon after the trip! Thanks in advance.
I got my R4 in Nov, after the 1.20 firmware was already released. I had the 200-600 on my a6600 before. 98% of the scenarios, I don't have issues focusing. In these cases, photos are as in focus as my a6600 + 200-600 or a6600 + 70-350. I'm not sure what's going on with the 2% of the cases since I only have it since Nov. My best guess is harsh lighting + glossy subjects makes this combo not focus. I say this because with the same settings on the same day, if I focus on another non-glossy subject (bird) or a bird in a different lighting condition, the focus is fine. In particular, I have a hard time focusing on yellow billed magpies.
I did another "let's try the RIV/200-600 just for fun afternoon yesterday". It turned out to be a high success day.
I first employed all my regular tactics: OSS 3 and stopped down to f/8. Shot some very good light ducks in flight with 10FPS MS which worked very well. Then shot perching backyard birds. Because that was working well, I started to back off my regular tactics. First dropped OSS to 1....still was working well for my perching backyard birds. Put OSS back to 3 and dropped to wide-open f/6.3. I could see a slight drop in sharpness but not much. What I didn't see was the tendency to always be slightly back-focused as I often do at f/6.3 (which is why I figure f/8 is helping to hide that tendency). But yesterday it was doing okay at f/6.3. I then put OSS to 1, f/6.3...basically how I would have originally shot the combo when I first bought it (because that is how I shoot on the A9). Still did pretty well.
Finally I stuck on the 1.4TC, went to f/10 (so 1/3 stopped down), went back to OSS 3. That worked really well also.
This combination is just weird. Why I have some days where it just seems to work and then others where it just seems to backfocus is a mystery. Granted most of yesterday was very nice light. However, the later afternoon was cloudy and still was getting decent results in the backyard (not the most challenging situation though).
I still haven't figured out what the conditions have to be for the combination to perform poorly.
I think it is gotten better as well...last year if I shot ducks floating on waves that were slowly pitching up and down, I would get more OOF ducks than in focus ones...This year I am getting about 6/10 in focus in the same conditions. The horizontal lines of pitching waves gave fits to the combo in the past...now better. Not perfect by a long shot...but usable. And that is much appreciated given the much smaller size of this combo than he 400 F2.8 + TC (which is a great combo and very reliable in all conditions with the A7R4).
I've not read all of the pages here, but I think I get better results when I use electronic shutter. The AF seems faster and more accurate and unless the subject is moving really fast, I don't get any blur from the read out speed.
timgangloff wrote:
I've not read all of the pages here, but I think I get better results when I use electronic shutter. The AF seems faster and more accurate and unless the subject is moving really fast, I don't get any blur from the read out speed.
I think so too. But for my birds IF I get a lot of shot ruining wing distortion in ES so I'm forced to use MS for them. I use ES for anything not flying.
.