p.3 #1 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
Totally agree. Reviews try to sway people away if their into landscape etc...but the reality is you can easily bracket and should be using a tripod (which I do) which will give you far more than 15 stops of dynamic range. After shooting some sunsets, a few auto shows and of course Birding the A9ii has exceeded my expectations. I find it interesting how some think more than 24mpx is required for landscape... this is not true unless your printing billboards. Take care
LBJ2 wrote:
I have no problem recommending the A9II as a one body only camera vs the A7rIV. The A9's 24MP sensor is Plenty to cover multiple applications to include cropping in post, and the A9's silent shutter IQ plus 20FPS AF is pretty fantastic too. Oh and the A9(II) Rocks on the G 200-600.
p.3 #2 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
Just to add an extra data point my A7RIV + 200-600mm appeared to be working a bit better last week after the firmware update when I took it out shooting BIF at f8 AF-C wide OSS 3. But a couple days ago I went out with the 1.4x teleconverter in a bit lower light late day and the results were poor. There were very few shots in focus. When I punched in it appeared to focus on the sky behind the birds the majority of the time. Tried f9-f11 and same OSS 3 setting. I've pretty much given up on this combo for any moving subjects and will be deciding between the R5 and A9II for action moving forward.
p.3 #3 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
Finally, I went out to try this combo out yesterday. The target was a white-tailed kite and the distance was not the best but what can you do to evaluate something under real-life shooting circumstances. The kite flew from left to right from me but increasingly a little bit further away at the end of the flight. I took some 30 images in total.
Here are the settings I used to do the evaluation:
- Updated FW to the most recent one a few days ago
- AF sensitivity set to 1 (locked-on)
- OSS set to "3"
- Shutter at Hi+ and EFCS
- AF-Zone
Out of 30 images I noticed 3-4 of them are not quite in focus. It seems like the focus drifted away for about 2 frames but it did catch the focus again. A similar situation happened again a little bit further down the sequence. I remembered the AF points were lighting up on the target though out the sequence. I would say the combo can nail some 80+% of in focus images, at least during this evaluation, which is actually great. But let me qualify the following:
- The kite was fairly far away and I realize that it is easier for the camera to track focus since the distance difference among frames is not that dramatic. Too bad I couldn't get the kite to fly at me. Oh, well.
- The background is even and uncluttered. And as you can imagine, that would make it easier for the camera/lens to do the AF task.
I am attaching 3 images towards the end of the sequence here; except for Topaz Denoise AI at default setting, nothing else was edited to the files. BTW, these posted images are cropped already. The original files were imported to LR at default setting but the focus adjustment was brought to 0. FYI, the LR default sharpness during import is +40. I also attached a larger crop of one of the files.
The AF performance seems to be more than decent but this short evaluation doesn't mean that much based on the favorable shooting circumstances. Let's evaluate some more to get a better picture of the AF performance. Lastly, I would have edited somewhat more for normal posting here but for this evaluation, the images are fine, I would say.
p.3 #4 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
I just shot the A7RIV and 200-600 even with the 1.4TC on it for some of the time for the entire morning. I am pretty confident now that issues are resolved. I saw no problems with focus today. I even got sequences of Killdeer in flight with 80% in focus. Also a few hail mary grab shots of blackbirds coming straight at me netted a couple sharp ones. For gulls and herons it just wasn't missing. I shot foraging sandpipers via the flip screen, lens resting on the toe of my shoe and basically let Zone AF take over and 90% were tack on the head.
I am now very confident using this combination for a whole day of birding and don't feel I will miss the flight shots anymore. I'm just not seeing any of the back focus I used to see even on the easy shots. I still don't know if this was FW or settings or the combination of the two but whatever....I'm happy.
p.3 #5 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
arbitrage wrote:
I just shot the A7RIV and 200-600 even with the 1.4TC on it for some of the time for the entire morning. I am pretty confident now that issues are resolved. I saw no problems with focus today. I even got sequences of Killdeer in flight with 80% in focus. Also a few hail mary grab shots of blackbirds coming straight at me netted a couple sharp ones. For gulls and herons it just wasn't missing. I shot foraging sandpipers via the flip screen, lens resting on the toe of my shoe and basically let Zone AF take over and 90% were tack on the head.
I am now very confident using this combination for a whole day of birding and don't feel I will miss the flight shots anymore. I'm just not seeing any of the back focus I used to see even on the easy shots. I still don't know if this was FW or settings or the combination of the two but whatever....I'm happy....Show more →
Great, Geoff! As long as we keep in mind though that the AF performance of the A7r IV still doesn’t match that of the A9 or A9 II. I got the hunch that quite a few folks feel that way; right, wrong or indifferent.
Here is another image from last Thursday of a WTK. It is a burst of only 5 though and all of them are in perfect focus. It flew sideways but at a slight angle, closer towards the left.
p.3 #8 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
arbitrage wrote:
I just shot the A7RIV and 200-600 even with the 1.4TC on it for some of the time for the entire morning. I am pretty confident now that issues are resolved. I saw no problems with focus today. I even got sequences of Killdeer in flight with 80% in focus. Also a few hail mary grab shots of blackbirds coming straight at me netted a couple sharp ones. For gulls and herons it just wasn't missing. I shot foraging sandpipers via the flip screen, lens resting on the toe of my shoe and basically let Zone AF take over and 90% were tack on the head.
I am now very confident using this combination for a whole day of birding and don't feel I will miss the flight shots anymore. I'm just not seeing any of the back focus I used to see even on the easy shots. I still don't know if this was FW or settings or the combination of the two but whatever....I'm happy....Show more →
@maxxus46 This may answer your question in the other thread about the r4 and 200-600
p.3 #10 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
Maxxus46 wrote:
Already moved onto A9ii... can't say i have any regrets
Oh, yes, the A9 II is simply a superb auto-focusing camera. However, just in case you need the resolution, and we do need a backup camera, a 61MP body for its resolving and cropping capability does come in handy though....
p.3 #11 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
When i need resolution I stitch..and its not often that I need 61mpx. Thanks
AGeoJO wrote:
Oh, yes, the A9 II is simply a superb auto-focusing camera. However, just in case you need the resolution, and we do need a backup camera, a 61MP body for its resolving and cropping capability does come in handy though....
p.3 #12 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
arbitrage wrote:
I just shot the A7RIV and 200-600 even with the 1.4TC on it for some of the time for the entire morning. I am pretty confident now that issues are resolved. I saw no problems with focus today. I even got sequences of Killdeer in flight with 80% in focus. Also a few hail mary grab shots of blackbirds coming straight at me netted a couple sharp ones. For gulls and herons it just wasn't missing. I shot foraging sandpipers via the flip screen, lens resting on the toe of my shoe and basically let Zone AF take over and 90% were tack on the head.
I am now very confident using this combination for a whole day of birding and don't feel I will miss the flight shots anymore. I'm just not seeing any of the back focus I used to see even on the easy shots. I still don't know if this was FW or settings or the combination of the two but whatever....I'm happy....Show more →
p.3 #14 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
arbitrage wrote:
I'm getting closer to buying one...just negotiating some prices with my preferred dealer Not 100% sure yet....
I’d be curious about your longer term perspective. I’m pretty sure my A9 acquires AF faster on flying birds and sticks with them better and my hope to be able to sell it and the 200-600mm lens without any doubts is still that, a hope. I don’t currently trust the R5 to nail it like I do with the A9. Not sure that’s my limited use of the R5 or really the camera’s shortcomings.
p.3 #15 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
johnvanr wrote:
I’d be curious about your longer term perspective. I’m pretty sure my A9 acquires AF faster on flying birds and sticks with them better and my hope to be able to sell it and the 200-600mm lens without any doubts is still that, a hope. I don’t currently trust the R5 to nail it like I do with the A9. Not sure that’s my limited use of the R5 or really the camera’s shortcomings.
John, your only lukewarm opinion on the R5 won’t earn you any big score from Canon fanboys. Luckily, this is a Sony forum .
p.3 #18 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
johnvanr wrote:
I’d be curious about your longer term perspective. I’m pretty sure my A9 acquires AF faster on flying birds and sticks with them better and my hope to be able to sell it and the 200-600mm lens without any doubts is still that, a hope. I don’t currently trust the R5 to nail it like I do with the A9. Not sure that’s my limited use of the R5 or really the camera’s shortcomings.
The more I use the R5 the more impressed I am with many aspects. Unfortunately, I don’t have any long RF primes or zooms with which to compare against my a9. Mind you, I’m using adapted ef lenses against an a9/200-600. Against the a7riv there is no question that the R5’s af is superior, though I don’t have enough experience to make conclusive statements regarding a comparison for BIF against the a9. The limited experience suggests that the a9 is a bit more sticky against busy, similar plane subjects. For BIF, I think they acquire equally quickly and track accurately for near subjects while for more distant subjects, with an adapted lens the R5 demonstrated the well described MILC failure to rack completely. Though I’ve owned every Canon dslr with the exception of the 1dxii and iii, the R5 is the most accurate af’ing Canon I’ve owned.
p.3 #19 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
AGeoJO wrote:
Finally, I went out to try this combo out yesterday. The target was a white-tailed kite and the distance was not the best but what can you do to evaluate something under real-life shooting circumstances. The kite flew from left to right from me but increasingly a little bit further away at the end of the flight. I took some 30 images in total.
Here are the settings I used to do the evaluation:
- Updated FW to the most recent one a few days ago
- AF sensitivity set to 1 (locked-on)
- OSS set to "3"
- Shutter at Hi+ and EFCS
- AF-Zone
Out of 30 images I noticed 3-4 of them are not quite in focus. It seems like the focus drifted away for about 2 frames but it did catch the focus again. A similar situation happened again a little bit further down the sequence. I remembered the AF points were lighting up on the target though out the sequence. I would say the combo can nail some 80+% of in focus images, at least during this evaluation, which is actually great. But let me qualify the following:
- The kite was fairly far away and I realize that it is easier for the camera to track focus since the distance difference among frames is not that dramatic. Too bad I couldn't get the kite to fly at me. Oh, well.
- The background is even and uncluttered. And as you can imagine, that would make it easier for the camera/lens to do the AF task.
I am attaching 3 images towards the end of the sequence here; except for Topaz Denoise AI at default setting, nothing else was edited to the files. BTW, these posted images are cropped already. The original files were imported to LR at default setting but the focus adjustment was brought to 0. FYI, the LR default sharpness during import is +40. I also attached a larger crop of one of the files.
The AF performance seems to be more than decent but this short evaluation doesn't mean that much based on the favorable shooting circumstances. Let's evaluate some more to get a better picture of the AF performance. Lastly, I would have edited somewhat more for normal posting here but for this evaluation, the images are fine, I would say. ...Show more →
p.3 #20 · A7rIV & 200-600 looks like issues may have been resolved
k-h.a.w wrote:
OSS ?
K-H., yes, that stands for Optical Steady Shot, which was set to “3” on the lens. Although the results are fine but the viewfinder was jerky on that mode. I left the setting at “3” the whole afternoon.
.
Not 100% sure yet....