p.1 #1 · Where is the birds eye AF and a new menu?
LA-EA5 is a nice converter for sure but is this what we need now?
Where is a new Menu, the one like A7Siii has?
Where is the bird's eye AF like Canon has?
Sony, what the hell is wrong with you?
You have time to develop a converter so some of us would use a 40years old glass with a $4500 camera and do not have time for Birds AF?
p.1 #2 · Where is the birds eye AF and a new menu?
Who wants bird eye AF? There are probably way more people with this older glass than people who shoot birds. This forum is in no way an indication of the general market.
As far as yet another menu...why? Is the current menu stopping you from making great images? I hardly ever go into the menus once the buttons have been customized.
p.1 #3 · Where is the birds eye AF and a new menu?
First, I don't need a new menu. Current one is fine and I have zero issues finding what I need if I need something not already customized.
Second, product development doesn't happen overnight so that LAE5 has been in development for a while.
Same goes for firmware development. Doesnt happen overnight either so if the camera lacking bird eyeaf (well it works sometimes but not like the Canon) was an issue then why did you buy the camera?
I don't buy a piece of gear that is lacking something I need thinking it will maybe get added in the future.
The Canon is not all mighty. I just finished a test and it was unable to eye af at all in crosslight situation where the A7R iv had zero issues. Also while eye af works in extremely dark situations where not even my A9 would work, at more normal backlit situations it completely stops working where both of my Sony cameras had no issues.
So, I'm sure Sony is working in updates as they have been doing lately specially now that finally worthy products from Canon are our so seat tight and enjoy what you have.. And if it so "broken" that you can't shoot, sell it and move on.
tester_V wrote:
LA-EA5 is a nice converter for sure but is this what we need now?
Where is a new Menu, the one like A7Siii has?
Where is the bird's eye AF like Canon has?
Sony, what the hell is wrong with you?
You have time to develop a converter so some of us would use a 40years old glass with a $4500 camera and do not have time for Birds AF?
p.1 #4 · Where is the birds eye AF and a new menu?
chez wrote:
Who wants bird eye AF? There are probably way more people with this older glass than people who shoot birds. This forum is in no way an indication of the general market.
I would highly doubt there are fewer Sony shooters who shoot birds compared to Sony shooters still using A mount glass.
Why wouldn't you want bird eye AF? Have you ever shot birds? Often you're dealing with branches that can pose an issue in placing the focus point accurately, and from what I've seen of Canon's bird Eye AF, it is extremely good at locking on to the bird's eye even if in a swarm of branches. That's a big plus for birders...should increase the keeper rate tremendously. I don't shoot a lot of birds, save for some bald eagles that nest near my work, but in shooting them, there are several times I would have loved to have had bird Eye AF to help keep the focus where it should be when the eagle is coming in for a landing between branches, etc.
p.1 #6 · Where is the birds eye AF and a new menu?
Jman13 wrote:
I would highly doubt there are fewer Sony shooters who shoot birds compared to Sony shooters still using A mount glass.
I'd bet there's more casual birders than A mount shooters, but more A mount shooters than serious birders.
The A mount is still moderately common out there, it just tends to be heavily weighted towards higher-end consumers who bought into it in the early 2010's and haven't seen a reason to update yet and have their basic lens set already (which is a fairly common situation for APS-C DSLR users in general, one reason that sales have collapsed is the reduced need to upgrade), and the serious A mount shooter, for whom an LA-EA4 was really not an option.
The former generally aren't active on forums, but you see them pop up fairly regularly on Flickr and elsewhere, the latter will pop up on forums, but usually only one of the A-mount focused ones (yes, they still exist). I know a couple of the latter types and run into the former type fairly regularly.
What A mount isn't anymore is a viable market for Sony, beyond trying to entice them to buy into E mount, which the LA-EA5 shows they're still trying for. The folks shooting A today are either pretty satisfied with what they have, or are largely focused on stuff that's already released, especially classic Minolta glass.
Why wouldn't you want bird eye AF? Have you ever shot birds? Often you're dealing with branches that can pose an issue in placing the focus point accurately, and from what I've seen of Canon's bird Eye AF, it is extremely good at locking on to the bird's eye even if in a swarm of branches. That's a big plus for birders...should increase the keeper rate tremendously. I don't shoot a lot of birds, save for some bald eagles that nest near my work, but in shooting them, there are several times I would have loved to have had bird Eye AF to help keep the focus where it should be when the eagle is coming in for a landing between branches, etc.
Yeah, I'd love to see Bird AF come to the Sony's, and I don't shoot birds, and don't use Sony for my AF stuff either. It's just a good capability for the system and I'd like to see Sony give a little firmware love for the older-generation bodies they're still selling.
p.1 #9 · Where is the birds eye AF and a new menu?
Jman13 wrote:
I would highly doubt there are fewer Sony shooters who shoot birds compared to Sony shooters still using A mount glass.
Why wouldn't you want bird eye AF? Have you ever shot birds? Often you're dealing with branches that can pose an issue in placing the focus point accurately, and from what I've seen of Canon's bird Eye AF, it is extremely good at locking on to the bird's eye even if in a swarm of branches. That's a big plus for birders...should increase the keeper rate tremendously. I don't shoot a lot of birds, save for some bald eagles that nest near my work, but in shooting them, there are several times I would have loved to have had bird Eye AF to help keep the focus where it should be when the eagle is coming in for a landing between branches, etc.
No, never shoot birds so bird eye AF has zero interest for me. I'd rather Sony add focus stacking into their cameras. Nikon has this...so why not Sony? I'm certain there are more Sony landscape shooters than bird shooters. I also still believe there are many Sony photographers out there with older A mount / Minolta lenses and Sony providing an updated converter is a really good gesture by them towards their loyal base.
p.1 #11 · Where is the birds eye AF and a new menu?
Jman13 wrote:
And that's the key point. For you.
Obviously, if I don't need it, why would I want it. Same reason why I'd like a light 200 2.8 rather than a 600 f4. And most likely why many here feel the A mount converter is a waste...because they don't have any A lenses...but for those that do have A lenses, I'm sure it is welcomed...sort of like bird eye AF would be welcome by birders.
p.1 #13 · Where is the birds eye AF and a new menu?
"I don't want it" seems a lot different than "who wants it?"
Two totally different points.
I want BED...so much so that I'm buying an R5 and dumping more money down another rabbit hole.
If I go too deep down that rabbit hole then Sony loses my next purchase when they do add BED to a new camera. If they add BED to the A9II via FW then I'll be happy because I will still have my A9II.
BED is already partially working since the 2019 FW updates and can reliably find the eye on owls, ducks and sparrows but needs the bird to be fairly large in the frame which isn't always possible. So I don't see why Sony isn't updating it to work fully like Canon's version unless they think they need the new BIONZ-XR to do so??
They have already stated publicly that the new menu system requires BIONZ-XR so no previous cameras are going to get it via FW.
As an aside...I have yet to encounter an A-mount lens or camera in the wild to date.
p.1 #14 · Where is the birds eye AF and a new menu?
arbitrage wrote:
"I don't want it" seems a lot different than "who wants it?"
Two totally different points.
I want BED...so much so that I'm buying an R5 and dumping more money down another rabbit hole.
If I go too deep down that rabbit hole then Sony loses my next purchase when they do add BED to a new camera. If they add BED to the A9II via FW then I'll be happy because I will still have my A9II.
BED is already partially working since the 2019 FW updates and can reliably find the eye on owls, ducks and sparrows but needs the bird to be fairly large in the frame which isn't always possible. So I don't see why Sony isn't updating it to work fully like Canon's version unless they think they need the new BIONZ-XR to do so??
They have already stated publicly that the new menu system requires BIONZ-XR so no previous cameras are going to get it via FW.
As an aside...I have yet to encounter an A-mount lens or camera in the wild to date....Show more →
When covid is over, come down to Oregon for an A mount experience.
p.1 #15 · Where is the birds eye AF and a new menu?
arbitrage wrote:
As an aside...I have yet to encounter an A-mount lens or camera in the wild to date.
Maybe now with the new converter they have a reason to bring out the A-mount lenses.
As an aside, during my travels throughout Asia, I never once seen a birder...plenty of street, documentary, landscape and architecture photographers, but not one birder.
p.1 #17 · Where is the birds eye AF and a new menu?
chez wrote:
Maybe now with the new converter they have a reason to bring out the A-mount lenses.
As an aside, during my travels throughout Asia, I never once seen a birder...plenty of street, documentary, landscape and architecture photographers, but not one birder.
You just haven't been going to the right places then
p.1 #19 · Where is the birds eye AF and a new menu?
The bird eye detection is a gimmick by definition IMO . How is it going to help with a shot like the one below ? Is it going to be able to detect the eye of a peregrine zipping through? What If the bird is small ? What if the membrane is closed ?
With all due respect all those guys pointing their camera like that will end up with a steep angel, under-belly shot with bad light angle, cluttered and ugly BG. They will get the same junk no matter what grear they are using. A waste of time and lots of deletes. I am sorry but they are clueless from the way they are pointing their cameras. I am sure you agree
This happens pretty often in my area too and usually when I see a crowd like that I know that I should not bother ...just annoying ....
Don't get me wrong. I can imagine the feature working in some situations and nice to have but as a bird photographer it will not sway me one way or the other. In some cases I don’t even want the focus to be right on the eye because the rest of the body might become OOF and soft. I'd prefer whole subject tracking like the Sony's but I would like it to be more reliable for various situations
