Great find! This is maybe the most promising looking set of footage I've seen yet. Seems to work really well when the bird is well exposed.
danwu wrote:
If you are interested in A1 with swallow. https://m.facebook.com/tooleebee.photo/
Click the “Videos” tab and scroll down a couple of posts.
Enjoy!
arbitrage wrote:
And make sure to click on the HD version once on the desktop facebook version.
He just posted a BIF eye AF video. He also posted a test for swallow in flight, the video didn't look that impressive but he said only 1 out of 20 was not in focus. He also said for small/fast birds like swallow, KF, he turned off the bird eye AF, he felt it was more accurate without the eye AF for fast small birds.
Vetteman wrote:
It's nice to have an interpreter that is kind enough to tell us what these videos from Hong Kong say
Thank you!
My pleasure. In the barn swallow video's comment section someone asked him why he didn't use eye AF, he said for small/fast birds like swallow and KF, eye AF is difficult to initiate,making the AF less accurate. But for birds like gulls, eagles, it's very effetive.
I am guessing for small birds eye AF doesn't really help as much as with bigger birds. If the body of a small bird is in focus, the eye is pretty much in focus anyway, I think.
Douglas Liu wrote:
My pleasure. In the barn swallow video's comment section someone asked him why he didn't use eye AF, he said for small/fast birds like swallow and KF, eye AF is difficult to initiate,making the AF less accurate. But for birds like gulls, eagles, it's very effetive.
I am guessing for small birds eye AF doesn't really help as much as with bigger birds. If the body of a small bird is in focus, the eye is pretty much in focus anyway, I think.
That makes perfect sense to me - hopefully we will be able to test all of this for ourselves soon. Thank you
I've been mainly photographing dippers these last few days, they're currently nest building so bringing in beakfulls of moss and leaves.
With the a9 I'd use a smaller AF point and with a little camera movement and the joystick place it on a clear part of the bird's head. With the a1 I've been using Spot L or Zone and letting the BEAF do it's thing which has worked very well, catching the eye and cutting the chances of catching the nesting material. Using BEAF + Zone in the upper centre means I can roughly compose with a little camera movement, eliminating the use of the joystick.
One of the other shots I like to get is when they're foraging in the river, the moment when they pull their head and body back up out of the water and you get water peeling off the bird's back. With BEAF it loses the eye as the bird ducks its head underwater but providing part of the bird stays above the surface the AF holds that then switches to eye as the bird's head comes back above the surface. Even when the whole bird submerges, hitting AF as it appears will go from bird to eye pretty quickly. I don't find these the easiest shots to get as what I'm after (sharp head/eye + water spilling off the bird) is over so quickly.
In both instances I've had better results with the a1 compared to the a9 and this is with the (bare) 600GM.
arbitrage wrote:
Thanks for sharing that. There is also a very good video of bird eye-af. After watching that video I think the A1 looks on par to what the R5 can do. I can't wait for next weekend to shoot this camera!!
Did Sony tweak the BEAF FW before shipping the final retail cameras? I just don't understand how the early reviewers had fairly negative/cautious views of the BEAF system based on what we are seeing in these latest BEAF videos?
Seems like this BEAF system is very good and really looks identical to what my R5 does...which is all I wanted.
Just curious...while this is about settings for focus and BEAF, I happen to notice on one of these Facebook videos they were using highlight metering. Do many people use this? While I understand the purpose is so they won’t blow out their highlights,I’ve found many of my BIF, I’m challenged with the opposite (bird being underexposed). Therefore in many cases I change from multi to center.
Vtcats wrote:
Just curious...while this is about settings for focus and BEAF, I happen to notice on one of these Facebook videos they were using highlight metering. Do many people use this? While I understand the purpose is so they won’t blow out their highlights,I’ve found many of my BIF, I’m challenged with the opposite (bird being underexposed). Therefore in many cases I change from multi to center.
For birds in-flight, especially with changing background, there is nothing better than manual exposure. By doing so, you decide what needs to be correctly exposed, not the camera. I know it takes a while to get used to it but it is well worth it. Let the camera focus the lens for you but not set the exposure
I “believe” I use manual exposure. But I look at the “MM” any the bottom as a guide in addition to the on screen histogram.
Also the MM is influenced by the metering used. Question still out there, what do people use for metering.
Thanks
Sorry Kosin,
I re-read your post. I believe you are simply saying, look at the bird and then determine your exposure, correct? Regardless of metering mode used
Vtcats wrote:
I “believe” I use manual exposure. But I look at the “MM” any the bottom as a guide in addition to the on screen histogram.
Also the MM is influenced by the metering used. Question still out there, what do people use for metering.
Thanks
My bad. Even though I’m shooting Sony for a year, it seems that my brain is still stuck in DSLR world At least I learnt something new today and will have to try it out next time...
Vtcats wrote:
Sorry Kosin,
I re-read your post. I believe you are simply saying, look at the bird and then determine your exposure, correct? Regardless of metering mode used
Correct but I wasn’t aware of the “highlight metering” assuming that it sets the exposure automatically. I need to read more on it. If it does indeed set exposure for you than I would suggest to go fully manual. If it is just an exposure “guide”, as “zebras”, than it might come in handy. Like I said, I need to look more into it.
I do use highlight metering a fair amount.
Like any other metering setting there is a learning curve. None are perfect in all situations.
It somewhat protects the highlights, so it tends to underexpose.
If you are underexposing a bird, it will still underexpose the bird.
I am usually in true manual mode using zebra or blinkies to help me dial in exposure, but when I use an auto exposure I still use highlight mode, but set my exposure comp to +0.3 or +0.7 depending on how harsh the light is.
gary
At least I learnt something new today and will have to try it out next time...