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Archive 2021A1 Reviews/Video thread
p.61 #1A1 Reviews/Video thread
Pius Sullivan wrote:
The results I see from the a1 are no better than the R5, what else do I need to look at.
Enough great photographers are already using it and posting photos and video's.
Nope I have not used the a1, but again lots of folks here comment on the R5 without using it..
But I have shot long enough to know what to look for, I'm just not seeing it Geoff...
And after this theatrical performance he says he will buy it at the end!
Hate that I have to agree with him but he's right the R5 does focus better... I don't think you should make that claim if you haven't shot the A1. Did Rory lend it to you for a day?? I have shot both and just like I said that the A9II focused better than the R5, the A1 does also and better than the A9II.
The only AF I can find better on the R5 is with certain birds against really busy backgrounds, the R5 seemed to find the eye more often. But in any situation that the shot would be worthwhile taking I'd put the two cameras essentially equal. I'm talking about when you have a clean background so that both cameras can recognize the shape of the bird and figure out where the eye should be.
I'm honestly not trying to defend or prop up my latest toy. I'm just giving a fair assessment of the two AF systems. Just like I said the A9II was better than the R5 for fast acquisition of small/fast/erratic BIF than the R5. And that was when the R5 was my new toy.
That is just my opinion, people can make up their own minds whether the A1 is worth the premium over an R5. I think that anyone invested in Sony glass (especially the big two primes) would be making a very bad decision to switch to an R5 because of the $2K price difference. I also think anyone with a big investment in Canon glass would be making a very bad decision to switch over to a $2K more expensive A1.
If someone is starting from scratch then if I was them I wouldn't buy anything too expensive until Canon shows us the R1 and some RF superteles and Nikon shows the Z9 and the Z superteles.
To be honest I think once all those cards are on the table Nikon will be the best but that is just a guess.
I haven't said anything about the end results. I also haven't seen anything from the A1 in my hands that I couldn't get with my A9 or my R5 (RIP). I have photos of lots of small/erratic BIF with my D500 and D850. I also have images of small passerines IF (like Purple finch and Spotted Towhee IF) with my 1DXII. But I can say that getting those similar shots with my 1DXII was a lot more difficult. Better AF doesn't always get us better end results (if I compare my A1 to a 7DII then sure it does) but it makes it easier and more consistent to get those shots. What "better AF" will sometimes translate into is a once in a lifetime moment that happens before you in a split second...that is when you might get the shot with a lot of different cameras if all the stars align (heck maybe even the 7DII) but the question becomes which camera would you trust most in your hand for that chance of a lifetime shot. In my hands I'd trust the A1 then the A9/A9II and then the R5 in that order. Below that would be the D500/D850 and I'm sure the D5/D6 although I never tested those two. But that doesn't mean I can't sit at the lagoon every weekend and not get all the shots I need of my regulars with an R5...because I know I can get those shots and I know that the A1 isn't getting me better shots than the R5 sitting at the lagoon shooting my regulars.
Edited on Mar 24, 2021 at 07:48 AM · View previous versions
The results I see from the a1 are no better than the R5, what else do I need to look at.
Enough great photographers are already using it and posting photos and video's.
Nope I have not used the a1, but again lots of folks here comment on the R5 without using it..
But I have shot long enough to know what to look for, I'm just not seeing it Geoff...
arbitrage wrote
Pius Sullivan wrote
sbaltmin wrote
The show continues. He still insists that canon R5 focuses better? Does he need a seminar about the settings?And after this theatrical performance he says he will buy it at the end!
nobody23 wrote
Tony alarm:The only AF I can find better on the R5 is with certain birds against really busy backgrounds, the R5 seemed to find the eye more often. But in any situation that the shot would be worthwhile taking I'd put the two cameras essentially equal. I'm talking about when you have a clean background so that both cameras can recognize the shape of the bird and figure out where the eye should be.
I'm honestly not trying to defend or prop up my latest toy. I'm just giving a fair assessment of the two AF systems. Just like I said the A9II was better than the R5 for fast acquisition of small/fast/erratic BIF than the R5. And that was when the R5 was my new toy.
That is just my opinion, people can make up their own minds whether the A1 is worth the premium over an R5. I think that anyone invested in Sony glass (especially the big two primes) would be making a very bad decision to switch to an R5 because of the $2K price difference. I also think anyone with a big investment in Canon glass would be making a very bad decision to switch over to a $2K more expensive A1.
If someone is starting from scratch then if I was them I wouldn't buy anything too expensive until Canon shows us the R1 and some RF superteles and Nikon shows the Z9 and the Z superteles.
To be honest I think once all those cards are on the table Nikon will be the best but that is just a guess.
I haven't said anything about the end results. I also haven't seen anything from the A1 in my hands that I couldn't get with my A9 or my R5 (RIP). I have photos of lots of small/erratic BIF with my D500 and D850. I also have images of small passerines IF (like Purple finch and Spotted Towhee IF) with my 1DXII. But I can say that getting those similar shots with my 1DXII was a lot more difficult. Better AF doesn't always get us better end results (if I compare my A1 to a 7DII then sure it does) but it makes it easier and more consistent to get those shots. What "better AF" will sometimes translate into is a once in a lifetime moment that happens before you in a split second...that is when you might get the shot with a lot of different cameras if all the stars align (heck maybe even the 7DII) but the question becomes which camera would you trust most in your hand for that chance of a lifetime shot. In my hands I'd trust the A1 then the A9/A9II and then the R5 in that order. Below that would be the D500/D850 and I'm sure the D5/D6 although I never tested those two. But that doesn't mean I can't sit at the lagoon every weekend and not get all the shots I need of my regulars with an R5...because I know I can get those shots and I know that the A1 isn't getting me better shots than the R5 sitting at the lagoon shooting my regulars.
Edited on Mar 24, 2021 at 07:48 AM · View previous versions
Mar 24, 2021 at 07:46 AM
p.61 #3A1 Reviews/Video thread
arbitrage wrote:
Tony's funny. But hey, I have a list going of things I don't like about the A1 also. I actually have a full document I'm working on with the pros and cons between the A1 and the R5.
Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it...Show more →
"My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera" I thought he said 'Silent mode', not electronic shutter. Does that make sense?
Couple of little things I've learned from the forum. May be these things doesn't affect lots of people. But I think being a $6500 flagship A1 should avoid any chance to miss the shot
1. When in 'simlut' write mode (writing to both cards) and if you forget to put one card in, camera won't shoot. This is same
behavior as A9 and I missed shots from the field. I left one card in card reader at home. Nikon would still shoot
2. (you can confirm this - This might be a Mirrorless issue) When the camera is focused at a far away subject and you try to focus a subject (bird) at close by perch camera won't focus. The focus points will dance around the subject and still stay at farther subject. I usually point to something that fills the frame (eg ground) and focus and then aim at the subject, it will refocus.
3. This is more of a question. I like to keep switching between EVF and LCD automatic. That way when I raise the camera to eye, I can shoot using EVF and review pictures in LCD without any button presses. I can also shoot at ground level without changing anything. I changed it to Manual in A9 to avoid delay to shoot if something appear all of sudden. But that causes missed shots too. I forget to change to back to EVF from LCD and by the time I realize this, the bird would be gone. Also I like to see the settings (SS, Aperture etc in LCD as A9 lacks top LCD. Question is, if I leave this to automatic is there any delay in EVF to turn on? I know it can affect the battery. But that's ok.
4. This is also a question. Can you convert AF area into a single point by holding a button and still move the point around? I think you understand this from D500. I know I can use custom hold a button. But A9 doesn't allow moving the point (flexible spot medium or small) around using joy stick if button hold is used. I can also switch to single point from zone with a button press (Regist AF Area Toggle), then you have to remember to put it back. This is what I do now. Holding a key would be great.
5. Another question. What's the minimum SS for electronic shutter? In A9, I can't go below 1/8 sec. For macro I have to use mechanical shutter. I haven't tested it, but is it possible to have some vibration and lack of sharpness?
Some of these are concerns are because I'm coming from SLR. But I think most of Sony shooters are coming from SLR. I know too many little things. Hope someone out there will be able to answer if you don't have answers for all of these..
Tony's funny. But hey, I have a list going of things I don't like about the A1 also. I actually have a full document I'm working on with the pros and cons between the A1 and the R5.
Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it...Show more →
"My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera" I thought he said 'Silent mode', not electronic shutter. Does that make sense?
Couple of little things I've learned from the forum. May be these things doesn't affect lots of people. But I think being a $6500 flagship A1 should avoid any chance to miss the shot
1. When in 'simlut' write mode (writing to both cards) and if you forget to put one card in, camera won't shoot. This is same
behavior as A9 and I missed shots from the field. I left one card in card reader at home
. Nikon would still shoot2. (you can confirm this - This might be a Mirrorless issue) When the camera is focused at a far away subject and you try to focus a subject (bird) at close by perch camera won't focus. The focus points will dance around the subject and still stay at farther subject. I usually point to something that fills the frame (eg ground) and focus and then aim at the subject, it will refocus.
3. This is more of a question. I like to keep switching between EVF and LCD automatic. That way when I raise the camera to eye, I can shoot using EVF and review pictures in LCD without any button presses. I can also shoot at ground level without changing anything. I changed it to Manual in A9 to avoid delay to shoot if something appear all of sudden. But that causes missed shots too. I forget to change to back to EVF from LCD and by the time I realize this, the bird would be gone. Also I like to see the settings (SS, Aperture etc in LCD as A9 lacks top LCD. Question is, if I leave this to automatic is there any delay in EVF to turn on? I know it can affect the battery. But that's ok.
4. This is also a question. Can you convert AF area into a single point by holding a button and still move the point around? I think you understand this from D500. I know I can use custom hold a button. But A9 doesn't allow moving the point (flexible spot medium or small) around using joy stick if button hold is used. I can also switch to single point from zone with a button press (Regist AF Area Toggle), then you have to remember to put it back. This is what I do now. Holding a key would be great.
5. Another question. What's the minimum SS for electronic shutter? In A9, I can't go below 1/8 sec. For macro I have to use mechanical shutter. I haven't tested it, but is it possible to have some vibration and lack of sharpness?
Some of these are concerns are because I'm coming from SLR. But I think most of Sony shooters are coming from SLR
. I know too many little things. Hope someone out there will be able to answer if you don't have answers for all of these..Mar 24, 2021 at 07:48 AM
p.61 #4A1 Reviews/Video thread
Nope that's not what I'm saying.
To get the best user experience from your gear you need to adapt to all lighting conditions.
I just find it saves time, put the best glass you have on and leave it on... If I'm to close use my legs to back up.
I have gotten great shots with the 100-500, I have no issues with the tracking and focus of that lens in the right light. The detail can easily match the 200-600.
But to test a a camera with mostly one lens, I feel that's not giving the camera a fair shake.
Just my opinion .
arbitrage wrote:
Pius Sullivan wrote
We all know you need the fast glass to get the best from the AF on these cameras...That's why I use my 600 III 99% of the time...
arbitrage wrote
Pius Sullivan wrote
How can you say the AF on the a1 is better than the R5 when you shot 95 % of the time with 7.1 glass and you use your top glass on the A1...arbitrage wrote
Tony's funny. But hey, I have a list going of things I don't like about the A1 also. I actually have a full document I'm working on with the pros and cons between the A1 and the R5.Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it and I shoot decent length bursts), card size (I'm running 128GB and never filled it in a day so 160 would be fine). The Human/Animal/Bird icon does change in the Fn menu but I guess not on the EVF/LCD...I wouldn't know as I turn off all overlays other than histogram on my screens (and of course I only shoot birds so it is moot point to me).
Overall AF better than the R5? No...flat out no....the only point I'll concede is that Bird-Eye AF in some tricky situations with messy background is better on the R5.
Better controls on the R5?...heck no....the R5 buttons are horrible compared to the A1, the A1 has better customization of the buttons.
Things I agree with in that video: the file quality limitation for 30FPS...I'm not really bothered by this as the Lossy files have never bothered me and it is all I've ever used on Sony but it would be nice to be able to shoot Lossless Compressed and not have to lose 30FPS.
One of the points just seem incorrect:
My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera
I felt that the adapted EF superteles didn't lose anything to the native lens. But I didn't find that they gave a boost to AF either. Granted I only shot your 600III for one day and I didn't have many fast BIF to aim it at. It performed amazing on...Show more →
Mar 24, 2021 at 07:55 AM
p.61 #5A1 Reviews/Video thread
Pius Sullivan wrote:
If you read the OP's posting, the comment was about focus and that's what I was replying to.
You're right, I'm not worried about about flash sync and such. I will repeat it again the R5 can focus with the a1 any day of the week.. I'm just informing people who think the R5 is a step down from what Sony makes. You can choose to pay what you want for gear... your choice.
And after this theatrical performance he says he will buy it at the end!Hate that I have to agree with him but he's right the R5 does focus better... The camera is not about BIF only, right? Because there are many other things which are excellent and make it spectacular, things the R5 will never be able to touch. It is fine, that you think the price isn't worth it, for others not as limited in their shooting envelope like you, the situation is different, e.g. event shooters using flash or the E-shutter all the time without banding, flicker, completely silent.
Sensor readout speed can be an issue for fast subjects and in some sports for the r5. The Sony doesn't have that with the a1. Whether anyone's style of shooting will realize that limitation, I can't say, but it's real and it's a killer some some who don't want to shoot mechanical shutter with it's limitations. To overlook that seems disingenuous. Focus doesn't really matter if you have ES sensor readout speed issues. Th shot is "in focus" but the ball is elongated... I have those issues with my a7r4 so I do know what it looks like and when that camera is not the right tool. If you need that ability, the technology (and it's cost in the A1) can't be had in the r5.
If you read the OP's posting, the comment was about focus and that's what I was replying to.
You're right, I'm not worried about about flash sync and such. I will repeat it again the R5 can focus with the a1 any day of the week.. I'm just informing people who think the R5 is a step down from what Sony makes. You can choose to pay what you want for gear... your choice.
Holger wrote
Pius Sullivan wrote
I have the R5 and I can make it hit... As for Mark Smith, he's not a canon shooter and admits that in the video... From the videos I watch not seeing anything spectacular from the a1 for that price range.buffalowolff wrote
Does it though? Not having an r5 myself but hearing things from a couple action reviewers say the r5 draws a more accurate box around the subject but doesn't necessarily nail the actual shot (Mark Smith for example). So far using the a1 I'm having a real hard time imagining anything better at actually hitting what it says it's hitting.Pius Sullivan wrote
baltmin wrote
The show continues. He still insists that canon R5 focuses better? Does he need a seminar about the settings?And after this theatrical performance he says he will buy it at the end!
Sensor readout speed can be an issue for fast subjects and in some sports for the r5. The Sony doesn't have that with the a1. Whether anyone's style of shooting will realize that limitation, I can't say, but it's real and it's a killer some some who don't want to shoot mechanical shutter with it's limitations. To overlook that seems disingenuous. Focus doesn't really matter if you have ES sensor readout speed issues. Th shot is "in focus" but the ball is elongated... I have those issues with my a7r4 so I do know what it looks like and when that camera is not the right tool. If you need that ability, the technology (and it's cost in the A1) can't be had in the r5.
Mar 24, 2021 at 07:59 AM
p.61 #6A1 Reviews/Video thread
Seems logical to me, Tim.
timgangloff wrote:
You're right, I'm not worried about about flash sync and such. I will repeat it again the R5 can focus with the a1 any day of the week.. I'm just informing people who think the R5 is a step down from what Sony makes. You can choose to pay what you want for gear... your choice.
The camera is not about BIF only, right? Because there are many other things which are excellent and make it spectacular, things the R5 will never be able to touch. It is fine, that you think the price isn't worth it, for others not as limited in their shooting envelope like you, the situation is different, e.g. event shooters using flash or the E-shutter all the time without banding, flicker, completely silent.Sensor readout speed can be an issue for fast subjects and in some sports for the r5. The Sony doesn't have that with the a1. Whether anyone's style of shooting will realize that limitation, I can't say, but it's real and it's a killer some some who don't want to shoot mechanical shutter with it's limitations. To overlook that seems disingenuous. Focus doesn't really matter if you have ES sensor readout speed issues. Th shot is "in focus" but the ball is elongated... I have those issues with my a7r4 so I do know what it looks like and when...Show more →
timgangloff wrote:
Pius Sullivan wrote
If you read the OP's posting, the comment was about focus and that's what I was replying to.You're right, I'm not worried about about flash sync and such. I will repeat it again the R5 can focus with the a1 any day of the week.. I'm just informing people who think the R5 is a step down from what Sony makes. You can choose to pay what you want for gear... your choice.
Holger wrote
Pius Sullivan wrote
I have the R5 and I can make it hit... As for Mark Smith, he's not a canon shooter and admits that in the video... From the videos I watch not seeing anything spectacular from the a1 for that price range.buffalowolff wrote
Does it though? Not having an r5 myself but hearing things from a couple action reviewers say the r5 draws a more accurate box around the subject but doesn't necessarily nail the actual shot (Mark Smith for example). So far using the a1 I'm having a real hard time imagining anything better at actually hitting what it says it's hitting.Pius Sullivan wrote
Hate that I have to agree with him but he's right the R5 does focus better...Mar 24, 2021 at 08:11 AM
p.61 #7A1 Reviews/Video thread
Jemini wrote:
5. Another question. What's the minimum SS for electronic shutter? In A9, I can't go below 1/8 sec. For macro I have to use mechanical shutter. I haven't tested it, but is it possible to have some vibration and lack of sharpness?
A9 can do 30" in electronic, just like the A1 - in single shot mode.
In continuous the A9 is limited to 1/8", and the A1 to 0.5".
5. Another question. What's the minimum SS for electronic shutter? In A9, I can't go below 1/8 sec. For macro I have to use mechanical shutter. I haven't tested it, but is it possible to have some vibration and lack of sharpness?
A9 can do 30" in electronic, just like the A1 - in single shot mode.
In continuous the A9 is limited to 1/8", and the A1 to 0.5".
Mar 24, 2021 at 09:12 AM
p.61 #8A1 Reviews/Video thread
Pius Sullivan wrote:
Nope that's not what I'm saying.
To get the best user experience from your gear you need to adapt to all lighting conditions.
I just find it saves time, put the best glass you have on and leave it on... If I'm to close use my legs to back up.
I have gotten great shots with the 100-500, I have no issues with the tracking and focus of that lens in the right light. The detail can easily match the 200-600.
But to test a a camera with mostly one lens, I feel that's not giving the camera a fair shake.
Just my opinion...Show more →
That's why I use my 600 III 99% of the time...
Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it and I shoot decent length bursts), card size (I'm running 128GB and never filled it in a day so 160 would be fine). The Human/Animal/Bird icon does change in the Fn menu but I guess not on the EVF/LCD...I wouldn't know as I turn off all overlays other than histogram on my screens (and of course I only shoot birds so it is moot point to me).
Overall AF better than the R5? No...flat out no....the only point I'll concede is that Bird-Eye AF in some tricky situations with messy background is better on the R5.
Better controls on the R5?...heck no....the R5 buttons are horrible compared to the A1, the A1 has better customization of the buttons.
Things I agree with in that video: the file quality limitation for 30FPS...I'm not really bothered by this as the Lossy files have never bothered me and it is all I've ever used on Sony but it would be nice to be able to shoot Lossless Compressed and not have to lose 30FPS.
One of the points just seem incorrect:
My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his cameraI'm comparing it to my 200-600 and 100-400 on the A1.But on the A1 you don't need the 600GM (or 400GM) to get the full AF experience. I also haven't read anything on the R5 threads saying you need an adapted EF super tele to get the best AF out of the R5. But I guess you feel that you do??
I felt that the adapted EF superteles didn't lose anything to the native lens. But I didn't find that they gave a boost to AF either. Granted I only shot your 600III for one day and I didn't have many fast BIF to aim it at. It performed amazing on what I did aim it at. I shot two copies of the 400DOII for 4 days total (around 10,000 frames at my regular spots which included all my regular faster BIF like blackbirds) and I shot your 100-400II for a very short while. And then the rest of the time I shot my 100-500. My general impression between the f/4 400DOII and the 100-500 was that AF seemed to act the same.
I guess if you are correct and the R5 needs the big lens to get A1 like AF then that means we have to consider a $13K DSLR lens in the value equation vs a $2K 200-600 on the A1.
Obviously I love the big 600 primes for light gathering, rendering, TC use just as much as you do. But I really didn't think you needed one on the A1 nor the R5 to maximize the AF performance.
5 months with the fastest native RF telephoto lens available shooting all sorts of variety of BIF and a good solid 4 days (10,000 images) with a highly regarded 400DOII adapted lens also shooting primarily BIF I think gives me a fair amount of experience to assess the R5's AF.
I don't see how on one hand you can say I didn't give the R5 a fair shake because 90% of my shooting was with a single lens and yet you seem to find it fair to come and declare the R5 is every bit as good as the A1 while at the same time admitting you've never even taken a single image with the A1.
I agree the 100-500 can match the 200-600 in IQ. I have controlled test shots between it and the 200-600 that prove as much if anyone really wants to nitpick. I never said anything to the contrary. I've routinely recommended that lens to anyone that has enough light that f/7.1 is not a constant limitation. Pretty much the same as the f/6.3 limitations of the 200-600.
The 4 days with 400DOII gave me a good impression of how an f/4 lens and the R5 behaves in lower light conditions. One or two of those days in cloudy and showers and the others in decent light so I could test BIF. The one day in sunny conditions with your 600III just showed me how good that lens is. And showed me that there was no handicap to adapting an EF lens making the entire Mk II and Mk III EF telephoto ecosystem a viable pool to draw from with the R5 given the limited RF telephoto lens selection.
Nope that's not what I'm saying.
To get the best user experience from your gear you need to adapt to all lighting conditions.
I just find it saves time, put the best glass you have on and leave it on... If I'm to close use my legs to back up.
I have gotten great shots with the 100-500, I have no issues with the tracking and focus of that lens in the right light. The detail can easily match the 200-600.
But to test a a camera with mostly one lens, I feel that's not giving the camera a fair shake.
Just my opinion...Show more →
arbitrage wrote
Pius Sullivan wrote
We all know you need the fast glass to get the best from the AF on these cameras...That's why I use my 600 III 99% of the time...
arbitrage wrote
Pius Sullivan wrote
How can you say the AF on the a1 is better than the R5 when you shot 95 % of the time with 7.1 glass and you use your top glass on the A1...arbitrage wrote
Tony's funny. But hey, I have a list going of things I don't like about the A1 also. I actually have a full document I'm working on with the pros and cons between the A1 and the R5.Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it and I shoot decent length bursts), card size (I'm running 128GB and never filled it in a day so 160 would be fine). The Human/Animal/Bird icon does change in the Fn menu but I guess not on the EVF/LCD...I wouldn't know as I turn off all overlays other than histogram on my screens (and of course I only shoot birds so it is moot point to me).
Overall AF better than the R5? No...flat out no....the only point I'll concede is that Bird-Eye AF in some tricky situations with messy background is better on the R5.
Better controls on the R5?...heck no....the R5 buttons are horrible compared to the A1, the A1 has better customization of the buttons.
Things I agree with in that video: the file quality limitation for 30FPS...I'm not really bothered by this as the Lossy files have never bothered me and it is all I've ever used on Sony but it would be nice to be able to shoot Lossless Compressed and not have to lose 30FPS.
One of the points just seem incorrect:
My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera
I felt that the adapted EF superteles didn't lose anything to the native lens. But I didn't find that they gave a boost to AF either. Granted I only shot your 600III for one day and I didn't have many fast BIF to aim it at. It performed amazing on what I did aim it at. I shot two copies of the 400DOII for 4 days total (around 10,000 frames at my regular spots which included all my regular faster BIF like blackbirds) and I shot your 100-400II for a very short while. And then the rest of the time I shot my 100-500. My general impression between the f/4 400DOII and the 100-500 was that AF seemed to act the same.
I guess if you are correct and the R5 needs the big lens to get A1 like AF then that means we have to consider a $13K DSLR lens in the value equation vs a $2K 200-600 on the A1.
Obviously I love the big 600 primes for light gathering, rendering, TC use just as much as you do. But I really didn't think you needed one on the A1 nor the R5 to maximize the AF performance.
5 months with the fastest native RF telephoto lens available shooting all sorts of variety of BIF and a good solid 4 days (10,000 images) with a highly regarded 400DOII adapted lens also shooting primarily BIF I think gives me a fair amount of experience to assess the R5's AF.
I don't see how on one hand you can say I didn't give the R5 a fair shake because 90% of my shooting was with a single lens and yet you seem to find it fair to come and declare the R5 is every bit as good as the A1 while at the same time admitting you've never even taken a single image with the A1.
I agree the 100-500 can match the 200-600 in IQ. I have controlled test shots between it and the 200-600 that prove as much if anyone really wants to nitpick. I never said anything to the contrary. I've routinely recommended that lens to anyone that has enough light that f/7.1 is not a constant limitation. Pretty much the same as the f/6.3 limitations of the 200-600.
The 4 days with 400DOII gave me a good impression of how an f/4 lens and the R5 behaves in lower light conditions. One or two of those days in cloudy and showers and the others in decent light so I could test BIF. The one day in sunny conditions with your 600III just showed me how good that lens is. And showed me that there was no handicap to adapting an EF lens making the entire Mk II and Mk III EF telephoto ecosystem a viable pool to draw from with the R5 given the limited RF telephoto lens selection.
Mar 24, 2021 at 09:56 AM
p.61 #9A1 Reviews/Video thread
Jemini wrote:
Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it and I shoot decent length bursts), card size (I'm running 128GB and never filled it in a day so 160 would be fine). The Human/Animal/Bird icon does change in the Fn menu but I guess not on the EVF/LCD...I wouldn't know as I turn off all overlays other than histogram on my screens (and of course I only shoot birds so it is moot point to me).
Overall AF better than the R5? No...flat out no....the only point I'll concede is that Bird-Eye AF in some tricky situations with messy background is better on the R5.
Better controls on the R5?...heck no....the R5 buttons are horrible compared to the A1, the A1 has better customization of the buttons.
Things I agree with in that video: the file quality limitation for 30FPS...I'm not really bothered by this as the Lossy files have never bothered me and it is all I've ever used on Sony but it would be nice to be able to shoot Lossless Compressed and not have to lose 30FPS.
One of the points just seem incorrect:
My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera"My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera" I thought he said 'Silent mode', not electronic shutter. Does that make sense?
Couple of little things I've learned from the forum. May be these things doesn't affect lots of people. But I think being a $6500 flagship A1 should avoid any chance to miss the shot
1. When in 'simlut' write mode (writing to both cards) and if you forget to put one card in, camera won't shoot. This is same
behavior as A9 and I missed shots from the...Show more →
#2: Yes, general MILC issue. I've had it on all my Sony cameras (including A1), my R5, my Z50 and Z7.
#3: The delay is way better than the A9. There is always a slight delay. But on the A1 I have turned down my Power Save timer to 1 min and allowed it to sleep. On the A9 I kept it at 30mins so the wakeup of the EVF was less laggy. I think the A1 out of Power Save is as fast as the A9 when not in Power Save. I haven't done a critical back to back test. Even the A1 from complete Power Off can wake as fast as you can raise the camera to your eye if you switch it On as you start to raise it.
#4: I'm not sure about that but I think the answer maybe is no. The only button I could see that even work with would be the lens button as otherwise you can't really hit a back button and move the joystick at the same time. On the D500 you could use the lens button or the front PV or DOF buttons to do that. I will try to remember to test the lens button to see if the joystick can move the point while the lens button is held in for a Recall Hold function that brings up a Flex Spot.
#5: I don't know about this one...but looks to be answered above.
arbitrage wrote
Tony's funny. But hey, I have a list going of things I don't like about the A1 also. I actually have a full document I'm working on with the pros and cons between the A1 and the R5.Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it and I shoot decent length bursts), card size (I'm running 128GB and never filled it in a day so 160 would be fine). The Human/Animal/Bird icon does change in the Fn menu but I guess not on the EVF/LCD...I wouldn't know as I turn off all overlays other than histogram on my screens (and of course I only shoot birds so it is moot point to me).
Overall AF better than the R5? No...flat out no....the only point I'll concede is that Bird-Eye AF in some tricky situations with messy background is better on the R5.
Better controls on the R5?...heck no....the R5 buttons are horrible compared to the A1, the A1 has better customization of the buttons.
Things I agree with in that video: the file quality limitation for 30FPS...I'm not really bothered by this as the Lossy files have never bothered me and it is all I've ever used on Sony but it would be nice to be able to shoot Lossless Compressed and not have to lose 30FPS.
One of the points just seem incorrect:
My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera
Couple of little things I've learned from the forum. May be these things doesn't affect lots of people. But I think being a $6500 flagship A1 should avoid any chance to miss the shot
1. When in 'simlut' write mode (writing to both cards) and if you forget to put one card in, camera won't shoot. This is same
behavior as A9 and I missed shots from the...Show more →
#2: Yes, general MILC issue. I've had it on all my Sony cameras (including A1), my R5, my Z50 and Z7.
#3: The delay is way better than the A9. There is always a slight delay. But on the A1 I have turned down my Power Save timer to 1 min and allowed it to sleep. On the A9 I kept it at 30mins so the wakeup of the EVF was less laggy. I think the A1 out of Power Save is as fast as the A9 when not in Power Save. I haven't done a critical back to back test. Even the A1 from complete Power Off can wake as fast as you can raise the camera to your eye if you switch it On as you start to raise it.
#4: I'm not sure about that but I think the answer maybe is no. The only button I could see that even work with would be the lens button as otherwise you can't really hit a back button and move the joystick at the same time. On the D500 you could use the lens button or the front PV or DOF buttons to do that. I will try to remember to test the lens button to see if the joystick can move the point while the lens button is held in for a Recall Hold function that brings up a Flex Spot.
#5: I don't know about this one...but looks to be answered above.
Mar 24, 2021 at 10:03 AM
p.61 #10A1 Reviews/Video thread
RT-- wrote:
A9 can do 30" in electronic, just like the A1 - in single shot mode.
In continuous the A9 is limited to 1/8", and the A1 to 0.5".
Thank you. That works. There are lots of little things need be learned coming from DSLR.
Jemini wrote
5. Another question. What's the minimum SS for electronic shutter? In A9, I can't go below 1/8 sec. For macro I have to use mechanical shutter. I haven't tested it, but is it possible to have some vibration and lack of sharpness?In continuous the A9 is limited to 1/8", and the A1 to 0.5".
Thank you. That works. There are lots of little things need be learned coming from DSLR.
Mar 24, 2021 at 02:19 PM
p.61 #11A1 Reviews/Video thread
arbitrage wrote:
Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it and I shoot decent length bursts), card size (I'm running 128GB and never filled it in a day so 160 would be fine). The Human/Animal/Bird icon does change in the Fn menu but I guess not on the EVF/LCD...I wouldn't know as I turn off all overlays other than histogram on my screens (and of course I only shoot birds so it is moot point to me).
Overall AF better than the R5? No...flat out no....the only point I'll concede is that Bird-Eye AF in some tricky situations with messy background is better on the R5.
Better controls on the R5?...heck no....the R5 buttons are horrible compared to the A1, the A1 has better customization of the buttons.
Things I agree with in that video: the file quality limitation for 30FPS...I'm not really bothered by this as the Lossy files have never bothered me and it is all I've ever used on Sony but it would be nice to be able to shoot Lossless Compressed and not have to lose 30FPS.
One of the points just seem incorrect:
My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera"My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera" I thought he said 'Silent mode', not electronic shutter. Does that make sense?
Couple of little things I've learned from the forum. May be these things doesn't affect lots of people. But I think being a $6500 flagship A1 should avoid any chance to miss the shot
1. When in 'simlut' write mode (writing to both cards) and if you forget to put one card in, camera won't shoot. This is same
behavior as A9 and I missed shots from the field. I left one card in card reader at home. Nikon would still shoot
2. (you can confirm this - This might be a Mirrorless issue) When the camera is focused at a far away subject and you try to focus a subject (bird) at close by perch camera won't focus. The focus points will dance around the subject and still stay at farther subject. I usually point to something that fills the frame (eg ground) and focus and then aim at the subject, it will refocus.
3. This is more of a question. I like to keep switching between EVF and LCD automatic. That way when I raise the camera to eye, I can shoot using EVF and review pictures in LCD without any button presses. I can also shoot at ground level without changing anything. I changed it to Manual in A9 to avoid delay to shoot if something appear all of sudden. But that causes missed shots too. I forget to change to back to EVF from LCD and by the time I realize this, the bird would be gone. Also I like to see the settings (SS, Aperture etc in LCD as A9 lacks top LCD. Question is, if I leave this to automatic is there any delay in EVF to turn on? I know it can affect the battery. But that's ok.
4. This is also a question. Can you convert AF area into a single point by holding a button and still move the point around? I think you understand this from D500. I know I can use custom hold a button. But A9 doesn't allow moving the point (flexible spot medium or small) around using joy stick if button hold is used. I can also switch to single point from zone with a button press (Regist AF Area Toggle), then you have to remember to put it back. This is what I do now. Holding a key would be great.
5. Another question. What's the minimum SS for electronic shutter? In A9, I can't go below 1/8 sec. For macro I have to use mechanical shutter. I haven't tested it, but is it possible to have some vibration and lack of sharpness?
Some of these are concerns are because I'm coming from SLR. But I think most of Sony shooters are coming from SLR. I know too many little things. Hope someone out there will be able to answer if you don't have answers for all of these..#2: Yes, general MILC issue. I've had it on all my Sony cameras (including A1), my R5, my Z50 and Z7.
#3: The delay is way better than the A9. There is always a slight delay. But on the A1 I have turned down my Power Save timer to 1 min and allowed it to sleep. On the A9 I kept it at 30mins so the wakeup of the EVF was less laggy. I think the A1 out of Power Save is as fast as the A9 when not in Power Save. I haven't done a critical back to back test....Show more →
Thank you again.
Re: #3: Great to know. I hope I can use 'Auto' in EVF and LCD. It's not really bad even in A9 as long as camera is awaken.
Re:: #4 - I tried even with lens button hold and use joy stick to move focus point around. It won't work (in A9 of course). If you can try in A1, that'd be great. BTW, registering AF area and toggling it has an issue too. Once you are in registered af area (flexible small) you can use joy stick to move the point around. But then it won't go back to original setting (in my case zone). It will stay in flexible small, but move back to original position.
So no way to to switch between two different af areas and move the point around! May be I have to use a custom bank for this. BE-AF will solve half of the issue because main reason I want to use single point is when there's some foreground stuff that camera focus on. I had tough time focusing on below image (not an important image anyway). I finally used manual focus.
It'd be useful for a pic like this (D300 and heavy crop). I used manual focus on lens.
Edited on Mar 24, 2021 at 02:54 PM · View previous versions
Jemini wrote
arbitrage wrote
Tony's funny. But hey, I have a list going of things I don't like about the A1 also. I actually have a full document I'm working on with the pros and cons between the A1 and the R5.Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it and I shoot decent length bursts), card size (I'm running 128GB and never filled it in a day so 160 would be fine). The Human/Animal/Bird icon does change in the Fn menu but I guess not on the EVF/LCD...I wouldn't know as I turn off all overlays other than histogram on my screens (and of course I only shoot birds so it is moot point to me).
Overall AF better than the R5? No...flat out no....the only point I'll concede is that Bird-Eye AF in some tricky situations with messy background is better on the R5.
Better controls on the R5?...heck no....the R5 buttons are horrible compared to the A1, the A1 has better customization of the buttons.
Things I agree with in that video: the file quality limitation for 30FPS...I'm not really bothered by this as the Lossy files have never bothered me and it is all I've ever used on Sony but it would be nice to be able to shoot Lossless Compressed and not have to lose 30FPS.
One of the points just seem incorrect:
My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera
Couple of little things I've learned from the forum. May be these things doesn't affect lots of people. But I think being a $6500 flagship A1 should avoid any chance to miss the shot
1. When in 'simlut' write mode (writing to both cards) and if you forget to put one card in, camera won't shoot. This is same
behavior as A9 and I missed shots from the field. I left one card in card reader at home
. Nikon would still shoot2. (you can confirm this - This might be a Mirrorless issue) When the camera is focused at a far away subject and you try to focus a subject (bird) at close by perch camera won't focus. The focus points will dance around the subject and still stay at farther subject. I usually point to something that fills the frame (eg ground) and focus and then aim at the subject, it will refocus.
3. This is more of a question. I like to keep switching between EVF and LCD automatic. That way when I raise the camera to eye, I can shoot using EVF and review pictures in LCD without any button presses. I can also shoot at ground level without changing anything. I changed it to Manual in A9 to avoid delay to shoot if something appear all of sudden. But that causes missed shots too. I forget to change to back to EVF from LCD and by the time I realize this, the bird would be gone. Also I like to see the settings (SS, Aperture etc in LCD as A9 lacks top LCD. Question is, if I leave this to automatic is there any delay in EVF to turn on? I know it can affect the battery. But that's ok.
4. This is also a question. Can you convert AF area into a single point by holding a button and still move the point around? I think you understand this from D500. I know I can use custom hold a button. But A9 doesn't allow moving the point (flexible spot medium or small) around using joy stick if button hold is used. I can also switch to single point from zone with a button press (Regist AF Area Toggle), then you have to remember to put it back. This is what I do now. Holding a key would be great.
5. Another question. What's the minimum SS for electronic shutter? In A9, I can't go below 1/8 sec. For macro I have to use mechanical shutter. I haven't tested it, but is it possible to have some vibration and lack of sharpness?
Some of these are concerns are because I'm coming from SLR. But I think most of Sony shooters are coming from SLR
. I know too many little things. Hope someone out there will be able to answer if you don't have answers for all of these..#3: The delay is way better than the A9. There is always a slight delay. But on the A1 I have turned down my Power Save timer to 1 min and allowed it to sleep. On the A9 I kept it at 30mins so the wakeup of the EVF was less laggy. I think the A1 out of Power Save is as fast as the A9 when not in Power Save. I haven't done a critical back to back test....Show more →
Thank you again.
Re: #3: Great to know. I hope I can use 'Auto' in EVF and LCD. It's not really bad even in A9 as long as camera is awaken.
Re:: #4 - I tried even with lens button hold and use joy stick to move focus point around. It won't work (in A9 of course). If you can try in A1, that'd be great. BTW, registering AF area and toggling it has an issue too. Once you are in registered af area (flexible small) you can use joy stick to move the point around. But then it won't go back to original setting (in my case zone). It will stay in flexible small, but move back to original position.
So no way to to switch between two different af areas and move the point around! May be I have to use a custom bank for this. BE-AF will solve half of the issue because main reason I want to use single point is when there's some foreground stuff that camera focus on. I had tough time focusing on below image (not an important image anyway). I finally used manual focus.
It'd be useful for a pic like this (D300 and heavy crop). I used manual focus on lens.
Edited on Mar 24, 2021 at 02:54 PM · View previous versions
Mar 24, 2021 at 02:40 PM
p.61 #12A1 Reviews/Video thread
Jemini wrote:
Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it and I shoot decent length bursts), card size (I'm running 128GB and never filled it in a day so 160 would be fine). The Human/Animal/Bird icon does change in the Fn menu but I guess not on the EVF/LCD...I wouldn't know as I turn off all overlays other than histogram on my screens (and of course I only shoot birds so it is moot point to me).
Overall AF better than the R5? No...flat out no....the only point I'll concede is that Bird-Eye AF in some tricky situations with messy background is better on the R5.
Better controls on the R5?...heck no....the R5 buttons are horrible compared to the A1, the A1 has better customization of the buttons.
Things I agree with in that video: the file quality limitation for 30FPS...I'm not really bothered by this as the Lossy files have never bothered me and it is all I've ever used on Sony but it would be nice to be able to shoot Lossless Compressed and not have to lose 30FPS.
One of the points just seem incorrect:
My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera"My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera" I thought he said 'Silent mode', not electronic shutter. Does that make sense?
Couple of little things I've learned from the forum. May be these things doesn't affect lots of people. But I think being a $6500 flagship A1 should avoid any chance to miss the shot
1. When in 'simlut' write mode (writing to both cards) and if you forget to put one card in, camera won't shoot. This is same
behavior as A9 and I missed shots from the field. I left one card in card reader at home. Nikon would still shoot
2. (you can confirm this - This might be a Mirrorless issue) When the camera is focused at a far away subject and you try to focus a subject (bird) at close by perch camera won't focus. The focus points will dance around the subject and still stay at farther subject. I usually point to something that fills the frame (eg ground) and focus and then aim at the subject, it will refocus.
3. This is more of a question. I like to keep switching between EVF and LCD automatic. That way when I raise the camera to eye, I can shoot using EVF and review pictures in LCD without any button presses. I can also shoot at ground level without changing anything. I changed it to Manual in A9 to avoid delay to shoot if something appear all of sudden. But that causes missed shots too. I forget to change to back to EVF from LCD and by the time I realize this, the bird would be gone. Also I like to see the settings (SS, Aperture etc in LCD as A9 lacks top LCD. Question is, if I leave this to automatic is there any delay in EVF to turn on? I know it can affect the battery. But that's ok.
4. This is also a question. Can you convert AF area into a single point by holding a button and still move the point around? I think you understand this from D500. I know I can use custom hold a button. But A9 doesn't allow moving the point (flexible spot medium or small) around using joy stick if button hold is used. I can also switch to single point from zone with a button press (Regist AF Area Toggle), then you have to remember to put it back. This is what I do now. Holding a key would be great.
5. Another question. What's the minimum SS for electronic shutter? In A9, I can't go below 1/8 sec. For macro I have to use mechanical shutter. I haven't tested it, but is it possible to have some vibration and lack of sharpness?
Some of these are concerns are because I'm coming from SLR. But I think most of Sony shooters are coming from SLR. I know too many little things. Hope someone out there will be able to answer if you don't have answers for all of these..#2: Yes, general MILC issue. I've had it on all my Sony cameras (including A1), my R5, my Z50 and Z7.
#3: The delay is way better than the A9. There is always a slight delay. But on the A1 I have turned down my Power Save timer to 1 min and allowed it to sleep. On the A9 I kept it at 30mins so the wakeup of the EVF was less laggy. I think the A1 out of Power Save is as fast as the A9 when not in Power Save. I haven't done a critical back to back test. Even the A1 from complete Power Off can wake as fast as you can raise the camera to your eye if you switch it On as you start to raise it.
#4: I'm not sure about that but I think the answer maybe is no. The only button I could see that even work with would be the lens button as otherwise you can't really hit a back button and move the joystick at the same time. On the D500 you could use the lens button or the front PV or DOF buttons to do that. I will try to remember to test the lens button to see if the joystick can move the point while the lens button is held in for a Recall Hold function that brings up a Flex Spot.
#5: I don't know about this one...but looks to be answered above.Thank you again.
Re: #3: Great to know. I hope I can use 'Auto' in EVF and LCD. It's not really bad even in A9 as long as camera is awaken.
Re:: #4 - I tried even with lens button hold and use joy stick to move focus point around. It won't work (in A9 of course). If you can try in A1, that'd be great. BTW, registering AF area and toggling it has an issue too. Once you are in registered af area (flexible small) you can use joy stick to move the point around. But then it won't go...Show more →
The issue with moving around a Registered AF Area after toggling into it still persists on the A1. It basically resets you main AF mode to the same as your Registered one. This means you have to toggle back out of the registered one and then switch your main AF mode back to whatever you were in previously (say Zone or Wide).
I guess one solution is to use the type of AF mode you would want to move around (like Small Flex Spot) as your main AF mode. Then toggle into a Registered AF mode like Wide which you can't move around anyways or Zone which you may not move around as often?
I have found that because of BEAF I can just use a Registered AF Area Hold for a Small Flex Spot...target it at the bear's eye in your example and then if it finds the eye I can let go of the AF Area Hold and it will go back to Zone or Wide and keep tracking the eye. Basically just giving the system a little nudge in the right direction to get BEAF to activate.
arbitrage wrote
Jemini wrote
arbitrage wrote
Tony's funny. But hey, I have a list going of things I don't like about the A1 also. I actually have a full document I'm working on with the pros and cons between the A1 and the R5.Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it and I shoot decent length bursts), card size (I'm running 128GB and never filled it in a day so 160 would be fine). The Human/Animal/Bird icon does change in the Fn menu but I guess not on the EVF/LCD...I wouldn't know as I turn off all overlays other than histogram on my screens (and of course I only shoot birds so it is moot point to me).
Overall AF better than the R5? No...flat out no....the only point I'll concede is that Bird-Eye AF in some tricky situations with messy background is better on the R5.
Better controls on the R5?...heck no....the R5 buttons are horrible compared to the A1, the A1 has better customization of the buttons.
Things I agree with in that video: the file quality limitation for 30FPS...I'm not really bothered by this as the Lossy files have never bothered me and it is all I've ever used on Sony but it would be nice to be able to shoot Lossless Compressed and not have to lose 30FPS.
One of the points just seem incorrect:
My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera
Couple of little things I've learned from the forum. May be these things doesn't affect lots of people. But I think being a $6500 flagship A1 should avoid any chance to miss the shot
1. When in 'simlut' write mode (writing to both cards) and if you forget to put one card in, camera won't shoot. This is same
behavior as A9 and I missed shots from the field. I left one card in card reader at home
. Nikon would still shoot2. (you can confirm this - This might be a Mirrorless issue) When the camera is focused at a far away subject and you try to focus a subject (bird) at close by perch camera won't focus. The focus points will dance around the subject and still stay at farther subject. I usually point to something that fills the frame (eg ground) and focus and then aim at the subject, it will refocus.
3. This is more of a question. I like to keep switching between EVF and LCD automatic. That way when I raise the camera to eye, I can shoot using EVF and review pictures in LCD without any button presses. I can also shoot at ground level without changing anything. I changed it to Manual in A9 to avoid delay to shoot if something appear all of sudden. But that causes missed shots too. I forget to change to back to EVF from LCD and by the time I realize this, the bird would be gone. Also I like to see the settings (SS, Aperture etc in LCD as A9 lacks top LCD. Question is, if I leave this to automatic is there any delay in EVF to turn on? I know it can affect the battery. But that's ok.
4. This is also a question. Can you convert AF area into a single point by holding a button and still move the point around? I think you understand this from D500. I know I can use custom hold a button. But A9 doesn't allow moving the point (flexible spot medium or small) around using joy stick if button hold is used. I can also switch to single point from zone with a button press (Regist AF Area Toggle), then you have to remember to put it back. This is what I do now. Holding a key would be great.
5. Another question. What's the minimum SS for electronic shutter? In A9, I can't go below 1/8 sec. For macro I have to use mechanical shutter. I haven't tested it, but is it possible to have some vibration and lack of sharpness?
Some of these are concerns are because I'm coming from SLR. But I think most of Sony shooters are coming from SLR
. I know too many little things. Hope someone out there will be able to answer if you don't have answers for all of these..#3: The delay is way better than the A9. There is always a slight delay. But on the A1 I have turned down my Power Save timer to 1 min and allowed it to sleep. On the A9 I kept it at 30mins so the wakeup of the EVF was less laggy. I think the A1 out of Power Save is as fast as the A9 when not in Power Save. I haven't done a critical back to back test. Even the A1 from complete Power Off can wake as fast as you can raise the camera to your eye if you switch it On as you start to raise it.
#4: I'm not sure about that but I think the answer maybe is no. The only button I could see that even work with would be the lens button as otherwise you can't really hit a back button and move the joystick at the same time. On the D500 you could use the lens button or the front PV or DOF buttons to do that. I will try to remember to test the lens button to see if the joystick can move the point while the lens button is held in for a Recall Hold function that brings up a Flex Spot.
#5: I don't know about this one...but looks to be answered above.
Re: #3: Great to know. I hope I can use 'Auto' in EVF and LCD. It's not really bad even in A9 as long as camera is awaken.
Re:: #4 - I tried even with lens button hold and use joy stick to move focus point around. It won't work (in A9 of course). If you can try in A1, that'd be great. BTW, registering AF area and toggling it has an issue too. Once you are in registered af area (flexible small) you can use joy stick to move the point around. But then it won't go...Show more →
The issue with moving around a Registered AF Area after toggling into it still persists on the A1. It basically resets you main AF mode to the same as your Registered one. This means you have to toggle back out of the registered one and then switch your main AF mode back to whatever you were in previously (say Zone or Wide).
I guess one solution is to use the type of AF mode you would want to move around (like Small Flex Spot) as your main AF mode. Then toggle into a Registered AF mode like Wide which you can't move around anyways or Zone which you may not move around as often?
I have found that because of BEAF I can just use a Registered AF Area Hold for a Small Flex Spot...target it at the bear's eye in your example and then if it finds the eye I can let go of the AF Area Hold and it will go back to Zone or Wide and keep tracking the eye. Basically just giving the system a little nudge in the right direction to get BEAF to activate.
Mar 24, 2021 at 02:53 PM
p.61 #13A1 Reviews/Video thread
arbitrage wrote:
Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it and I shoot decent length bursts), card size (I'm running 128GB and never filled it in a day so 160 would be fine). The Human/Animal/Bird icon does change in the Fn menu but I guess not on the EVF/LCD...I wouldn't know as I turn off all overlays other than histogram on my screens (and of course I only shoot birds so it is moot point to me).
Overall AF better than the R5? No...flat out no....the only point I'll concede is that Bird-Eye AF in some tricky situations with messy background is better on the R5.
Better controls on the R5?...heck no....the R5 buttons are horrible compared to the A1, the A1 has better customization of the buttons.
Things I agree with in that video: the file quality limitation for 30FPS...I'm not really bothered by this as the Lossy files have never bothered me and it is all I've ever used on Sony but it would be nice to be able to shoot Lossless Compressed and not have to lose 30FPS.
One of the points just seem incorrect:
My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera"My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera" I thought he said 'Silent mode', not electronic shutter. Does that make sense?
Couple of little things I've learned from the forum. May be these things doesn't affect lots of people. But I think being a $6500 flagship A1 should avoid any chance to miss the shot
1. When in 'simlut' write mode (writing to both cards) and if you forget to put one card in, camera won't shoot. This is same
behavior as A9 and I missed shots from the field. I left one card in card reader at home. Nikon would still shoot
2. (you can confirm this - This might be a Mirrorless issue) When the camera is focused at a far away subject and you try to focus a subject (bird) at close by perch camera won't focus. The focus points will dance around the subject and still stay at farther subject. I usually point to something that fills the frame (eg ground) and focus and then aim at the subject, it will refocus.
3. This is more of a question. I like to keep switching between EVF and LCD automatic. That way when I raise the camera to eye, I can shoot using EVF and review pictures in LCD without any button presses. I can also shoot at ground level without changing anything. I changed it to Manual in A9 to avoid delay to shoot if something appear all of sudden. But that causes missed shots too. I forget to change to back to EVF from LCD and by the time I realize this, the bird would be gone. Also I like to see the settings (SS, Aperture etc in LCD as A9 lacks top LCD. Question is, if I leave this to automatic is there any delay in EVF to turn on? I know it can affect the battery. But that's ok.
4. This is also a question. Can you convert AF area into a single point by holding a button and still move the point around? I think you understand this from D500. I know I can use custom hold a button. But A9 doesn't allow moving the point (flexible spot medium or small) around using joy stick if button hold is used. I can also switch to single point from zone with a button press (Regist AF Area Toggle), then you have to remember to put it back. This is what I do now. Holding a key would be great.
5. Another question. What's the minimum SS for electronic shutter? In A9, I can't go below 1/8 sec. For macro I have to use mechanical shutter. I haven't tested it, but is it possible to have some vibration and lack of sharpness?
Some of these are concerns are because I'm coming from SLR. But I think most of Sony shooters are coming from SLR. I know too many little things. Hope someone out there will be able to answer if you don't have answers for all of these..#2: Yes, general MILC issue. I've had it on all my Sony cameras (including A1), my R5, my Z50 and Z7.
#3: The delay is way better than the A9. There is always a slight delay. But on the A1 I have turned down my Power Save timer to 1 min and allowed it to sleep. On the A9 I kept it at 30mins so the wakeup of the EVF was less laggy. I think the A1 out of Power Save is as fast as the A9 when not in Power Save. I haven't done a critical back to back test. Even the A1 from complete Power Off can wake as fast as you can raise the camera to your eye if you switch it On as you start to raise it.
#4: I'm not sure about that but I think the answer maybe is no. The only button I could see that even work with would be the lens button as otherwise you can't really hit a back button and move the joystick at the same time. On the D500 you could use the lens button or the front PV or DOF buttons to do that. I will try to remember to test the lens button to see if the joystick can move the point while the lens button is held in for a Recall Hold function that brings up a Flex Spot.
#5: I don't know about this one...but looks to be answered above.Thank you again.
Re: #3: Great to know. I hope I can use 'Auto' in EVF and LCD. It's not really bad even in A9 as long as camera is awaken.
Re:: #4 - I tried even with lens button hold and use joy stick to move focus point around. It won't work (in A9 of course). If you can try in A1, that'd be great. BTW, registering AF area and toggling it has an issue too. Once you are in registered af area (flexible small) you can use joy stick to move the point around. But then it won't go back to original setting (in my case zone). It will go to flexible small, but center of the frame!.
So no way to to switch between two different af areas and move the point around! May be I have to use a custom bank for this. BE-AF will solve half of the issue because main reason I want to use single point is when there's some foreground stuff that camera focus on. I had tough time focusing on below image (not an important image anyway). I finally used manual focus.The issue with moving around a Registered AF Area after toggling into it still persists on the A1. It basically resets you main AF mode to the same as your Registered one. This means you have to toggle back out of the registered one and then switch your main AF mode back to whatever you were in previously (say Zone or Wide).
I guess one solution is to use the type of AF mode you would want to move around (like Small Flex Spot) as your main AF mode. Then toggle into a Registered AF mode like Wide which you can't...Show more →
I thought about your idea. Making flexible spot as main AF area and zone to be Reg AF area. You are right, I don't need to move around zone. Couple of small issues (but I may have to live with it). You can't use assigned button to switch between other AF areas while you are in recalled registered AF area mode You will get a message. I think it's ok. Second one, I have to remember to click the custom button as soon as I turned the camera on if zone is my first choice...
I will try your second method too. A9 is pretty good in tracking a subject even though not good at BEAF.
Jemini wrote
arbitrage wrote
Jemini wrote
arbitrage wrote
Tony's funny. But hey, I have a list going of things I don't like about the A1 also. I actually have a full document I'm working on with the pros and cons between the A1 and the R5.Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it and I shoot decent length bursts), card size (I'm running 128GB and never filled it in a day so 160 would be fine). The Human/Animal/Bird icon does change in the Fn menu but I guess not on the EVF/LCD...I wouldn't know as I turn off all overlays other than histogram on my screens (and of course I only shoot birds so it is moot point to me).
Overall AF better than the R5? No...flat out no....the only point I'll concede is that Bird-Eye AF in some tricky situations with messy background is better on the R5.
Better controls on the R5?...heck no....the R5 buttons are horrible compared to the A1, the A1 has better customization of the buttons.
Things I agree with in that video: the file quality limitation for 30FPS...I'm not really bothered by this as the Lossy files have never bothered me and it is all I've ever used on Sony but it would be nice to be able to shoot Lossless Compressed and not have to lose 30FPS.
One of the points just seem incorrect:
My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera
Couple of little things I've learned from the forum. May be these things doesn't affect lots of people. But I think being a $6500 flagship A1 should avoid any chance to miss the shot
1. When in 'simlut' write mode (writing to both cards) and if you forget to put one card in, camera won't shoot. This is same
behavior as A9 and I missed shots from the field. I left one card in card reader at home
. Nikon would still shoot2. (you can confirm this - This might be a Mirrorless issue) When the camera is focused at a far away subject and you try to focus a subject (bird) at close by perch camera won't focus. The focus points will dance around the subject and still stay at farther subject. I usually point to something that fills the frame (eg ground) and focus and then aim at the subject, it will refocus.
3. This is more of a question. I like to keep switching between EVF and LCD automatic. That way when I raise the camera to eye, I can shoot using EVF and review pictures in LCD without any button presses. I can also shoot at ground level without changing anything. I changed it to Manual in A9 to avoid delay to shoot if something appear all of sudden. But that causes missed shots too. I forget to change to back to EVF from LCD and by the time I realize this, the bird would be gone. Also I like to see the settings (SS, Aperture etc in LCD as A9 lacks top LCD. Question is, if I leave this to automatic is there any delay in EVF to turn on? I know it can affect the battery. But that's ok.
4. This is also a question. Can you convert AF area into a single point by holding a button and still move the point around? I think you understand this from D500. I know I can use custom hold a button. But A9 doesn't allow moving the point (flexible spot medium or small) around using joy stick if button hold is used. I can also switch to single point from zone with a button press (Regist AF Area Toggle), then you have to remember to put it back. This is what I do now. Holding a key would be great.
5. Another question. What's the minimum SS for electronic shutter? In A9, I can't go below 1/8 sec. For macro I have to use mechanical shutter. I haven't tested it, but is it possible to have some vibration and lack of sharpness?
Some of these are concerns are because I'm coming from SLR. But I think most of Sony shooters are coming from SLR
. I know too many little things. Hope someone out there will be able to answer if you don't have answers for all of these..#3: The delay is way better than the A9. There is always a slight delay. But on the A1 I have turned down my Power Save timer to 1 min and allowed it to sleep. On the A9 I kept it at 30mins so the wakeup of the EVF was less laggy. I think the A1 out of Power Save is as fast as the A9 when not in Power Save. I haven't done a critical back to back test. Even the A1 from complete Power Off can wake as fast as you can raise the camera to your eye if you switch it On as you start to raise it.
#4: I'm not sure about that but I think the answer maybe is no. The only button I could see that even work with would be the lens button as otherwise you can't really hit a back button and move the joystick at the same time. On the D500 you could use the lens button or the front PV or DOF buttons to do that. I will try to remember to test the lens button to see if the joystick can move the point while the lens button is held in for a Recall Hold function that brings up a Flex Spot.
#5: I don't know about this one...but looks to be answered above.
Re: #3: Great to know. I hope I can use 'Auto' in EVF and LCD. It's not really bad even in A9 as long as camera is awaken.
Re:: #4 - I tried even with lens button hold and use joy stick to move focus point around. It won't work (in A9 of course). If you can try in A1, that'd be great. BTW, registering AF area and toggling it has an issue too. Once you are in registered af area (flexible small) you can use joy stick to move the point around. But then it won't go back to original setting (in my case zone). It will go to flexible small, but center of the frame!.
So no way to to switch between two different af areas and move the point around! May be I have to use a custom bank for this. BE-AF will solve half of the issue because main reason I want to use single point is when there's some foreground stuff that camera focus on. I had tough time focusing on below image (not an important image anyway). I finally used manual focus.
I guess one solution is to use the type of AF mode you would want to move around (like Small Flex Spot) as your main AF mode. Then toggle into a Registered AF mode like Wide which you can't...Show more →
I thought about your idea. Making flexible spot as main AF area and zone to be Reg AF area. You are right, I don't need to move around zone. Couple of small issues (but I may have to live with it). You can't use assigned button to switch between other AF areas while you are in recalled registered AF area mode You will get a message. I think it's ok. Second one, I have to remember to click the custom button as soon as I turned the camera on if zone is my first choice...
I will try your second method too. A9 is pretty good in tracking a subject even though not good at BEAF.
Mar 24, 2021 at 03:06 PM
p.61 #14A1 Reviews/Video thread
Jemini wrote:
Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it and I shoot decent length bursts), card size (I'm running 128GB and never filled it in a day so 160 would be fine). The Human/Animal/Bird icon does change in the Fn menu but I guess not on the EVF/LCD...I wouldn't know as I turn off all overlays other than histogram on my screens (and of course I only shoot birds so it is moot point to me).
Overall AF better than the R5? No...flat out no....the only point I'll concede is that Bird-Eye AF in some tricky situations with messy background is better on the R5.
Better controls on the R5?...heck no....the R5 buttons are horrible compared to the A1, the A1 has better customization of the buttons.
Things I agree with in that video: the file quality limitation for 30FPS...I'm not really bothered by this as the Lossy files have never bothered me and it is all I've ever used on Sony but it would be nice to be able to shoot Lossless Compressed and not have to lose 30FPS.
One of the points just seem incorrect:
My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera"My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera" I thought he said 'Silent mode', not electronic shutter. Does that make sense?
Couple of little things I've learned from the forum. May be these things doesn't affect lots of people. But I think being a $6500 flagship A1 should avoid any chance to miss the shot
1. When in 'simlut' write mode (writing to both cards) and if you forget to put one card in, camera won't shoot. This is same
behavior as A9 and I missed shots from the field. I left one card in card reader at home. Nikon would still shoot
2. (you can confirm this - This might be a Mirrorless issue) When the camera is focused at a far away subject and you try to focus a subject (bird) at close by perch camera won't focus. The focus points will dance around the subject and still stay at farther subject. I usually point to something that fills the frame (eg ground) and focus and then aim at the subject, it will refocus.
3. This is more of a question. I like to keep switching between EVF and LCD automatic. That way when I raise the camera to eye, I can shoot using EVF and review pictures in LCD without any button presses. I can also shoot at ground level without changing anything. I changed it to Manual in A9 to avoid delay to shoot if something appear all of sudden. But that causes missed shots too. I forget to change to back to EVF from LCD and by the time I realize this, the bird would be gone. Also I like to see the settings (SS, Aperture etc in LCD as A9 lacks top LCD. Question is, if I leave this to automatic is there any delay in EVF to turn on? I know it can affect the battery. But that's ok.
4. This is also a question. Can you convert AF area into a single point by holding a button and still move the point around? I think you understand this from D500. I know I can use custom hold a button. But A9 doesn't allow moving the point (flexible spot medium or small) around using joy stick if button hold is used. I can also switch to single point from zone with a button press (Regist AF Area Toggle), then you have to remember to put it back. This is what I do now. Holding a key would be great.
5. Another question. What's the minimum SS for electronic shutter? In A9, I can't go below 1/8 sec. For macro I have to use mechanical shutter. I haven't tested it, but is it possible to have some vibration and lack of sharpness?
Some of these are concerns are because I'm coming from SLR. But I think most of Sony shooters are coming from SLR. I know too many little things. Hope someone out there will be able to answer if you don't have answers for all of these..#2: Yes, general MILC issue. I've had it on all my Sony cameras (including A1), my R5, my Z50 and Z7.
#3: The delay is way better than the A9. There is always a slight delay. But on the A1 I have turned down my Power Save timer to 1 min and allowed it to sleep. On the A9 I kept it at 30mins so the wakeup of the EVF was less laggy. I think the A1 out of Power Save is as fast as the A9 when not in Power Save. I haven't done a critical back to back test. Even the A1 from complete Power Off can wake as fast as you can raise the camera to your eye if you switch it On as you start to raise it.
#4: I'm not sure about that but I think the answer maybe is no. The only button I could see that even work with would be the lens button as otherwise you can't really hit a back button and move the joystick at the same time. On the D500 you could use the lens button or the front PV or DOF buttons to do that. I will try to remember to test the lens button to see if the joystick can move the point while the lens button is held in for a Recall Hold function that brings up a Flex Spot.
#5: I don't know about this one...but looks to be answered above.Thank you again.
Re: #3: Great to know. I hope I can use 'Auto' in EVF and LCD. It's not really bad even in A9 as long as camera is awaken.
Re:: #4 - I tried even with lens button hold and use joy stick to move focus point around. It won't work (in A9 of course). If you can try in A1, that'd be great. BTW, registering AF area and toggling it has an issue too. Once you are in registered af area (flexible small) you can use joy stick to move the point around. But then it won't go back to original setting (in my case zone). It will go to flexible small, but center of the frame!.
So no way to to switch between two different af areas and move the point around! May be I have to use a custom bank for this. BE-AF will solve half of the issue because main reason I want to use single point is when there's some foreground stuff that camera focus on. I had tough time focusing on below image (not an important image anyway). I finally used manual focus.The issue with moving around a Registered AF Area after toggling into it still persists on the A1. It basically resets you main AF mode to the same as your Registered one. This means you have to toggle back out of the registered one and then switch your main AF mode back to whatever you were in previously (say Zone or Wide).
I guess one solution is to use the type of AF mode you would want to move around (like Small Flex Spot) as your main AF mode. Then toggle into a Registered AF mode like Wide which you can't move around anyways or Zone which you may not move around as often?
I have found that because of BEAF I can just use a Registered AF Area Hold for a Small Flex Spot...target it at the bear's eye in your example and then if it finds the eye I can let go of the AF Area Hold and it will go back to Zone or Wide and keep tracking the eye. Basically just giving the system a little nudge in the right direction to get BEAF to activate.I thought about your idea. Making flexible spot as main AF area and zone to be Reg AF area. You are right, I don't need to move around zone. Couple of small issues (but I may have to live with it). You can't use assigned button to switch between other AF areas while you are in recalled registered AF area mode You will get a message. I think it's ok. Second one, I have to remember to click the custom button as soon as I turned the camera on if zone is my first choice...
I will try your second...Show more →
You are correct in that you can't switch between AF modes when toggled into the Registered AF mode. You have to switch back out first. This is why I often started to use a Recall Registered AF Area Hold (on my AEL) so only when I held the button down did it recall AF mode. This probably only works if you are a shutter AF person or if you program the Recall Reg AF Area Hold to the lens button.
On the A1 I'm now finding myself not using the Registered AF Area mode all that often. I'm just relying on my short list of AF modes (4 in total) that I toggle through on my REC button. I find this pretty quick to do once I have memorized the order of them. The toggle function means you don't have to push a button and then scroll thorugh the list. Just a certain number of taps to go to any specific mode...ie if I'm in Zone I know it is three quick taps to Wide, one tap to Small Flex Spot and two taps to Expand Flex Spot. Once I get that into muscle memory it is pretty fast anyways. If you use even less AF modes you can make that even simpler...Like just back and forth toggle from Zone to Expand Flex Spot. Then I have my AF-ON button for Tracking On to change any of those into Tracking when I want to without having another 4 modes in my toggle list.
arbitrage wrote
Jemini wrote
arbitrage wrote
Jemini wrote
arbitrage wrote
Tony's funny. But hey, I have a list going of things I don't like about the A1 also. I actually have a full document I'm working on with the pros and cons between the A1 and the R5.Most of Tony's points aren't things I use on the camera or care about (connectivity, GPS, pixel-shift).
Others are things I don't really agree with even though they are things I use: Flip screen (I hate the R5's flip screen and with Sunny Weather setting I have no issues with seeing it in sun), SD card speed (I've yet to be hampered by it and I shoot decent length bursts), card size (I'm running 128GB and never filled it in a day so 160 would be fine). The Human/Animal/Bird icon does change in the Fn menu but I guess not on the EVF/LCD...I wouldn't know as I turn off all overlays other than histogram on my screens (and of course I only shoot birds so it is moot point to me).
Overall AF better than the R5? No...flat out no....the only point I'll concede is that Bird-Eye AF in some tricky situations with messy background is better on the R5.
Better controls on the R5?...heck no....the R5 buttons are horrible compared to the A1, the A1 has better customization of the buttons.
Things I agree with in that video: the file quality limitation for 30FPS...I'm not really bothered by this as the Lossy files have never bothered me and it is all I've ever used on Sony but it would be nice to be able to shoot Lossless Compressed and not have to lose 30FPS.
One of the points just seem incorrect:
My shutter closes on power off and I'm in ES all the time so don't know what is up with his camera
Couple of little things I've learned from the forum. May be these things doesn't affect lots of people. But I think being a $6500 flagship A1 should avoid any chance to miss the shot
1. When in 'simlut' write mode (writing to both cards) and if you forget to put one card in, camera won't shoot. This is same
behavior as A9 and I missed shots from the field. I left one card in card reader at home
. Nikon would still shoot2. (you can confirm this - This might be a Mirrorless issue) When the camera is focused at a far away subject and you try to focus a subject (bird) at close by perch camera won't focus. The focus points will dance around the subject and still stay at farther subject. I usually point to something that fills the frame (eg ground) and focus and then aim at the subject, it will refocus.
3. This is more of a question. I like to keep switching between EVF and LCD automatic. That way when I raise the camera to eye, I can shoot using EVF and review pictures in LCD without any button presses. I can also shoot at ground level without changing anything. I changed it to Manual in A9 to avoid delay to shoot if something appear all of sudden. But that causes missed shots too. I forget to change to back to EVF from LCD and by the time I realize this, the bird would be gone. Also I like to see the settings (SS, Aperture etc in LCD as A9 lacks top LCD. Question is, if I leave this to automatic is there any delay in EVF to turn on? I know it can affect the battery. But that's ok.
4. This is also a question. Can you convert AF area into a single point by holding a button and still move the point around? I think you understand this from D500. I know I can use custom hold a button. But A9 doesn't allow moving the point (flexible spot medium or small) around using joy stick if button hold is used. I can also switch to single point from zone with a button press (Regist AF Area Toggle), then you have to remember to put it back. This is what I do now. Holding a key would be great.
5. Another question. What's the minimum SS for electronic shutter? In A9, I can't go below 1/8 sec. For macro I have to use mechanical shutter. I haven't tested it, but is it possible to have some vibration and lack of sharpness?
Some of these are concerns are because I'm coming from SLR. But I think most of Sony shooters are coming from SLR
. I know too many little things. Hope someone out there will be able to answer if you don't have answers for all of these..#3: The delay is way better than the A9. There is always a slight delay. But on the A1 I have turned down my Power Save timer to 1 min and allowed it to sleep. On the A9 I kept it at 30mins so the wakeup of the EVF was less laggy. I think the A1 out of Power Save is as fast as the A9 when not in Power Save. I haven't done a critical back to back test. Even the A1 from complete Power Off can wake as fast as you can raise the camera to your eye if you switch it On as you start to raise it.
#4: I'm not sure about that but I think the answer maybe is no. The only button I could see that even work with would be the lens button as otherwise you can't really hit a back button and move the joystick at the same time. On the D500 you could use the lens button or the front PV or DOF buttons to do that. I will try to remember to test the lens button to see if the joystick can move the point while the lens button is held in for a Recall Hold function that brings up a Flex Spot.
#5: I don't know about this one...but looks to be answered above.
Re: #3: Great to know. I hope I can use 'Auto' in EVF and LCD. It's not really bad even in A9 as long as camera is awaken.
Re:: #4 - I tried even with lens button hold and use joy stick to move focus point around. It won't work (in A9 of course). If you can try in A1, that'd be great. BTW, registering AF area and toggling it has an issue too. Once you are in registered af area (flexible small) you can use joy stick to move the point around. But then it won't go back to original setting (in my case zone). It will go to flexible small, but center of the frame!.
So no way to to switch between two different af areas and move the point around! May be I have to use a custom bank for this. BE-AF will solve half of the issue because main reason I want to use single point is when there's some foreground stuff that camera focus on. I had tough time focusing on below image (not an important image anyway). I finally used manual focus.
I guess one solution is to use the type of AF mode you would want to move around (like Small Flex Spot) as your main AF mode. Then toggle into a Registered AF mode like Wide which you can't move around anyways or Zone which you may not move around as often?
I have found that because of BEAF I can just use a Registered AF Area Hold for a Small Flex Spot...target it at the bear's eye in your example and then if it finds the eye I can let go of the AF Area Hold and it will go back to Zone or Wide and keep tracking the eye. Basically just giving the system a little nudge in the right direction to get BEAF to activate.
I will try your second...Show more →
You are correct in that you can't switch between AF modes when toggled into the Registered AF mode. You have to switch back out first. This is why I often started to use a Recall Registered AF Area Hold (on my AEL) so only when I held the button down did it recall AF mode. This probably only works if you are a shutter AF person or if you program the Recall Reg AF Area Hold to the lens button.
On the A1 I'm now finding myself not using the Registered AF Area mode all that often. I'm just relying on my short list of AF modes (4 in total) that I toggle through on my REC button. I find this pretty quick to do once I have memorized the order of them. The toggle function means you don't have to push a button and then scroll thorugh the list. Just a certain number of taps to go to any specific mode...ie if I'm in Zone I know it is three quick taps to Wide, one tap to Small Flex Spot and two taps to Expand Flex Spot. Once I get that into muscle memory it is pretty fast anyways. If you use even less AF modes you can make that even simpler...Like just back and forth toggle from Zone to Expand Flex Spot. Then I have my AF-ON button for Tracking On to change any of those into Tracking when I want to without having another 4 modes in my toggle list.
Mar 24, 2021 at 03:15 PM
p.61 #15A1 Reviews/Video thread
arbitrage wrote:
Pius Sullivan wrote
Nope that's not what I'm saying.To get the best user experience from your gear you need to adapt to all lighting conditions.
I just find it saves time, put the best glass you have on and leave it on... If I'm to close use my legs to back up.
I have gotten great shots with the 100-500, I have no issues with the tracking and focus of that lens in the right light. The detail can easily match the 200-600.
But to test a a camera with mostly one lens, I feel that's not giving the camera a fair shake.
Just my opinion .
arbitrage wrote
Pius Sullivan wrote
We all know you need the fast glass to get the best from the AF on these cameras...That's why I use my 600 III 99% of the time...
arbitrage wrote
Pius Sullivan wrote
How can you say the AF on the a1 is better than the R5 when you shot 95 % of the time with 7.1 glass and you use your top glass on the A1...I felt that the adapted EF superteles didn't lose anything to the native lens. But I didn't find that they gave a boost to AF either. Granted I only shot your 600III for one day and I didn't have many fast BIF to aim it at. It performed amazing on what I did aim it at. I shot two copies of the 400DOII for 4 days total (around 10,000 frames at my regular spots which included all my regular faster BIF like blackbirds) and I shot your 100-400II for a very short while. And then the rest of the time I shot my 100-500. My general impression between the f/4 400DOII and the 100-500 was that AF seemed to act the same.
I guess if you are correct and the R5 needs the big lens to get A1 like AF then that means we have to consider a $13K DSLR lens in the value equation vs a $2K 200-600 on the A1.
Obviously I love the big 600 primes for light gathering, rendering, TC use just as much as you do. But I really didn't think you needed one on the A1 nor the R5 to maximize the AF performance.
I don't see how on one hand you can say I didn't give the R5 a fair shake because 90% of my shooting was with a single lens and yet you seem to find it fair to come and declare the R5 is every bit as good as the A1...Show more →
I have done my share of shooting through this pandemic with the R5 as much as anyone..
I use reviews and watch tube vids to inform me about the a1., which is mostly what you have done. With today's technology you can get a live experience looking through someone else viewfinder. I can clearly see how the a1's tracking and BEAF works. The regular issues, drop off the subject on a busy background, grab the ripples on the water instead of the subject. So not going to flog a dead horse any longer... The a1 is not heads above the R5 by any-means. My apologies in advance if that offends anyone.Mar 24, 2021 at 04:00 PM
p.61 #16A1 Reviews/Video thread
Pius Sullivan wrote:
I have done my share of shooting through this pandemic with the R5 as much as anyone..
No one is denying that. No one is even questioning your R5 experience.
Pius Sullivan wrote:
I use reviews and watch tube vids to inform me about the a1.,
That is great...you now know what the graphics look like. Unfortunately the graphics one sees in a VF don't tell us the whole story about what the success rate is once you are back on the 5KiMac and looking to see if the focus stayed on the eye or drifted a centimeter back onto the neck. Sure it can show us if the AF totally gets lost on rippled water or on background trees. But I have no real complaints about either of those "features"
on the R5 nor the A1.
Pius Sullivan wrote:
which is mostly what you have done
If you discount my 20,000 images taken so far with the A1 and my 100,000 images taken with the R5 then yeah I guess that is mostly what I have done...or not....
Pius Sullivan wrote:
The a1 is not heads above the R5 by any-means.
I don't think I've ever put it in that high of regard. But it is better in a few situations. Just like the A9II is.
Here is the bottom line. If the R5 can get you every shot you hope to get with a consistency and ease that you are happy with then that is all that matters. It did for me as far as AF goes as I suspect it does for you also. But it didn't as far as the EVF jolt when letting off the shutter mid-burst, the fixed ES 20 FPS and the Rolling shutter leaning lines in my backgrounds.
The R5 fixed a lot of issues I had with my A9II as far as operational lags and card write speeds. It also gave me excellent BEAF. I loved it for those things. Thankfully the A1 fixed all those A9II issues also and gave me excellent BEAF. Therefore I could save money keeping my Sony 600GM and 200-600 instead of selling those and dropping cash on a Canon 600III or likewise.
I have done my share of shooting through this pandemic with the R5 as much as anyone..
No one is denying that. No one is even questioning your R5 experience.
Pius Sullivan wrote:
I use reviews and watch tube vids to inform me about the a1.,
That is great...you now know what the graphics look like. Unfortunately the graphics one sees in a VF don't tell us the whole story about what the success rate is once you are back on the 5KiMac and looking to see if the focus stayed on the eye or drifted a centimeter back onto the neck. Sure it can show us if the AF totally gets lost on rippled water or on background trees. But I have no real complaints about either of those "features"
on the R5 nor the A1.Pius Sullivan wrote:
which is mostly what you have done
If you discount my 20,000 images taken so far with the A1 and my 100,000 images taken with the R5 then yeah I guess that is mostly what I have done...or not....
Pius Sullivan wrote:
The a1 is not heads above the R5 by any-means.
I don't think I've ever put it in that high of regard. But it is better in a few situations. Just like the A9II is.
Here is the bottom line. If the R5 can get you every shot you hope to get with a consistency and ease that you are happy with then that is all that matters. It did for me as far as AF goes as I suspect it does for you also. But it didn't as far as the EVF jolt when letting off the shutter mid-burst, the fixed ES 20 FPS and the Rolling shutter leaning lines in my backgrounds.
The R5 fixed a lot of issues I had with my A9II as far as operational lags and card write speeds. It also gave me excellent BEAF. I loved it for those things. Thankfully the A1 fixed all those A9II issues also and gave me excellent BEAF. Therefore I could save money keeping my Sony 600GM and 200-600 instead of selling those and dropping cash on a Canon 600III or likewise.
Mar 24, 2021 at 04:28 PM
p.61 #17A1 Reviews/Video thread
Here’s something that happened to me the other day that I thought I’d post about in case it happens to anyone else.
I was out shooting and the AF overlays were not showing on the screen (either the frame or the dancing boxes). I tried turning on/off, pulling batter, changing AF modes and nothing. For some reason I tried switching the IS mode on the lens (200-600) and they came back, but as soon as the camera went to sleep it was the same thing.
At this point I was I thought I was going to have to put in a support call and luckily I noticed that the drive mode dial was in between H and M. I somehow managed to hit the button and move the dial halfway. As soon as I selected and actual mode everything worked again.
Anyway, probably a 1-in-a-million chance of doing that by accident but thought it was good info to share (even if not the best thread to share it in)
I was out shooting and the AF overlays were not showing on the screen (either the frame or the dancing boxes). I tried turning on/off, pulling batter, changing AF modes and nothing. For some reason I tried switching the IS mode on the lens (200-600) and they came back, but as soon as the camera went to sleep it was the same thing.
At this point I was I thought I was going to have to put in a support call and luckily I noticed that the drive mode dial was in between H and M. I somehow managed to hit the button and move the dial halfway. As soon as I selected and actual mode everything worked again.
Anyway, probably a 1-in-a-million chance of doing that by accident but thought it was good info to share (even if not the best thread to share it in)
Mar 24, 2021 at 05:31 PM
p.61 #18A1 Reviews/Video thread
I'm not discounting your 20,000 frames on the A1 but you can do the math. That's not much time looking through the viewfinder at 10 - 30 fps. If you were getting paid by the hour would not be able to buy the A1...
Pius Sullivan wrote:
which is mostly what you have done
If you discount my 20,000 images taken so far with the A1 and my 100,000 images taken with the R5 then yeah I guess that is mostly what I have done...or not....
Mar 24, 2021 at 09:58 PM
p.61 #19A1 Reviews/Video thread
arbitrage wrote:
Pius Sullivan wrote:
I'm not discounting your 20,000 frames on the A1 but you can do the math. That's not much time looking through the viewfinder at 10 - 30 fps. If you were getting paid by the hour would not be able to buy the A1...
Pius Sullivan wrote:
which is mostly what you have done
If you discount my 20,000 images taken so far with the A1 and my 100,000 images taken with the R5 then yeah I guess that is mostly what I have done...or not....
Pius Sullivan wrote:
I'm not discounting your 20,000 frames on the A1 but you can do the math. That's not much time looking through the viewfinder at 10 - 30 fps. If you were getting paid by the hour would not be able to buy the A1...
Pius Sullivan wrote:
which is mostly what you have done
If you discount my 20,000 images taken so far with the A1 and my 100,000 images taken with the R5 then yeah I guess that is mostly what I have done...or not....
Mar 24, 2021 at 09:59 PM
p.61 #20A1 Reviews/Video thread
Pius Sullivan wrote:
To get the best user experience from your gear you need to adapt to all lighting conditions.
I just find it saves time, put the best glass you have on and leave it on... If I'm to close use my legs to back up.
I have gotten great shots with the 100-500, I have no issues with the tracking and focus of that lens in the right light. The detail can easily match the 200-600.
But to test a a camera with mostly one lens, I feel that's not giving the camera a fair shake.
Just my opinion .
That's why I use my 600 III 99% of the time...
But on the A1 you don't need the 600GM (or 400GM) to get the full AF experience. I also haven't read anything on the R5 threads saying you need an adapted EF super tele to get the best AF out of the R5. But I guess you feel that you do??
I felt that the adapted EF superteles didn't lose anything to the native lens. But I didn't find that they gave a boost to AF either. Granted I only shot your 600III for one day and I didn't have many fast BIF to aim it at. It performed amazing on what I did aim it at. I shot two copies of the 400DOII for 4 days total (around 10,000 frames at my regular spots which included all my regular faster BIF like blackbirds) and I shot your 100-400II for a very short while. And then the rest of the time I shot my 100-500. My general impression between the f/4 400DOII and the 100-500 was that AF seemed to act the same.
I guess if you are correct and the R5 needs the big lens to get A1 like AF then that means we have to consider a $13K DSLR lens in the value equation vs a $2K 200-600 on the A1.
Obviously I love the big 600 primes for light gathering, rendering, TC use just as much as you do. But I really didn't think you needed one on the A1 nor the R5 to maximize the AF performance.5 months with the fastest native RF telephoto lens available shooting all sorts of variety of BIF and a good solid 4 days (10,000 images) with a highly regarded 400DOII adapted lens also shooting primarily BIF I think gives me a fair amount of experience to assess the R5's AF.
I don't see how on one hand you can say I didn't give the R5 a fair shake because 90% of my shooting was with a single lens and yet you seem to find it fair to come and declare the R5 is every bit as good as the A1 while at the same time admitting you've never even taken a single image with the A1.
I agree the 100-500 can match the 200-600 in IQ. I have controlled test shots between it and the 200-600 that prove as much if anyone really wants to nitpick. I never said anything to the contrary. I've routinely recommended that lens to anyone that has enough light that f/7.1 is not a constant limitation. Pretty much the same as the f/6.3 limitations of the 200-600.
The 4 days with 400DOII gave me a good impression of how an f/4 lens and the R5 behaves in lower light conditions. One or two of those days in cloudy and showers and the others in decent light so I could test BIF. The one day in sunny conditions with your 600III just showed me how good that lens is. And showed me that there was no handicap to adapting an EF lens making the entire Mk II and Mk III EF telephoto ecosystem a viable pool to draw from with the R5 given the limited RF telephoto lens selection.I have done my share of shooting through this pandemic with the R5 as much as anyone.. I use reviews and watch tube vids to inform me about the a1., which is mostly what you have done. With today's technology you can get a live experience looking through someone else viewfinder. I can clearly see how the a1's tracking and BEAF works. The regular issues, drop off the subject on a busy background, grab the ripples on the water instead of the subject. So not going to flog a dead horse any longer... The a1 is not heads...Show more →
"The a1 is not heads above the R5 by any-means. "
By any means? Really? You are now talking a bit over your head, man. Do you think before writing this stuff? You all learned that by watching youtube videos? Where most not even maxed out the capabilities?
The a1 is heads above the R5 in many areas. Sensor readout speed (1/220s vs. 1/60s) allowing you to use flash in E-shutter, flicker detection in e-shutter, completely silent shooting without distortion, less rolling shutter or banding. 1/400s flash sync. 120 AF acquisitions/s, 10/15/20/30 fps with e-shutter, whereas you have an extremely limited 20 fps in e-shutter with the R5 which drops to 12 bit and clearly reduces DR at low isos (the Sony allows you 1/32000s to 30 s, 14 bit lossless up to 20 fps, you have all the freedom and are not fixed to 20fps in continuous, a max 0.5s and whose performance is battery and aperture dependent). It does so using a bigger and more detailed EVF and more MP, NOT needing noise reduction at low isos to make the R5 it look better in sensor measurements.
The R5 surely has a well rounded BEAF. But that isn't everything when we talk about AF, right? It is pattern recognition based on DL, but in addition there is tracking, AF acquisition, consistency, where 120 AF updates a second come in handy and many didn't even max out the A1 capabilities.
The thing where the R5 is clearly better in my opinion is IBIS.
Most things above may not be important to you, but youtube doesn't show you everything and usually doesn't make one an expert. "By -any-means" is just a ridiculous statement.
arbitrage wrote
Pius Sullivan wrote
Nope that's not what I'm saying.To get the best user experience from your gear you need to adapt to all lighting conditions.
I just find it saves time, put the best glass you have on and leave it on... If I'm to close use my legs to back up.
I have gotten great shots with the 100-500, I have no issues with the tracking and focus of that lens in the right light. The detail can easily match the 200-600.
But to test a a camera with mostly one lens, I feel that's not giving the camera a fair shake.
Just my opinion .
arbitrage wrote
Pius Sullivan wrote
We all know you need the fast glass to get the best from the AF on these cameras...That's why I use my 600 III 99% of the time...
arbitrage wrote
I'm comparing it to my 200-600 and 100-400 on the A1.I felt that the adapted EF superteles didn't lose anything to the native lens. But I didn't find that they gave a boost to AF either. Granted I only shot your 600III for one day and I didn't have many fast BIF to aim it at. It performed amazing on what I did aim it at. I shot two copies of the 400DOII for 4 days total (around 10,000 frames at my regular spots which included all my regular faster BIF like blackbirds) and I shot your 100-400II for a very short while. And then the rest of the time I shot my 100-500. My general impression between the f/4 400DOII and the 100-500 was that AF seemed to act the same.
I guess if you are correct and the R5 needs the big lens to get A1 like AF then that means we have to consider a $13K DSLR lens in the value equation vs a $2K 200-600 on the A1.
Obviously I love the big 600 primes for light gathering, rendering, TC use just as much as you do. But I really didn't think you needed one on the A1 nor the R5 to maximize the AF performance.
I don't see how on one hand you can say I didn't give the R5 a fair shake because 90% of my shooting was with a single lens and yet you seem to find it fair to come and declare the R5 is every bit as good as the A1 while at the same time admitting you've never even taken a single image with the A1.
I agree the 100-500 can match the 200-600 in IQ. I have controlled test shots between it and the 200-600 that prove as much if anyone really wants to nitpick. I never said anything to the contrary. I've routinely recommended that lens to anyone that has enough light that f/7.1 is not a constant limitation. Pretty much the same as the f/6.3 limitations of the 200-600.
The 4 days with 400DOII gave me a good impression of how an f/4 lens and the R5 behaves in lower light conditions. One or two of those days in cloudy and showers and the others in decent light so I could test BIF. The one day in sunny conditions with your 600III just showed me how good that lens is. And showed me that there was no handicap to adapting an EF lens making the entire Mk II and Mk III EF telephoto ecosystem a viable pool to draw from with the R5 given the limited RF telephoto lens selection.
I use reviews and watch tube vids to inform me about the a1., which is mostly what you have done. With today's technology you can get a live experience looking through someone else viewfinder. I can clearly see how the a1's tracking and BEAF works. The regular issues, drop off the subject on a busy background, grab the ripples on the water instead of the subject. So not going to flog a dead horse any longer... The a1 is not heads...Show more →"The a1 is not heads above the R5 by any-means. "
By any means? Really? You are now talking a bit over your head, man. Do you think before writing this stuff? You all learned that by watching youtube videos? Where most not even maxed out the capabilities?
The a1 is heads above the R5 in many areas. Sensor readout speed (1/220s vs. 1/60s) allowing you to use flash in E-shutter, flicker detection in e-shutter, completely silent shooting without distortion, less rolling shutter or banding. 1/400s flash sync. 120 AF acquisitions/s, 10/15/20/30 fps with e-shutter, whereas you have an extremely limited 20 fps in e-shutter with the R5 which drops to 12 bit and clearly reduces DR at low isos (the Sony allows you 1/32000s to 30 s, 14 bit lossless up to 20 fps, you have all the freedom and are not fixed to 20fps in continuous, a max 0.5s and whose performance is battery and aperture dependent). It does so using a bigger and more detailed EVF and more MP, NOT needing noise reduction at low isos to make the R5 it look better in sensor measurements.
The R5 surely has a well rounded BEAF. But that isn't everything when we talk about AF, right? It is pattern recognition based on DL, but in addition there is tracking, AF acquisition, consistency, where 120 AF updates a second come in handy and many didn't even max out the A1 capabilities.
The thing where the R5 is clearly better in my opinion is IBIS.
Most things above may not be important to you, but youtube doesn't show you everything and usually doesn't make one an expert. "By -any-means" is just a ridiculous statement.
Mar 25, 2021 at 02:06 AM