arbitrage wrote:
I used Wide for all the swallow shots with Eye-AF active. I amazingly did get the Eye-AF to show up on one swallow sequence when my panning was very steady. Maybe I should try and turn it off just to not have the camera trying to over think things. No idea if that matters or not??
I tried Wide:Tracking a few times and it was working pretty well also but there is just something I find that I like more about non-tracking Wide. I find in Tracking Wide that if the camera decides to grab a water ripple instead of the swallow that it never recovers where as in non-Tracking it may dance the dots on the water ripples for a second but then often gets onto the swallow right after without any input from me.
One other note from yesterday's shooting is that the camera had a much easier time in the heavy overcast to grab the Violet-green swallows and had a very hard time with the Barn swallows. I assume this was because of the dark color of the Barn Swallow and better contrast of the VG swallow. Today forecast is full sun so I'm heading back to the swallow spot and will try in full sun.
In the past I find that full sun is a blessing and a curse. It is great to get higher SS and lower ISO. Keepers will surely look better than the ones posted from yesterday where heavy NR/Sharpening had to be done. However, I find that the AF systems work better in the overcast conditions. In sun they will get more confused with backgrounds especially at the location I shoot at. We shall see how it goes this morning....that is if my EVF stays awake to let me shoot. Light Dims will be installed to see if that helps for the first sunrise hours....Show more →
Thanks Geoff , I've been leaving birds eye AF switched on for BIF , when using Zone I seemed to be getting quite a few OOF shots so wasn't sure if it was eye AF throwing the accuracy off , even when the Eye AF wasn't showing to be recognising the bird they looked off too . I've had a look at imaging edge viewer and the green box is on the head . I need to have another fiddle with the A1 settings .
Panning shots even for Peregrines are much easier with the A1 compared to my A9ii , I think its that large view finder although tbh so far I've had more in focus shots of these birds with the A9ii . Just all part of the learning curve
Why the single point issue? Sony cameras have single point AF. Can you explain...
Jemini wrote:
Geoff
Awesome shots as usual. The ones with bugs are the best. What's your verdict on AF compared to A9? Also about 200-600 compared to 100-400?
I still can't pull the trigger on A1 because I still can't find enough reasons to upgrade. There are 3 major features that are definitely useful, but I can live without. 50MP, 30FPS and bird's eye AF.
Birds EYE AF will be most useful for ME mainly because It's hard to control single point and precisely focus in the eye of a sitting bird or slowly moving birds with MILC compared to DSLR like D500. But not sure if it's worth the price difference.
I know 50MP and 30FPS will be very useful. Many little features are going to be useful as well including camera is not locked while buffer is being cleared, faster wake-up and new VF etc are important to me.. But I feel if there'll be A9III with less MP (30 - 36) and no 8K for around $4500, that will be better choice for me.. I have no hope about that though.
If there's a huge improvement in AF that'll be a big reason for me to get it. But I haven't heard many shouting about it.. Swallows are one of the toughest subject for me. I had very few success with them. What do you think?...Show more →
6683 wrote:
Why the single point issue? Sony cameras have single point AF. Can you explain...
Sorry that I didn't make it clear. I kinda talked to Geoff directly here as we discussed the subject earlier .
I'm coming from D500 that allows to move the group around the screen using joy stick and with a function button hold the group will become single point (the middle point) and BBF will focus precisely on the subject. As soon as you release the hold button (I have front FN function programmed for this. So easy to use your 'unused' middle finger to hold it) it will become the group again. This way your camera is always ready for action and don't have to worry about what setting you have for AF. I like to have group (Zone in A9/A1 world) as my default mode.
In A9 (and A1), I can't find a way to switch to single point temporarily and move the focus point around. 'Custom hold' will allow to switch to single point, but you cannot move the point around. Register AF area toggle will allow you to toggle to single point (then you have to remember to toggle it back) but if you use joy stick to move the point around, then you cannot go back to your default AF setting using same registered key. You have to go to menu and go back. If you don't move the point around then the function button will take you back.
Another issue I'm finding is that single point in MILC camera is very weak and hunts compared to DSLR's PDAF. It's not a Sony issue. I just watched a review of R5 by a pro canon shooter and she complains about it too.
Overall when you want absolute control where to focus and want to happen it quick, it cam be hard. I know high end lenses have full time manual override like ring motor lenses. But cheaper linear motor lenses don't have that functionality either.
Below shot is an example that can be tough for A9+200-600 (Sorry not a great shot)
Took a photo of this fox in my back yard today - a rainy day. Camera was set to Auto ISO. I probably could have lowered the shutter speed so the noise would be less. Interestingly the camera was able to focus on the eye.
Jemini wrote:
Sorry that I didn't make it clear. I kinda talked to Geoff directly here as we discussed the subject earlier .
I'm coming from D500 that allows to move the group around the screen using joy stick and with a function button hold the group will become single point (the middle point) and BBF will focus precisely on the subject. As soon as you release the hold button (I have front FN function programmed for this. So easy to use your 'unused' middle finger to hold it) it will become the group again. This way your camera is always ready for action and don't have to worry about what setting you have for AF. I like to have group (Zone in A9/A1 world) as my default mode.
In A9 (and A1), I can't find a way to switch to single point temporarily and move the focus point around. 'Custom hold' will allow to switch to single point, but you cannot move the point around. Register AF area toggle will allow you to toggle to single point (then you have to remember to toggle it back) but if you use joy stick to move the point around, then you cannot go back to your default AF setting using same registered key. You have to go to menu and go back. If you don't move the point around then the function button will take you back.
Another issue I'm finding is that single point in MILC camera is very weak and hunts compared to DSLR's PDAF. It's not a Sony issue. I just watched a review of R5 by a pro canon shooter and she complains about it too.
Overall when you want absolute control where to focus and want to happen it quick, it cam be hard. I know high end lenses have full time manual override like ring motor lenses. But cheaper linear motor lenses don't have that functionality either.
Below shot is an example that can be tough for A9+200-600 (Sorry not a great shot)
Tight crop, 600F4+2xTC+APS-C(not that it matters). The detail it retained even on a crap day like today! (was overcast here)
I did use a tripod and the wind was very light.
Initial impressions from the first couple hours this morning: Like the A9, but better.
Button feel is a huge improvement I never knew I was missing. Bird eye focus works shockingly well. I have never used Canon so can't compare bird eye focus. The extra detail compared to the A9 is exactly what I wanted. I only shot at 20fps compressed raw today. As am amateur I didn't need an A1, but it sure is nice.
I did have the EVF issue in the sun a couple times. I can't stand the new menus but that just might be because I am not used to them. I knew the a6000/a6400/A9 menus well.
Enough text, a couple sample images
Tri:
Sony ILCE-1
FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
ƒ/6.3 600.0 mm 1/2500 500
Bath:
Sony ILCE-1
FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
ƒ/6.3 600.0 mm 1/2500 400
Same bird as previous images in another thread, just pushing the ISO with ridiculous settings to see how it looks:
Sony ILCE-1
FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
ƒ/6.3 600.0 mm 1/16000 10000
Almost normal settings, just took the TC off and it remained at f9:
Sony ILCE-1
FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
ƒ/9.0 600.0 mm 1/1250 2000
Not particularly a fast flier, but uncropped and unexpectedly incoming:
Sony ILCE-1
FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
ƒ/6.3 600.0 mm 1/2000 500
With TC eye autofocus picked up no problem:
Sony ILCE-1
FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter
ƒ/9.0 840.0 mm 1/2500 1250
They look better in full resolution than what is posted here.
I am settling on the adobe preset Standard, I find others give me problems, but if anyone has any post processing tips with these Sony files it would be much appreciated. Sometimes they are easy other times you really have to work to hold the whites and the colors.
A few from yesterday. Didn't find any of the regulars I usually see in that area (Ospreys, Heron etc...) only these. Also not great light but enjoyed using the A1.
These are all with the A1 100-400mm + 1.4TC.
It was a pretty awful day yesterday.. going from 75F and Sunny to 42F and cloudy/foggy but still went out. Obviously anything in the air was a no-go from the start which was disappointing because the swallows were flying and I captured some cool behavior but not post worth since there was not enough light.
Anyway, retreated into the woods and found the 1st warblers of the season (Palm and Yellow-rumped) and even though they aren't clean shots (with all the branches) it was still nice to see them. Bring this back to the A1 I didn't have any issues getting these guys in the branches.
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