p.1 #1 · Seeking suggestions for improving Sony A1AF for BIF near water
hi all, thanks in advance for your time.
i'm seeking recommendations from those experienced w/ shooting BIF near water, especially birds that are fishing - e.g. osprey going in for a dive, eagle skimming the surface, etc.
the A1 does a great job tracking, but i've noticed it (or I) can be inconsistent and the AF occasionally jumps to the water to the side of the bird as it's getting closer to impact. this is purely anecdotal, but it feels like ripples/sunlight reflection exacerbates the issue.
setup:
- 200-600 lens on full or 10m-inf
- AF zone or L spot w/ tracking
- AF sensitivity 1
- bird eye AF
- AF-C
- 20 or 30 FPS
as far as technique goes, i typically try to acquire focus on the bird before the descent, and maintain the focus throughout. i use back button focus with separate buttons dedicated to my two main focus areas listed in the setup. i've experimented with both and haven't seen a big difference between the two for this specific issue.
so my questions are - is there anything i should change in my settings to improve the AF performance? anything in my technique, e.g. resetting focus as the bird gets closer to the water?
p.1 #3 · Seeking suggestions for improving Sony A1AF for BIF near water
jorjacman wrote:
hi all, thanks in advance for your time.
i'm seeking recommendations from those experienced w/ shooting BIF near water, especially birds that are fishing - e.g. osprey going in for a dive, eagle skimming the surface, etc.
the A1 does a great job tracking, but i've noticed it (or I) can be inconsistent and the AF occasionally jumps to the water to the side of the bird as it's getting closer to impact. this is purely anecdotal, but it feels like ripples/sunlight reflection exacerbates the issue.
setup:
- 200-600 lens on full or 10m-inf
- AF zone or L spot w/ tracking
- AF sensitivity 1
- bird eye AF
- AF-C
- 20 or 30 FPS
as far as technique goes, i typically try to acquire focus on the bird before the descent, and maintain the focus throughout. i use back button focus with separate buttons dedicated to my two main focus areas listed in the setup. i've experimented with both and haven't seen a big difference between the two for this specific issue.
so my questions are - is there anything i should change in my settings to improve the AF performance? anything in my technique, e.g. resetting focus as the bird gets closer to the water?
Mark Smith sets his AF sensitivity on 5 and says that it delivers the best results for that water scenario. I'm on 3 and somewhat happy with what I get in the use cases you described but I have the 600GM as opposed to the 200-600mm
p.1 #4 · Seeking suggestions for improving Sony A1AF for BIF near water
I want to experiment the AF next month for bald eagle diving for fish. I recall the AF picked out the water instead of the eagles sometimes back in April when I first had my A1, I switched to tracking mode instead of just "wide" or "zone".
p.1 #6 · Seeking suggestions for improving Sony A1AF for BIF near water
interesting, i would have thought setting it to 1 would be most effective since it is supposed to be "locked on". i'll try sensitivities of 4/5 next time i'm out and will report back. thanks!
p.1 #8 · Seeking suggestions for improving Sony A1AF for BIF near water
jorjacman wrote:
interesting, i would have thought setting it to 1 would be most effective since it is supposed to be "locked on". i'll try sensitivities of 4/5 next time i'm out and will report back. thanks!
Trouble is smooth water provides it with two nearly equally good subjects, how is A.I. to know which is the real one?
A9 also fails a lot if you use tracking mode for BIF near water, I just make sure I'm using regular non-tracking AF and keeper rate skyrockets.
p.1 #9 · Seeking suggestions for improving Sony A1AF for BIF near water
hi Pixel Perfect, i've observed this while in both tracking and non-tracking modes. i'll do some testing this weekend and hopefully iron things out. thanks!
