I turned eye priority to off, moved from release again to balanced emphasi
If we are not imagining things, (and I am not sure we are), that is a pretty significant degradation of the camera's capabilities. From Release to balanced inhibits the H+ frame rate if I have it correctly.
I’m just trying to find best way it’ll work for me , before with fw1.2 I had it set where it was just reliable, now it’s changed I’m having to faff about with it . I just want to enjoy using it again
Lotuselite wrote:
From Multibilt's post:
If we are not imagining things, (and I am not sure we are), that is a pretty significant degradation of the camera's capabilities. From Release to balanced inhibits the H+ frame rate if I have it correctly.
Daran wrote:
Hmm. Is that repeatable? I've been in a similar scenario, where one system just produced rubbish and the other was fine. In my case one photographer was hiding behind a bush and the other was hiding behind a car. The car was still warm...
It happened throughout the trip. We shot the same subjects from the same locations (always away from the car, no hood). One person noted that eye-AF seemed to work less, I found this also to be the case. I shot two coyotes in different scenarios with very clear targets and eye-AF would rarely engage. I had one scenario where I was shooting a moose at a distance. It was a low contrast day, but decent contrast at the base of the antlers and the AF would not focus at all. I had to manually focus to get the shot.
I too FEEL my two A1s produce less sharp bird pictures than before 1.31. I may be just seeing things after reading all these. I recall the camera was having a harder time picking out hummingbirds' eyes in my yard than before under very similar distance and angles, after 1.31. Sometimes the BEAF can't even find the eyes of great blue herons that are standing pretty close and without messy background if I use "wide" focus area, I have to use "spot" to put the focus point on the GBH eyes sometimes.
For me, the only worthy firmware update the A1 ever had is the firmware that fixed the EVF blackout issue.
Douglas L wrote:
I too FEEL my two A1s produce less sharp bird pictures than before 1.31. I may be just seeing things after reading all these. I recall the camera was having a harder time picking out hummingbirds' eyes in my yard than before under very similar distance and angles, after 1.31. Sometimes the BEAF can't even find the eyes of great blue herons that are standing pretty close and without messy background if I use "wide" focus area, I have to use "spot" to put the focus point on the GBH eyes sometimes.
For me, the only worthy firmware update the A1 ever had is the firmware that fixed the EVF blackout issue. ...Show more →
Quote:
“For me, the only worthy firmware update the A1 ever had is the firmware that fixed the EVF blackout issue. “
Well that update made me finally to buy the A1.
I now shoot requiring focus, so I get fewer frames per second.
Well, it's about time to call it a fact, reading these reports and adding them to my own experiences after re-initializing the camera that already had v1.31 installed: Bird Eye-AF is broken on this firmware, and re-initializing changes nothing for me.
Eye-AF frantically dances around without usefully finding the bird's eye most of the time.
It likely does not affect all users, but enough users to call it broken functionality.
Well I personally think human eyeAF is also worse on 1.31 compared to 1.30. If you shoot people other than look-straight-into-the-camera pro style portraits, AF picks up rims of hats, stray hair, eyebrows or other "obstacles" near the eye more often now...
k-h.a.w wrote:
Maybe it’s just a programming bug.
Stranger things have happened.
If so,
Then perhaps it may be sensible to re-initialize again and see if it behaves better. After all, there are users that have no issues at all. I had far less issues before I re-initialized, but in the end, a new firmware from Sony is the only real solution.
“For me, the only worthy firmware update the A1 ever had is the firmware that fixed the EVF blackout issue. “
Well that update made me finally to buy the A1.
I now shoot requiring focus, so I get fewer frames per second.
K-H.
I remember you were holding out getting an A1 because of the EVF blackout issue. It was a real PITA.
I regret updating both my A1 to FW 1.31 within the first day when it was available. How the BEAF sometimes fails to find the eye of a standing great blue heron that almost fills the frame is pathetic. The new bird house of the Washington Zoo will be reopened in two weeks after $63M and 6 years. There will be plenty of perched birds for me to try out.
Douglas L wrote:
I regret updating both my A1 to FW 1.31 within the first day when it was available. How the BEAF sometimes fails to find the eye of a standing great blue heron that almost fills the frame is pathetic. The new bird house of the Washington Zoo will be reopened in two weeks after $63M and 6 years. There will be plenty of perched birds for me to try out.
In your case was the BEAF actually activating and then not finding the eye very well, or simply not activating at all? My experience from a test yesterday is that in many cases the BEAF was not even activating, like the camera was just saying "nope, no bird in that frame" despite a bird filling half the frame.
wordfool wrote:
In your case was the BEAF actually activating and then not finding the eye very well, or simply not activating at all? My experience from a test yesterday is that in many cases the BEAF was not even activating, like the camera was just saying "nope, no bird in that frame" despite a bird filling half the frame.
BEAF was on but failed to find the eyes of the GBH, sometimes. It puzzles me that it can find the eyes of small bluebirds perching on a tree branch but can't find the eye of a big GBH that's not moving. This happens many times.
I'm wondering if anyone who is having BEAF issues with the A1+200-600 has updated the lens also VS those that did not update the 200-600. I did both at the same time, I wish I had waited on doing the lens long enough to test the camera first. Or has anyone updated the lens and not the A1 yet?
RAF09 wrote:
I'm wondering if anyone who is having BEAF issues with the A1+200-600 has updated the lens also VS those that did not update the 200-600. I did both at the same time, I wish I had waited on doing the lens long enough to test the camera first. Or has anyone updated the lens and not the A1 yet?
My issue is not with the 200-600. I haven't used the 200-600 to shoot any birds since the hummingbirds left for the south in Oct. I have been shooting with the 600GM+1.4TC.
RAF09 wrote:
I'm wondering if anyone who is having BEAF issues with the A1+200-600 has updated the lens also VS those that did not update the 200-600. I did both at the same time, I wish I had waited on doing the lens long enough to test the camera first. Or has anyone updated the lens and not the A1 yet?
My 200-600 is v02, which I believe is the latest firmware. I was planning to go out with my 100-400 to see if I can replicate the BEAF snafu I saw with the 200-600 but the weather's going to put paid to that for a few days. Still, I'd be curious to know if other people are noticing distinct BEAF differences between lenses.
Been following this thread with interest as well as other threads addressing the same issue(s). I have the same firmware, the latest, in my A1 and yet I have not had any issues with BEAF or anything else. I mostly shoot birds and small birds at that. However I have also shot many pics of Blue Herons, Hawks, Geese and my BEAF and tracking seems dead on and accurate. Whether using my 70-200mm Mk2, 100-400mm GM or 200-600mm I have no issues. All three lenses have the latest firmware. Just as many keepers if not more than I had with the two previous firmware releases. I usually save my settings, reset the camera, perform the update and then reload my settings. Not sure if that matters.
Douglas L wrote:
BEAF was on but failed to find the eyes of the GBH, sometimes. It puzzles me that it can find the eyes of small bluebirds perching on a tree branch but can't find the eye of a big GBH that's not moving. This happens many times.
Sony optimized BEAF for songbirds and hawk like birds. Birds with long bills and necks have been an issue for earlier FW version as well. See https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/support/ilc/autofocus/ilce1/en/animaleyeaf.html for details.
