I got my A7cr recently. I thought with AI focus, the A7cr should have better focus than and a7r4 and a74, but I found the hit rate of it’s AFC with eye detection focus is not as high as A74 when shooting indoor with my son walking or running. I am wondering if this is expected in middle/low light (1/200, f1.4, iso3200) because of the smaller pixel. Has any one compared the focus speed and accuracy between A7cr and A7c2? Or in general between A7cr/A7r5 and a7c2/a74?
The Eye Focus hit rate on my A7CR seems to be about the same as my A7RV and A1. The big difference is that the EVF resolution is so low, such is difficult to confirm in-camera on the A7CR.
InFocus2014 wrote:
The Eye Focus hit rate on my A7CR seems to be about the same as my A7RV and A1. The big difference is that the EVF resolution is so low, such is difficult to confirm in-camera on the A7CR.
If you can trust the A7CR to nail focus at the right point, do you find that mitigates the lower VF quality?
rob_ww wrote:
If you can trust the A7CR to nail focus at the right point, do you find that mitigates the lower VF quality?
Sorry for the slow response as I have been traveling.
To answer your question, it almost does for Eye Focus, as I find such to be accurate 98% of the time on all my Sony cameras, including the A7CR.
Last weekend, I shot a Christmas parade. I was mostly shooting people and objects/vehicles that were in the shade, but I was standing in sunlight. While the people shots using Eye Focus were all in critical focus, the other shots were hit and miss, since with the sun and no eye cup, I couldn't even see the focus point in the viewfinder. It was extremely frustrating. I ended-up switching to my A7R5 (with aftermarket eye-cup) and had no problems with that camera.
If I cannot find a workable eye-cup, I might just sell the A7CR. The camera has little value, to me, if I cannot achieve reliably good focus in varying conditions.. plus, I really do dislike the low-resolution screens and lack of joystick. Note: With a good eye-cup, I can use Tracking Center Spot, which, I find, largely mitigates the need for a joystick.
When I switched shooting from the A7CR to the A7R5, last weekend, the overall 'shooting experience' was improved by an order of magnitude, for me. I realize that we all have personal preferences and that many others are completely satisfied with the A7CR.
I researched and found an eye-cup for the A7CR, which I ordered (see link, below). I sure hope that it works. If anyone knows of other solutions, I would love to hear about such.
InFocus2014 wrote:
...
I researched and found an eye-cup for the A7CR, which I ordered (see link, below). I sure hope that it works. If anyone knows of other solutions, I would love to hear about such....
The A7RC does not come with an extended eyecup? Strange as there is a separate silicon one included for the A6700 that does a pretty good job even in full sun. There are slightly deepened slots on the EVF box top & sides where it slides and locks into place. Here is a listing at B&H, maybe it might work if your A7CR has the same slots?
Seems there were 2 different Sony engineering teams who designed the A6700 vs the A7CII / A7CR. The A6700 has a deeper grip, a mechanical shutter and an extended eyecup, all things I like and want in my camera and makes the shooting experience better. Why these were left out of the A7Cxx is just a bit crazy.
Edit: Found these photos at Sony, seems the A7CR does not have the slots needed for the extended eyecup. What a glaring mistake by Sony as the EVF box seems to be the same size, why didn't they just use the one from the A6700?
the slot does not secure the eyecup in place. i've lost the original eyecup while carelessly removing the camera from the bag.
the replacement eyecup with an additional attachment point to the flash socket is a good idea.
SpecFoto wrote:
The A7RC does not come with an extended eyecup? Strange as there is a separate silicon one included for the A6700 that does a pretty good job even in full sun. There are slightly deepened slots on the EVF box top & sides where it slides and locks into place. Here is a listing at B&H, maybe it might work if your A7CR has the same slots?
Seems there were 2 different Sony engineering teams who designed the A6700 vs the A7CII / A7CR. The A6700 has a deeper grip, a mechanical shutter and an extended eyecup, all things I like and want in my camera and makes the shooting experience better. Why these were left out of the A7Cxx is just a bit crazy.
Edit: Found these photos at Sony, seems the A7CR does not have the slots needed for the extended eyecup. What a glaring mistake by Sony as the EVF box seems to be the same size, why didn't they just use the one from the A6700?
InFocus2014 wrote:
Sorry for the slow response as I have been traveling.
To answer your question, it almost does for Eye Focus, as I find such to be accurate 98% of the time on all my Sony cameras, including the A7CR.
Last weekend, I shot a Christmas parade. I was mostly shooting people and objects/vehicles that were in the shade, but I was standing in sunlight. While the people shots using Eye Focus were all in critical focus, the other shots were hit and miss, since with the sun and no eye cup, I couldn't even see the focus point in the viewfinder. It was extremely frustrating. I ended-up switching to my A7R5 (with aftermarket eye-cup) and had no problems with that camera.
If I cannot find a workable eye-cup, I might just sell the A7CR. The camera has little value, to me, if I cannot achieve reliably good focus in varying conditions.. plus, I really do dislike the low-resolution screens and lack of joystick. Note: With a good eye-cup, I can use Tracking Center Spot, which, I find, largely mitigates the need for a joystick.
When I switched shooting from the A7CR to the A7R5, last weekend, the overall 'shooting experience' was improved by an order of magnitude, for me. I realize that we all have personal preferences and that many others are completely satisfied with the A7CR.
I researched and found an eye-cup for the A7CR, which I ordered (see link, below). I sure hope that it works. If anyone knows of other solutions, I would love to hear about such.
Thanks for the link. I may try it out. On my previous A7C I didn’t consider this type because I had a thumb grip that occupied the hot shoe but on the A7CR/CII the grip is better and don’t feel I need that. Also I haven’t found a Thumb Grip designed for these bodies yet. I may give this a try.
tntcorp1 wrote:
the slot does not secure the eyecup in place. i've lost the original eyecup while carelessly removing the camera from the bag.
the replacement eyecup with an additional attachment point to the flash socket is a good idea.
Yes I agree, I should have said it snapped into place, not locked, because it can be knocked off. I personally don't want one that takes up my flash shoe, as I use a Godox V350S flash with my A6700. However in the link that @InFocus2014 provided that company also has a upgraded eyecup for the A6700. It is a $6 more than the OEM one I linked to at B&H but it is a bit deeper and more robust, I think I will order one to try it out.
A couple of days ago I did some shots of familiar local scenes with the A7CR, it was a bright sunny day. What I found is that the visibility of the EVF with the sun at an angle to the side was poor, to the extent that I couldn't see the EVF well enough to position the focus point, let alone consider manual focus.
The only accessory eyecup that I've been able to find is the one linked in a post above, sold by Kiwifotos. My concern with this model is that it's quite deep, and a couple of user comments have said that for eyeglass wearers, it pushes the eye back too far and you can't see the entire image in the EVF.
It seems to be shipped directly from China irrespective of which online vendor. I think I might just order one from AliExpress, since I'm in Canada. It also appears on ebay.ca. (Note they may exclude USA as a shipping destination, check the details.)
stevensun wrote:
I got my A7cr recently. I thought with AI focus, the A7cr should have better focus than and a7r4 and a74, but I found the hit rate of it’s AFC with eye detection focus is not as high as A74 when shooting indoor with my son walking or running. I am wondering if this is expected in middle/low light (1/200, f1.4, iso3200) because of the smaller pixel. Has any one compared the focus speed and accuracy between A7cr and A7c2? Or in general between A7cr/A7r5 and a7c2/a74?
The A7CII has 759 AF points and covers 94% of the screen. The A7Cr and the A7RV have 693 focus points and cover 79% of the screen. Those are meaningful differences. There was a thread somewhere, over at dpreview I think, discussing someone's experience that the A7CII seemed to handle autofocus with some compositions (e.g., some vertical portraits) better than the A7RV.
