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 p.1 #13 · After testing Z8 and having focus issues I may go to the Sony A7RV | |
1bwana1 wrote:
From reading the posts in just this thread it looks like there is a consensus even among Nikon shooters that Nikon AF is more difficult to learn, and operate than other systems.
Seriously, why should all that B.S. workflow be needed just to get an AF system to track the pupil of a human eye in good light? Other systems can do this reliably even when that eye temporarily is obscured by something, and can even predict where that eye is when not visible to the camera like when the subject has their back to the camera. This with close to 100% results without any kind of switching modes, or pushing buttons, or other complex workflows. The photographer just needs to focus on things that make an image special, like moment and composition.
I am not just talking about Sony either....Show more →
There's two philosophies in design fighting here.
One is the 'do the right thing' design, where the designers assume they know best how it should work and implement it to do so. When done well, this works very well in most situations, but when it fails it tends to fail in ways that are more difficult to address. Sony leans hard in this direction, Canon has a softer lean this way with somewhat more configuration overrides than Sony. These systems tend to less configurability as well (because that can interact badly with automation)
The other design philosophy is the 'do exactly what you are told to', where the designers assume that the user knows what they want and will tell the device to do what they want. This leans heavier onto user expertise to configure & operate correctly, and can and will fail in situations where the user either doesn't know what they need to do (lack of training, experience or expertise), or where things are happening so fast they cannot react fast enough. These systems tend to extra complexity in configuration as well. It does tend to softer failures though, as the workarounds are designed in. Nikon leans hard in this direction, Canon honours it somewhat while leaning the other way.
The reality is that much like AE, users increasingly rely on the camera's expertise over their own. Sometimes this is VERY correct, especially in cases where timing is critical and the user must be prioritizing the items the camera cannot do (composition, tracking) over the items the camera can do (focus point selection, focusing, AE). So many users, especially those who are doing things where the camera can react quicker than the user, are biased towards the Sony model of the camera thinks for you. Nikon however relies on the user to override the camera in more cases, and that works better in some cases, but worse in others (particularly the edge cases of BiF which have become the standard to which most AF performance is judged these days).
This is also why when Sony's AF fails, it often seems to fail really hard, as you are limited in tools to override its default behaviours, while when Nikon fails, there's almost always a way to force it to do what you want, but that might take longer than you have to react to the scene. Nikon fails more than Sony when left to do its own thing, because it's designed to depend more on user input (and that's only sometimes the correct design choice)
The reality is Sony's design philosophy is the better choice for most users (who don't know what they need and expect the camera to handle it) and those users who want the camera driving focus so they can concentrate on other matters.
Nikon's is better for the cases of users who both know what they need & want and are not doing something where they cannot react fast enough to override the camera.
Canon sits somewhere in between. if you want a system that allows you to control things more than Sony does, but can run itself more than Nikon offers then Canon is probably the system for you.
The reality is that all these systems work brilliantly at most things. Some are better in specific areas and some require more user input, but also give more user control at the same time. No system is perfect for everybody.
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