Re: Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II Announced—Pre-Orders Now Open!
Steve Spencer wrote: JD07 wrote:
I'm happy to be corrected, but I thought the eye AF issues with the A7IV were supposed to be corrected by a firmware update (possibly v1.1 I think) some time ago?
Steve Spencer wrote: j4nu wrote: Orsonneke wrote:
I have the 85 GM ii in use since last week in Belgium.I am astonish how exact the AF is compared to the sigma 85.The 85 GM ii is exact on the eye ball , ALSO on fast moving people.Corner sharpness is better too (perhaps not relevant for portrait) and much less barrel distortion compared to the sigma.I only tested the 85 GM ii on the a9iii.I would definitely buy the lens again.I sold the sigma
I hope this doesn't mean that you need A9III to get accurate eyeAF with the GM II ...
Do you hear any AF noise like @Donbioh@@@@ does?
Keep in mind Don was using the A7 IV which is behind other current offerings from Sony in just the area he was having problems. Here is a quote from the DPreview discussion of this camera's AF:
"However, we did find that the a7 IV can tend to very slightly front-focus when using Face/Eye detection, leaving the eye-lashes perfectly in focus but the pupil very slightly soft. This isn't going to be an issue for everyday social photography, but if you're trying to shoot portraits with shallow depth-of-field, the a7 IV doesn't seem to be quite as dependably accurate as the previous generation of Sony cameras."
It seems quite possible that he isn't seeing a better hit rate for 85 GM II over the Sigma 85 DG DN because the camera he is using can't deliver that hit rate.
It may not take an A9 III to see that hit rate either. Here is a quote from the DPreview discussion of the A7r V's AF:
"The good news is that, for the most part, you don't need to think about or edit much of this at all. Choose AF-C and a small tracking AF point and the camera will track whatever you point it at pretty well. Specify that you want it to focus on Humans (just faces and eyes, perhaps) and it'll do extremely well. In our practice focus didn't always perfectly hit the subject's pupil but it's only the camera's high pixel count that allowed us to see any imprecision: we can't think of another camera or AF method that would have delivered better results."
Of course we will have to see, but there is good reason to hope, IMO, that the 85 GM II will have great AF with the latest cameras that are capable of providing the same precision that the lens is capable of providing.
I am sure it has been improved with firmware, but the A7 IV does not have the sensor scan speed of the A1 or A9 cameras and the extra calculations that provides, nor the advance AI module of the A7r V, so the 85 GM II might well work with those more advanced cameras even though it struggles with the A7 IV. That struggle could be the camera more than the lens.
Yes, you are right, but the Sigma focuses on the eye just fine in this case so it shouldn't be the matter of the camera here.
I'm sure that A7RV will recognize the face faster due to AI and A9III will track better due to faster sensor read out, but come on - A7IV should be perfectly capable of capturing kids doing their stuff...
I also expected GM II to be excellent when it comes to AF and I am surprised reading this report...
Also, these are 2 different things:
* eye(lash)AF in static scenes shooting from an angle, etc. - this is mostly the luck of the draw in my experience
* eyeAF in dynamic scenes (esp. close rapid movement towards the camera) - this is where both the camera and the AF motors in the lens play a big role (and where 85DN struggles)...
Sep 17, 2024 at 03:31 PM
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