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Autofocus in action


Timo
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I was playing with my new A6500 and trying the autofocus on flying birds. While the shots aren't that spectacular, the autofocus system proved to be magnificent. Even when a tree partly blocked the view, the camera kept focus on the bird. Great!

I really enjoy this camera!

 

 

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I Would love to see more photos! I recently switched over to the a6500 from a 5d3. This has been quite the transition. I really want to love the kit I've put together and sony system.  I read all about this amazing AF system. It's good but can't say I'm blown away yet. It worked really well out on the ski slopes on a sunny day. It really didn't miss any shots at all. But it doesn't get much easier for an AF system than those conditions. The system is underwhelming in lower light, and I don't mean dark conditions. I've had a few circumstances that I used AF-C with Lock on AF in reasonable light and it failed miserably, not a single usable image.  This said, it's early in the game.  I still need to master the intricacies of the AF system. Perhaps my misses are simply user error. Final verdict will come after several months of serious usage. Thanks

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What lens were you using, Timo? I don't have an a6500, but the tracking did do a fine job in your photos.

 

Same question for you, idsurfer, what lens? I used a Canon 5D2 and 50D for a number of years and had a 70D  for about a year. The Canon cameras did okay with focusing, the 70D better than the 5D2. Like the Canon cameras my a6300's tracking focusing does much better on some lenses than others. When things go well on the a6300, I get better tracking focusing than what I got on the Canon cameras.

Usually I set the a6300 to Zone focusing area when using AF-C focusing. However in low light conditions, I set it to Flexible Spot with a Small area or Medium area. This works decently if not 100%. But then, in low light conditions any camera I've ever used does have more trouble getting keepers.

 

I have the best luck with the Sony 70-200mm f/4 lens for tracking focusing. Some lenses, like the Sigma 60mm or Sony 55mm, well, they are plain awful for action focusing. The Sony 55mm lens is frustrating in low light. Some of the Sony lenses, like the Sony 18-105mm, work much better with Flexible Spot area focusing in all types of light. I did like how many Canon lenses worked quite well for action shots.

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What lens were you using, Timo? I don't have an a6500, but the tracking did do a fine job in your photos.

 

Same question for you, idsurfer, what lens?

 

I've been using E24mm 1.8 ZA and E50mm 1.8. I must say that most misses were when shooting wide apertures/shallow Dof. 

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I've been shooting with the Sony Zeiss 16-70 F4 (great lens). Autofocus works great and yes I've tried it in low light. It works spot on for me.

Yesterday I've been shooting with my Sony A-mount 70-300 4.5/5.6 with LA-EA3 adapter. Autofocus works. Nice. 

 

Shot at 300 mm ISO 400 f5.6 1/400s

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Looks like the 16-70mm lens does a nice job, Timo. I would like to try it out someday. I haven't tried the LA-EA3 adapter, since I don't have any Alpha lenses. Sure hope Sony comes out with a reasonably priced lens in the 400mm range for the E mount system. My wife recently purchased Nikon's 200-500mm lens. The focus tracking is pretty darn good on the D7200 (not so good on the D800). So far for wildlife shots the E mount system comes up short, so I'm stealing the wife's camera for most wildlife shots. Do you have any photos of movement with the 70-300mm lens? Something like your bird in flight or an object coming toward you at more than walking speed?

 

idsurfer, I have no experience with the 24mm. I would hope that it has better focusing than the Sony 55mm f/1.8. When I used the 55mm on an A7r it couldn't do near focusing in a low light situation. I always had to use manual focusing. The lens is somewhat better on the Sony a6000 and a6300, but it still hunts for the focus in low light. It would be impossible to use for action shots in low light. The E50mm has been better with low light focusing, but I've not had much luck with it for moving objects. How is the 24mm with stationary objects in low light? If your experience is like mine on the Canon cameras, I could set my 50mm f/1.4 wide open and it would still catch 50% of the shots in low light action.  I was hoping Sony would have some prime lenses that would match that hit rate when wide open. No chance of that with the E50mm or the 55mm. Maybe someone out there has used the Rokinon 50 f/1.4 autofocus or the Sony 85mm f/1.4 for action shots in low light conditions?

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I'd say the sony Zeiss 24mm on the whole is pretty good at hitting AF with stationary subject matter in low light. That said, I have had a few circumstances where I was really surprised that it was struggling. But generally speaking it's pretty good. I can say the same for the E50 1.8. With regard to moving subject matter, I've had mixed results as I described above. The 24 failed miserably indoor with moderate light (not low, not bright) with my son running around and right at me.  Now, in the lens's defense, I was shooting at only 1/125 and f/1.8. Looking back on it, asking for accurate critical focus under those circumstances with those settings may have been a tall order. I used the E50 with SS's 1/2000 and faster @ f/3.2 under sunny skies shooting skiers on the slopes and the E50 didn't miss a beat. Seriously, missed only a couple shots out of at least a hundred or so. I was  using continuous AF with lock on flexible spot M (I think??). I don't like using "Wide" focus area setting as I think the  camera seems to get confused as to where to focus. Rather I like to have more control over the focus area with lock on flexible spot. Having said all these things my experience is still quite limited. I have a EF 85 1.8 coming in a couple days that will be adapted with the sigma MC-11. I'll keep you folks posted as to how that works out. 

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I took the a6300 with the E50mm out today. Thought I'd try it again, since I haven't had great luck with it in the past. The morning was cold and blah light, which not truly low light, did make focusing more problematic than in bright light. Below is where the E50 stumbles for me. I shot about 5 sequences and had the same results. The first photo is about midway in the shooting sequence and the focus tracking is working as my dog, Porter, comes toward me (he's not in full run, but is running). I have a selection from the photo next. The second photo is two shots in from the first photo. By this time the focus tracking is missing Porter's eyes and has fallen back to his chest. The shots were taken at 1/2000 f/4.5 ISO 400 on AF-C with the Flexible Spot option on Small. As I mentioned the results were the same on all 5 sequences of the same action. (When I tried the Zone focus option none of the shots were focusing on the eyes.)

 

I should have taken the same sequence with the 70-200 f/4 lens, but with the 10F temperature and some snow falling, I didn't feel like changing the lens outside. However, in the past the 70-200 keeps tracking until Porter's head fills almost third of the frame. I've had good luck with almost all the Sony lenses when the object is moving parrallel to the camera, but when the object is moving toward the camera it's another story. I'm assuming that the a6500 focusing is about the same as the a6300, but I don't know for sure, only going by reviews. Perhaps the a6500 does a better job? That would be great. I'll admit that I'm not the greatest photographer for action photos, so it could be a user problem too. I'm looking forward to see how the Sigma MC-11 works!

 

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I did some real word testing with a6500 + E50 1.8 set to continuous AF, "lock on flexible spot medium". Conditions were heavy clouds, kinda lower light, snowy.   I shot two sequences of about 10 shots each with my son running through the snow right at me. High SS's, f/2.8. On both sequences the camera lost critical eye focus for 2 shots in the middle then pick it right back up. Again, this same combo performed near flawlessly under sunny skies with skiers moving side to side in the through the focal plane (not coming toward). It's totally conceivable that the misses were user error.  I would go as far as to say this combo is producing as good results as my previous 5D3 + canon lenses. The EF 85 should be here today. I'll update with results with it combined with MC-11. YouTube vids are encouraging!

 

I got 8 out of 10 shots with focus this good focus from those sequences yesterday. I consider that to be very good results.

 

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Thanks for posting the pic, idsurfer. Glad your son was a willing accomplice. Does look like the a6500/E50mm is working well for you. Nice exposure too.

I'll admit that I'm not nearly as good on Flexible Spot as I would like to be. I did use one focus spot (usually the center) on the Canon cameras all the time, which meant missed shots since I didn't always keep up with the action. The first time that I tried my wife's Nikon D7200 it was a bit of a revelation because I could leave the camera in Wide Focus mode and it would track the action extremely well. I was ecstatic to find that the a6300 would do extremely well in Wide focus mode, too.

 

I went out today (we got some snow so the light was better than yesterday, but the -1F temp wasn't helping) and used the 70-200mm and kept it in Wide focus mode. This sequence of photos shows why I really do need Wide focus mode to work; I'm just not quick enough following the action. As you can see in the fourth photo, the photographer (that would be me) is having a hard time keeping the subject near the center of the frame. What I like is that Sony does have cameras and lenses that will keep focusing even as the subject bobbles back and forth and up and down in the frame. For someone like me, it greatly helps to get keeper shots, particularly when I'm shooting in portrait orientation. (These are 5 of the photos out of 21, but all were in focus.) Probably my luck with the E50mm lens would be better if I could track the action well enough to use Flexible Spot consistently. And yes, the Sony a6300 is working better for me than the Canon cameras that I owned. I'd like to try the a6500.

 

I really, really want to see the MC-11 in action, since it's on my wish list.

 

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Hey

I am playing with my A6000 and can't seem to get the results everybody is talking about (and the reason i bought this camera).

I use it with a 16mm pancake lens

AF is continuous

Lock on AF is on with shutter

Drive mode is on medium

Focusing area is on Wide

Face recognition is on

I use the S mode to capture fast moving people at about 1/400

It focuses on the person but when i keep pressing the shutter release and the subject moves it will get out of focus.

What am I doing wrong?

Could it be that it won't work with this lens?

 

Thank you

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Hey

I am playing with my A6000 and can't seem to get the results everybody is talking about (and the reason i bought this camera).

I use it with a 16mm pancake lens

AF is continuous

Lock on AF is on with shutter

Drive mode is on medium

Focusing area is on Wide

Face recognition is on

I use the S mode to capture fast moving people at about 1/400

It focuses on the person but when i keep pressing the shutter release and the subject moves it will get out of focus.

What am I doing wrong?

Could it be that it won't work with this lens?

 

Thank you

 

 

Try Continuous AF, burst mode (or whatever it's called with Sony, Hi+ maybe), Flexible spot S, put the focus box on your subject until it lights up green and fire away trying to keep the green box on the subject. This is how I took some shots at a kids swim meet today in a VERY dimly lit aquatic center. Here are a couple from a sequence. The a6500 did really well not missing much. I really should have pushed the ISO to 6400 to get the SS's up a little bit. I think it would have helped for a bit cleaner image. I was mainly shooting with the E50, f/2, 3200, and was getting SS;s ~1/800. I like >1/1000 for swimming. 

 

Here are a couple.

 

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Well, The canon 85 1.8 and MC-11 worked pretty well. Tried it with a couple sequences with my son running at me and performed near flawlessly. When it missed I'm sure it was my fault. That said, I didn't give it much of a try. I was not totally happy with he lens and sold it after only a day or so. The MC-11 is now up for sale on the PTON photography website. (Basically brand new in box! Let me know if anyone wants to buy it! ;) ) I think I'm gonna stick with native Sony lenses. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Timo. It would be great to see how that combination works for action.

Well @Porterbasset, I've finally tried the combo A6500 with Sony A-mount 70-300 4.5/5.6 with LA-EA3 adapter. It's works perfectly. I shot a moving scooter passing by pedestrians and 9 out of 10 (the last) where spot-on. 

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I just recently acquired the 6500 and am using a Sony LA EA4 adapter and a Sony 18--250 lens. Works very well. Does anyone know of a 2X tele converter that will auto focus with this combo. I have a Bower which is fine but have to use manual focus. 

Thanks

Harvey

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Here is my 'scooter' serie to test the A6500 with Sony A-mount 70-300 4.5/5.6 with LA-EA3 adapter.

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