Sony A7ii can't focus landscapes or scenes

[Ihatesonya7]

Hello, we are on the trip of a lifetime and have been for over a year travelling around South East Asia. I invested in an A7ii and it seems much lower quality picture wise than my wife's DSC100.

It rarely focuses on anything other than portraits. I was using a manual focus lense Carl zeis planer 2.4 and another Minolta legacy lens so two different converters. We decided to buy the out of the box auto lens as we figured it must work with that but sadly everything is still out of focus. I have posted some pics. Please help my as this is causing me so many rows with my wife. She can't believe I spent so much money on a camera which can't focus on auto or manual. P.s the photos often seem like they will be in focus when it zooms in for the manual focus assist but then are blurry when inspecting afterwards.

[Ihatesonya7]

I can't post any pictures to show as none of the uploaders this forum will work with my iPad, the wheel just keeps spinning next to clear selection but it's not actually uploading anything.

[adwb]

Obviously images with data will help but all I can suggest it watch your shutter speed, use the ISO to boost it if its unacceptably low.

How low you can hand hold depends on you , every one is different, but try to maintain a shutter speed of 1/125 as a starter.

It is highly unlikely that the lens or the body is a fault

[Guest Jaf-Photo]

I think you just need to take a time-out for an afternoon and practice on focusing the camera. It does take some practice to focus manually even with focus peaking and magnify. When you're using af, make sure to use the correct af mode and area. The camera usually focuses on something, you just need to make sure it focuses where you want. Watch a few videos on youtube.

[Jeffreykmd]

Agree with JAF. Check your focus settings/focus mode/focus area. It will make a big difference in your results. Also play with your shutter speed and aperture. For manual focus, focus peaking takes practice. There are several great books on the market that can help guide you on setting up your camera. Friedman Archives has one so does Brian Smith.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Ihatesonya7]

Thank you, I really appreciate the replies, I will watch some videos on focus areas. The argument I can't win with my wife is why cant this camera focus on auto compared to her Sony dscrx 100? I'm just suprised it doesn't work on auto focus.

[Guest Jaf-Photo]

There isn't a world of difference between the autofocus modes in the two cameras.

 

AF does behave very differently depending on which settings you use. The settings all have their strengths and limitations. it takes a while to get used to these parameters.

 

Like Jeffrey said above, check out Gary Friedman's videos on youtube. They helped me when I moved from Canon (simple af) to Sony (complex af).

[Username]

........ The camera usually focuses on something, you just need

to make sure it focuses where you want. .......  

 

   

And that brings up a good question: Even if it's NOT the 

intended target, is there SOMETHING in focus in most 

of your pictures ? 

[Guest Jaf-Photo]

Important task for the time-out: keep the camera stationary, disable IBIS, focus, shoot, check that focus coresponds in the photo. As it's mirrorless, there shouldn't be a problem. Then try out the various af modes and areas to make sure you can achieve focus where you want to.

 

And that brings up a good question: Even if it's NOT the 

intended target, is there SOMETHING in focus in most 

of your pictures ?

 

[tinplater]

You might consider placing your camera in auto (green auto on dial) mode, go outside in bright light and take some test shots of highly detailed background like brick walls, plants, whatever (turning your advanced camera into a point and shoot!!).  Make certain camera is stable to remove movement as a cause of the blur.  Another excellent target is something like a patio table with a grid like top.  Put a focus target object in the middle and you should be able to see where your camera is focusing by examining the table top.  This will also give you an idea of the depth of field which, of course, will vary with aperture.

[Username]

You might consider placing your camera in auto (green

auto on dial) mode, go outside in bright light and ......... 

   

That is very likely to produce so much DoF that 

no diagnosis will result. 

[pfogle]

Thank you, I really appreciate the replies, I will watch some videos on focus areas. The argument I can't win with my wife is why cant this camera focus on auto compared to her Sony dscrx 100? I'm just suprised it doesn't work on auto focus.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand this. You say it doesn't focus on auto, but you're using manual focus lenses?

[pfogle]

OK, I just read your previous thread (21st August) on this same topic, so now I see you have the 28-70 kit lens.

 

First the bad news - I also bought this lens, I kept it for about 2 days and sold it (at a loss) because it's basically a piece of junk, IMO. You should be getting much better results with your manual focus lenses. I you can't, take your camera to a shop and get them to demonstrate it, or at least confirm whether the camera is faulty. Best if you can take to the place you bought it from, but that's not always possible.

 

I have this camera, and it's not always reliable in AF - it does depend a lot on the settings, so I can't advise anything specific. That's why it's best to get someone who knows Sony gear to try it out for you.

[Username]

OK, I just read your previous thread (21st August) on this same topic,

so now I see you have the 28-70 kit lens.

 

First the bad news - I also bought this lens, I kept it for about 2 days

and sold it (at a loss) because it's basically a piece of junk, IMO. You

should be getting much better results with your manual focus lenses.

I you can't, take your camera to a shop and get them to demonstrate

it, or at least confirm whether the camera is faulty. .......  

  

I have this camera, and it's not always reliable in AF - it does depend

a lot on the settings, so I can't advise anything specific. That's why

it's best to get someone who knows Sony gear to try it out for you.

       

   

Your experience with that gear mystifies me. On my a7-II I use

old Minolta film-era lenses on the LA-EA4, and even those AF

reliably. It's likewise with my only FE lens, an f/4 zoom. This is

despite my fave photo conditions being dimness and darkness.  

    

There's a strong scent of user error and faulty advice hovering 

around this thread. Nothing unusual, sorry to note :-( 

[tinplater]

That is very likely to produce so much DoF that 

no diagnosis will result. 

Unless of course they are out of focus...

Then once you have confirmed your camera is capable of making sharp images, start working back, using wider apertures,  various exposure times, etc. Usually the problems noted by OP are related to user error, not understanding how the camera operates etc.