Sony A7r II focus modes
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ธ.ค. 2015
- As a pre-cursor to my best-selling ebook on the Sony Alpha 7r II, I talk about the points which are the cause of the most confusion or are the least known. If you like this video, you'll LOVE the way I present much more detailed information in my ebook on the same camera at friedmanarchives.com/A7r2 .
Note: I misspoke at 9:25 - I should have said that the baked-in AF points can only detect VERTICAL lines. (This is what happens when you don't use a teleprompter. :-) ) - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
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I really enjoy your videos, you go much deeper than the vast majority of the videos out there. Thanks for your time and effort, most appreciated.
This video alone, more than anything I have read on the A7RII has made me want to sell my existing gear and go Sony. Thanks.
Thanks for your in-depth analyses and nice presentation of these most essential focus features. And thanks for putting a smile on my face.
Thank you, Gary, for making a video that far exceeds the user manual!
That zoom feature is awesome Gary!! I just enabled it on my A7r II, but did need to change the Zoom Settings to Digital or ClearImage as apposed to optical only. Makes perfect sense, but it took me a second to figure it out... Thanks again for the excellent tips and brilliantly detailed explanations as always ;)
Wish you best luck from South Korea. I have watched tons of youtube videos discussing Sony cameras(mostly talking about same features) but I always learn some exclusive, specific, and special knowledge from you. Thanks a lot.
Thanks so much, SGK!!
Thanks Mr Gary. As always the best teacher in Photography.
Very helpful video to help understand how to approach the confusing and messy and hard/slow to change in a shooting situation....AF system.
Great video Gary, I thought this was going to be a little boring, however, the information and the way you demonstrate to explain was first class and easy for me to understand without getting too technical. Thank you.
There's a big problem. The Sony A7RII can't track to save it's life and before anyone comments, I own the A7RII and it's the greatest camera I have ever used - except when it comes to tracking. Sony G lenses suffer from focus shifting i.e. the focus acquired when the lens is wide open shifts when the lens closes to a smaller preset aperture. So they "solved" this issue, via a firmware update, by changing the focusing system. It now acquires a basic lock wide open, then closes to the preset aperture, refocuses and then tries to track. Unfortunately at f8 the awesome phase detection AF disables and the camera hunts like you wouldn't believe! I was using a 200mm lens at a fashion show and at under 30 feet the area of focus is less than 3 feet using f8. So to ensure I got the clothing sharp I set the aperture at f8 and my lens hunted and missed the focus time and time again! Remember, the models were walking at less than 5mph and it could even track that speed. I switched to my other telephotos, all top lenses and it happened with each and every one of them. Sony are aware of the problem and have been for over a year since they have been inundated with compaints about this.The majority of owners have requested a firmware update allowing a choice of focusing either wide open or closed - and they've done nothing. Don't believe me, try it and see what happens or if you haven't the time go on the net and look it up, you'll find lots of complaints on the subject. So if you want an awesome camera for motionless subjects get the A7RII but if you shoot subjects that move, forget it and buy a DSLR. One last thought... I was considering buying the new A9 and then I realised if Sony have wrecked the A7RII with this via the firmware what's to stop them doing it with the A9? Be wary buying either of them. In the meantime I and many thousands of others are stuck with a camera that's fine as long as what we shoot is basically dead and not moving until Sony get their finger out and fix the problem.
One unhappy A7RII owner...
Thank you. I appreciated your calm detailed teaching style.
Gary - your blah, blahs are so true, A7rii book is the best reference on this camera yet produced. Thanks. btw your video channel rocks and became my goto place to get the info I needed that cinched my purchasing this beast of a camera.
Thank you very much Gary, this is an excellent wrap of a7Rii focus modes! I have very limited finger movement, so any clever automation is highly appreciated. I would love to see some voice activation of a subset of the camera's functionality,. superb camera and again thanks for your hard work. Buying the book!
Thanks Gary for pointing out a few features I wasn't aware off yet. Cool stuff.
Dear Gary, Thanks for an excellent explanation how the focusing works.
I have your book and would highly recommend it.
I do think the focusing modes on the A7RII is to complicated, to many options.
Lots of nice information. Good work.
Thank you for the clear, concise information and steps to use. I have shared with friends.
By the way, I bought your ebook on the A7RII and it's worth every penny, so much better than the other "literature" I could find about this great little camera. Much more in-depth content.
Great information Gary, very useful information. Thank you so much!
That zoom feature is a good tool to have for video especially when I have all prime lenses thanks for the info
Thanks for the zoom tip! Pretty cool. Clear zoom you can zoom in 2x and digital zoom 4x for stills only in jpeg.
I Bought the book Gary. Thanks for sharing, I think your videos are wonderful.
Excellent Video on focus modes - thank you
The power zoom function works great on my videos that I shoot on my A6000, thanks much for the great info:)
Thanks Gary, very informative.
Very interesting and informative. Thanks!
Excellent video. I have your book. The video augments is nicely.
Watching this video should be mandatory for any Sony mirrorless owner! Thanks! And yes I've ordered your upcoming A7iii book :-)
Really helpful tips, learned a lot!
You're a wizard Gary!
I purchased your book... thank you
Very informative
Awesome info on the V and H line demonstration. Could you explain the differences silence and mechanical shutter on the a7rii?
Great info !!! Thank very much Sir.
Great videos you make Gary.
I'm just wondering what focus area setting you think is the most reliable for focusing on moving subjects; center lock on AF, flexible spot lock on AF, lock on AF Expand flexible spot, etc.?
Hi Gary, many thanks for this video!!! let me know if in your book I can find section about focus settings for landscapes, I have really hard time after switching after 15 years with canon, or maybe I need more time with 7r II (got it two days ago)
Very interesting explanation about the limitations of lenses designed for phase detect AF on cameras designed for contrast detect AF like the the Nex7. What it made me wonder is if the reverse is also true ie do Sony aps-c lenses designed for older cameras like the Nex7 work worse than FE lenses on more modern cameras like the A7RII? However I have since found out that all Sony E-mount lenses support pdaf that answers my question.
Thank you
Very informative.
Very informative video!
I would just like to know, is that the 24-70 ZA version 1 lens or version 2?
+Nelson Michael No; it's the FE kit lens, which performs about the same as the Zeiss.
+Gary Friedman no, I mean the Sony Zeiss 24-70 f/2.8 A-mount lens that you've used with a la-ea1 adapter in the video. Is that the version 1, or version 2 lens?
+Nelson Michael Oh, sorry. It's the first version. GF
Enjoyed your video and your eBook on Sony Alpha 7r II. You are the very first guy who managed to show me the nuance of those autofocus options on Sony A7r II. Your eBook is very comprehensive and fun to read. I have both the A7 II and A7r II. It seems to me that the only way to check if the time and date set on your camera is by taking a picture first and then check the time stamp on the playback picture. I wonder if there is another way of checking without taking a picture or scrolling through to the Date/Time sub menu? Many Thanks.
Many Thanks for the quick reply, Gary. Your answer was the second way I mentioned in my question. I wonder if there is a third way?
you're a genius, thanks for this video
Can anyone explain to me how the meter gauge using the eye piece for in camera metering on Sony systems works? It flashes but its difficult to get the indicator to show how far negative or positive the exposure is in a constant fashion. I mean it shows then disappears leaving one to guess which is quite different than Canon or Nikon system.
Fabulous. Thank you.
HI. Thank you for your videos.
Currently I have a fe16-35 f4 on an a7r2 but I notice that in manual focus mode the focus length scale that appears on the screen in feet and meters does not match reality. That is to say that I manually focus to infinity and in the scale of the screen I appear 7 meters when I should put infinite.
This is an inconvenience for example when photographing artifacts in the dark. It's the same for you. Is there any way to correct it or is it a factory default. Thank you
should i use phase o contrast autofocus for video?
I'd love to be able to 'Toggle' the Eye AF on or off, to use on Continuous Focus. Is there a way to do this?
I find that holding down an extra button while firing the shutter always throws off my steady hand and introduces motion blur (I'm always at the edge of too slow a shutter speed).
Is there any way to Toggle it, use the shutter release half-press, or . . . ??
Thanks!
Great video! Thank you. =)
you are the man.
Hi Gary, This video helps to push me towards the mirrorles world. I shoot weddings with two a99. I know they not perfect cameras but I still trust better in the dslt technology in darker places like a church. What do you thing this new sony cameras good for weddings? Sorry for my bad English.
+Attila Kovács Seriously, all cameras are good. The A7s II is loved by wedding photographers because of how well it does in low light.
amazing video thank you so much. its my 5th day with it and i was kinda confoosed. although, the zoom option is greyed out for me in the menu, would you know why?
ha ha bla bla
I can't find if the Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens has face detection. It's the only autofocus I have for my A7s ii and I want to use it to film myself but it hasn't been working lately. I'm thinking the camera or lens broke or maybe it never worked. Idk
or does face detection only work if I'm hit the shutter down? Maybe I should try continuous focus next time but that hasn't been working well on normal objects. Great video though!
Are you making videos/books on a7siii and a7c?
Great video, fantastic explanation. Please get a lapel mic though, the fluctuation in audio levels isn't good
+Logan Boyd I have used lapel mics in the past, but stopped for a few reasons:
1) Every time I exhaled through my nose, the lapel mic would distort (even with a wind screen attached.)
2) Sometimes you get unexpected interactions, like when our cat hijacked this video, at 3:42 and you heard undesirable sounds:
th-cam.com/video/eHrBcT51oE8/w-d-xo.html
GF
A7RIII will need a AF selector wheel on the top left empty spot of the camera! Besides overall improvement on how it focuses.
@9:25, You say the baked in AF points can only detect hosizontal lines. You should update the video with some text to say you made a mistake, as what I think you meant to say was "VERTICAL" lines, no?
Hello Gary!! When the a7rII guide in spanish?
The Zoom function appears to be a bit more complicated to set up than simply assigning it to a Custom Button as your video implies, because it also depends on what 'Zoom Setting' has been selected in Custom Settings [3]. It also depends on whether or not the Mode Dial has been set to Movie.
To be fair, you introduced this as something for videographers, but this Zoom function can also be used for stills - just as long as you're not shooting RAW. But thanks for the tip, because I hadn't realised it was there until I started fiddling with that horrid menu system again!
+Ian Wilkinson Yes, I talk about all of these nuanced dependencies in my book. When you talk about them all in a video, people's eyes will glaze over.
+Ian Wilkinson And to be complete, you don't have to have the exposure mode dial set to "Movie" in order for the zoom function to behave this way when shooting movies.
dear gary, i recently bought the a7rii and used it in a concert. my photos of the players were not tack sharp. i was in afc mode, high shutter mode. my f stop was 5-5.6 and shutter speed 1/160, iso 10,000. no flash was allowed. what am i doing wrong or how would you have made the settings so the faces of the musicians were sharp. thank you
+James Tepedino Hi, James. Impossible to say without knowing what the environment was like (how much light was there? How fast were the musicians moving - was it Mick Jagger or Gordon Lightfoot? :-) ). Even my grandkids will be blurry at 1/160th of a second. Plus, without looking at a picture I can't know if the blurriness was caused by poor focus or moving subject.
Gary I need clarification re. 9:19 in the video: "the baked in phase detect AF points can only detect horizontal lines"-----> shouldn't that be "vertical lines"? Since the camera did find AF on the vertical line, but not the horizontal ?
Thanks so much for your informative videos.
+Joseph Farrugia As I explained in other comments, I was too drugged up on cold medicine to state the obvious correctly. :-)
+Gary Friedman thanks so much for the reply....and thanks for being patient with my silly question! Appreciated.
Great information Sir, thank you. This camera's auto-focus seems very useful. By the way, do you also review any Fuji cameras? I've been checking TH-cam and surprised to know that Fuji photographers are really badmouthing Sony's camera. What they keep on saying sound very subjective and not true.
Fujifilm makes great cameras - so much so that I've published several books on their cameras, including the X-Pro2, X-T1, and X100s. (Find all of my ebooks at FriedmanArchives.com/ebooks ). I don't think badmouthing a particular brand is useful - all cameras have strengths and weaknesses, and everyone's needs and likes are different. There's something out there for everyone.
Gary Friedman thanks. I've downloaded your book for A7RII and X100S (actually I just bought the X100T).
Does face recognition work with the La ea4 + Minolta 80-200 2.8? Also how would you say the af-c tracking works with the la ea4 + minolta 80-200 2.8?
+dredavon Yes, it works. And as a current user of that specific lens, I can tell you that the focus tracking with that lens and adapter is not as good as it would be with, say, the native FE 70-200 f/4.
yea im deciding between the FE 70-200 f4 and the minolta 80-200 2.8. I do some wedding photography and portraits, i'm thinking that f4 would take away from the beauty of the images. Though i'd probably only use it for the ceremony and candid shots here and there. but i dont know. Whats your opinion?
+dredavon My opinion is the f/4 lens will still get you the blurry backgrounds you seek as long as distance from the camera to the subject is much shorter than the distance between the camera and the background. (And it's about half the weight of the 2.8 version!)
@11:50, Oh, I need AF-C mode....Its a mess to me still, even expert Fary is stumbled. and arounf 14:50, another slew of different focus modes to juggle. We are supposed to swap around these settings in a instance of a shoot to figure what works best in the situation? Wow!
Why do I only used focus setting only once ... so I have to tap into the menu again ? Sony A7Rii What am I doing wrong ?
I tried setting zoom for the down button but it did not work, please explain. I change to video mode on camera using a 24-70 lens but hitting the down button while video was recording did not work.
+James Tepedino Make sure the 'zoom' setting is set to either Clear Image Zoom or Digital Zoom. GF
Good video! Is your A7R2 screen on upside down?? Manu defect? Can see around the 11:30 mark.
+Rob Flynn Yes, it's on upside down. On purpose. I explain why in the book. :-)
+Gary Friedman Ahhh, I see, my interest is officially piqued!
Does the power zoom function work on the a77?
+boy638 I'm traveling, and so won't have a chance to check and see until January.
Thanx for the vid. However regarding the zoom my camera say "This operation or setting not available as follows - Zoom setting - optical zoom only. Any ideas?
Set "Zoom setting" to "Digital Zoom". And to be really safe, set Quality to "X-Fine" and your exposure mode to "Video".
Got it! Thanx!! :-) . If you are up for it it would be really cool if you could make a video on setting the camera up for video - setings :-)
Hello again. I am also having issues when it comes to using lock on expand flex spot and flexible spot. The camera say the entire time that this cannot be used in any of the video modes. I might have set something, dont know what, in a way that it being prevented. Any ideas are more than welcome :-)
Thanx Gary. And thank you for your time! :-). Lock-on AF-Center. Still cant get i to work with any of the "Movie modes" (in the function menu). Program auto, Aperture priority, Shutter priority or Manuel priority. "This oeration setting is not available as follows - shoot mode" Manuel mode- or one of the others. I can not avoid choosing one or the other. However I do recall being able to use LOCK ON, but with other lenses than the 28mm FE, so I am pretty sure I must have changed a setting somewhere. Can it have something to do with the lens?
Hi Gary. Thanx for the offer. Since I have to get it fixed now Ill reset the camera completely and do the customization again but thank you so much for the offer and effort :-). Happy holidays.
Great review, very infromative, thank you.
In this context it would help a lot if you could pronounce "phase" [feɪz] vs "face" [feɪs] correctly.
I'm confused??? You show how phase detection has a hard time picking up horizontal lines but easily picks up vertical lines. At 9:18 you say "So the take away point here is the baked in phase detect auto focus points can only detect HORIZONTAL LINES." Did you really mean to say VERTICAL LINES?
+Brett Simpson If I hadn't been so drugged up on cold medicine at the time, I'm sure I would have said the right word. :-)
Why are you the only reviewer/user that highlights the weakness with horizontal lines and PDAF. To me its a bit issue even today in the A7riii, A7iii, and A9, Can't seem to convince others this is an issue. Canons cross-type focus points don't have this issue even thought there are a lot less of them. Can Sony fix this?
Well I ran into it while taking some shots and remembered you bringing it up. I considered it an issue, maybe not a big one. Now that I know mostly all mirrorless PDAFs suffer from the same issue I will work around it.
bla bla bla great video!, bla bla bla really liked it ;)
It's useless, you can't use it when shooting RAW.
+Gary Friedman Too bad we cannot choose the crop factor of the APS-C mode.
I found all of my APS-C lenses cover 1.3x crop area which gives us 24MP pictures on A7RII.
Too bad we have only 1.5 crop on A7RII.
+Damir Colak Why not simply use your APS-C lenses in full frame mode, then crop in post? This method works quite well with the 10-18mm F4 OSS lens (as long as the working range is restricted to about 12-17mm to minimise vignetting).