Join me on Patreon for the best Alpha Support and Guidance. A single $10 Membership fee includes access to my 500-page camera-specific eBooks, member-only Q&A Forums + Over twenty 1-hour member-only seminars + cameras settings files & access to the Raw files from the lens and camera reviews (there is no contract or commitment beyond the first month). www.patreon.com/markgaler
I have been a working professional photographer for 29 years, using Sony Alpha exclusively for the the last 5 years. I never stop learning useful things from your videos. I consider myself pretty tech savvy, but your understanding is on a different level. It's not just the tech, you have a great eye too. Very impressive Mark!
I have watched so many videos where people try and explain the Sony focus system and none compare to yours. You know when you are dealing with an expert on a subject when they can explain a concept so simply. Thank you for putting this video together, you have a real talent for teaching.
Thanks for the positive feedback Phil. I used to be a senior lecturer in photography so preparing talks is something I have been comfortable with for a few decades now.
Mark, You consistently offer the clearest, most informative, and most helpful tutorials on the Sony Alpha system of anyone on TH-cam. I really appreciate your efforts!
I really appreciate your willingness to help explain the ins and outs of the Sony systems in a clear and concise fashion. I also appreciate the fact you focus on education v. product promotion. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Mark... although I’ve been around the Sony systems for 5 years now, your tutorials not only tell me about features but also why some work and others don’t. My success rate has improved quite a bit since I started watching your videos. The thoroughness is exemplary. Cheers.
Just when I thought I'd mastered an aspect of my camera's slightly bewildering range of customizable features, along comes another of your comprehensive and well-explained videos and I realize my misunderstanding - in this instance I hadn't noticed that Eye AF works in AF-S too, rather than just from a custom button in AF-C. Thanks again!
I changed over to mirrorless (Sony a7riii) around 18 months ago. Switch over from using Nikon DSLR systems. I've struggled with the autofocus modes and just used spot, but felt like I was missing shots and the focusing was all that it was cracked up to be. I've been searching for tutorials to help me better understand, and by far this is the best one I've come across. Thanks for the real clear and simple lesson, my future portfolio and I appreciate it greatly!
This is a great refresher (as I did watch the full 90-or-so minute video on focusing you previously posted). Thanks for helping the Sony shooters keep their skills sharp (no pun intended).
Thank you so much for your time and knowledge sharing of these videos. I am a converting Canon user and so appreciate how easy to understand your teaching style is.
Glad to hear it Michael! It is important to note that I only manage to get to 10% of the comments here on TH-cam, so be sure to use the Q&A forum on Patreon.com/markgaler if you have nay questions relating to this video.
For someone moving to Sony, this is another incredibly helpful and informative video. My thanks to you Mark. I have a feeling I'll be referring back to this one again. You produce excellent content. Thank you.
Thank you for a fantastic video! I appreciate the speed in which you speak which is slow enough that I can pick up the information and process it effectively! Keep up the amazing work!
Your tutorials are SO comprehensive and concise that it just amazes me. What a breath of fresh air!! You have truly found your calling. Thank you so much for making it easier for us regular folks who just want to learn without a lot of extraneous silly or impertinent info. 😁
When I used to write text books I called them essential skills as I cut out the extraneous info (unfortunately for some I still have a lot to say about some topics). If Sony made the technology simpler I could perhaps make shorter movies 😉
Mark, as usual great video and well detailed. Just to add on, if you are shooting an event or sports and you happen to use 2 different focus areas mostly, you can recall one focus area by customizing a recall button.
Wow. You really explained a lot for me. Not only do I have my C2 button mapped out to my focus systems, I understand when to use them. I’ll definitely check out the more in depth explanation, but this video really helped me out a lot.
Thank you Mark, very informative. Cannot wait to try out these new focus skills when I am on safari next month. Will be great to catch the wildlife instead of the flora around it this time.
Fantastic video as always Mark, found this particularly helpful as I've been missing focus on a few birds-in-flight shots. Can't wait to put this into practice and get out shooting again!
Very informative and details. People told me that they usually preferred flexible spot focus mode but could not explain clearly the benefits over other modes. I now understand the usability of wide focus area mode and lock on mode. Thank you.
Many people offer suggestions or recommendations without actually knowing how the camera is designed to work. I also have to admit to getting slightly frustrated with photographers recommending a single setting. Sony would not give us so many options if there was a single ‘best’ setting for all situations.
Thank you Mark for your reply to my query on assigning functions on Sony camera lens....I don't know how you do it but the message was well received...I'm just a hobby photographer but belong to a non competitive camera club in Grimsby Ontario Ca...you're the best thank you...
I noticed the joystick, if pressed goes to AF-S. So you can have the best of both worlds. Using back button focus using AF-C and the joystick pressed to AF-S. I'm very new to Sony, so this may of been a recent firmware update. Before this video. Anyway thought i'd share !
I'm waiting for the next "subscribed" mile mark. Sony lovers are very appreciative of your free stuff! Thanks, Mark! You'll have 500.000 subscribers before the next year is out.
500,000 would be nice - the associated advertising would mean that it would finance a full-time support role. Shooting jobs for money and not being able to share the images and workflows now seems a waste of my skills as an educator.
Outstanding tutorial!!! Precise and understandable explanation! By far the best video i found that explains the capabilities of my sony alpha 7. Thank you so much!
Just be aware that on the A7II the PDAF focus is a little slower than on the later cameras. It got quick in full frame around the release of the A7RII which came after the A7II. You should be able to track people walking but not running. Sony was still perfecting on-sensor PDAF with its release of the A7II.
Many thanks. It will be fine for my casual photography needs and is a big jump on my Olympus EM5's focussing which was hit or miss each time. @@AlphaCreativeSkills
I keep coming back to this video as its so concise and covers a wide range of situations WITH suggestion of possible solutions. I can't thank you enough for the clear explanations! It's always helped me so much!😌
Thank you didnt knew c2 was already assaigned. Sony did a great job i just had to switch iso to the center wheel and subject lock to the center button everything else was already mapped out good for me
Firstly great shot of Marc coming around what I think is lukey heights at Philip island. But I don't think you could use and rely on wide focus mode from behind the fencing if photographing motorsport.
If the fence is very close to the camera it is unlikely to be picked up by the camera ss something it needs to focus on. If the fence is in the middle distance then I would use Zone and position the Zone at the top of the frame. I am, however, most likely to use a lens with a longer focal length where the entire frame clears the top of the fence.
Thanks for this informative video! Even after fiddling around with my sony a7ii for 4 years how I still struggle with the auto-focus especially on moving subjects.
Very Informative! Sony should make the focus brackets more visible in the Zone mode of AF. Prior to attaining focus they are gray and barely visible when the subject has mostly dark colors. The brackets are small and separated by greater distance than say S,M,L brackets and because the zone can be moved, the brackets should be more visible.
I moved from a Sony A7rii for landscapes to a A7iii for bird photography and struggled like crazy to get decent focused shots. I could manually focus, and assuming decent light, got decent static photos and the odd great in flight shots... but was constantly let down with birds in flight, which is my passion ( albeit the A7iii was miles better than the A7rii in focus acquisition). The point about the A7rii for landscapes is that you can use a tripod, lower the ISO, and you should get brilliantly in-focus shots with either wide or zone focus mode. For birds in flight, the percieved wisdom is that you should use lock on-flexible spot, and I really STRUGGLE!! My failure seems to be, Mark, that the camera hunts for a line of contrast in LO-FS and this means that many / most shots miss focus a little because birds dont have 'em ! I will let you know if I have sorted the problem with wide, and better selection of the right mode ! Thanks Mark
I wouldn't normally recommend spot AF unless the bird is in amongst branches or sitting on a branch waiting to take to the wing. In low ambient light, when using smaller apertures and/or teleconverters and with low subject contrast Lock-on AF can often struggle. The answers are to use a wider focus area, choose a vantage point that puts greater distance between the subject and the background, use a wider aperture lens or update to a camera that uses the new AF tracking algorithms. Most bird photographers will gravitate to using an A9 (if their budget permits) - even thought it has a lower resolution than an R.
I like using the spot focus, however in simple, super high contrast situations, I notice that the camera has trouble focusing. I think using wide will fix that. Thanks.
A larger focus area is much more likely to find an edge with sufficient contrast so that focus is rapid. I also needed to make the point that 90% of the time the Wide area will find the subject you wanted to photograph without you having to go to the trouble of placing the spot on the edge of a subject.
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Thanks for the response. I've been taking photos for 42 years so probably unlike most of your viewers, I know exactly what I want in focus and what I want. Thanks.
Just bought the Sony AR7IVA...you have done an excellent presentation on the focus area which I found a bit confusing. Fortunately the camera is smarter than me :)
Join me on Patreon for the best Alpha Support and Guidance. A single $10 Membership fee includes access to my 500-page camera-specific eBooks, member-only Q&A Forums + Over twenty 1-hour member-only seminars + cameras settings files & access to the Raw files from the lens and camera reviews (there is no contract or commitment beyond the first month). www.patreon.com/markgaler
I have been a working professional photographer for 29 years, using Sony Alpha exclusively for the the last 5 years. I never stop learning useful things from your videos. I consider myself pretty tech savvy, but your understanding is on a different level. It's not just the tech, you have a great eye too. Very impressive Mark!
Thanks for taking the time to provide this positive feedback 👍
I think this will be the first time I'm not skipping adds . Oh man this channel is a gold mine. Thanks Mark!
I have watched so many videos where people try and explain the Sony focus system and none compare to yours. You know when you are dealing with an expert on a subject when they can explain a concept so simply. Thank you for putting this video together, you have a real talent for teaching.
Thanks for the positive feedback Phil. I used to be a senior lecturer in photography so preparing talks is something I have been comfortable with for a few decades now.
Mark, You consistently offer the clearest, most informative, and most helpful tutorials on the Sony Alpha system of anyone on TH-cam. I really appreciate your efforts!
I really appreciate your willingness to help explain the ins and outs of the Sony systems in a clear and concise fashion. I also appreciate the fact you focus on education v. product promotion. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Mark... although I’ve been around the Sony systems for 5 years now, your tutorials not only tell me about features but also why some work and others don’t. My success rate has improved quite a bit since I started watching your videos. The thoroughness is exemplary. Cheers.
100x better than those run-off-the-mill 5 minute tutorials from those "popular" youtubers.
I cant imagine why anyone would give a thumbs down on this video. Just perfect. Thanks Mark!
Probably because I couldn’t say what needed to be said in under 3 minutes 😉
It’s a great video! I’d say one of the easiest to follow to help me with my Sony a7 Mark II.. thanks!
😂😂😂😂 49 peeps so far. They could be bots.
Probably Canon-Nikon fanboys-girls 😂😂😂
Unbelievable how advanced these digital cameras are. This video was helpful thank you
This is the best focus tutorial on TH-cam
Just when I thought I'd mastered an aspect of my camera's slightly bewildering range of customizable features, along comes another of your comprehensive and well-explained videos and I realize my misunderstanding - in this instance I hadn't noticed that Eye AF works in AF-S too, rather than just from a custom button in AF-C. Thanks again!
I changed over to mirrorless (Sony a7riii) around 18 months ago. Switch over from using Nikon DSLR systems. I've struggled with the autofocus modes and just used spot, but felt like I was missing shots and the focusing was all that it was cracked up to be. I've been searching for tutorials to help me better understand, and by far this is the best one I've come across. Thanks for the real clear and simple lesson, my future portfolio and I appreciate it greatly!
Thanks for the positive feedback
Always a pleasure learning from you Mark.
great short summary here Mark but the top photographers will want to watch the entire 1.5 hr Master Class for sure. keep it up
This is a great refresher (as I did watch the full 90-or-so minute video on focusing you previously posted). Thanks for helping the Sony shooters keep their skills sharp (no pun intended).
Thank you so much for your time and knowledge sharing of these videos. I am a converting Canon user and so appreciate how easy to understand your teaching style is.
I’ve been a patron for almost a year now, but I seem to continue to learn every day. THANKS!
Glad to hear it Michael! It is important to note that I only manage to get to 10% of the comments here on TH-cam, so be sure to use the Q&A forum on Patreon.com/markgaler if you have nay questions relating to this video.
Just moved to Sony and your video is a great help, thx.
For someone moving to Sony, this is another incredibly helpful and informative video. My thanks to you Mark. I have a feeling I'll be referring back to this one again. You produce excellent content. Thank you.
MARK GALER IS DA BOMB. Thanks Mark!
Thanks - I think
Thank you for a fantastic video! I appreciate the speed in which you speak which is slow enough that I can pick up the information and process it effectively! Keep up the amazing work!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks!
Thanks for your support Stewart
Lots to learn and getting a lot closer with your excellent intro. Will check out the longer video on your website. Many thanks
Your tutorials are SO comprehensive and concise that it just amazes me. What a breath of fresh air!! You have truly found your calling. Thank you so much for making it easier for us regular folks who just want to learn without a lot of extraneous silly or impertinent info. 😁
When I used to write text books I called them essential skills as I cut out the extraneous info (unfortunately for some I still have a lot to say about some topics). If Sony made the technology simpler I could perhaps make shorter movies 😉
Mark, as usual great video and well detailed. Just to add on, if you are shooting an event or sports and you happen to use 2 different focus areas mostly, you can recall one focus area by customizing a recall button.
Excellent idea!
Wow. You really explained a lot for me. Not only do I have my C2 button mapped out to my focus systems, I understand when to use them. I’ll definitely check out the more in depth explanation, but this video really helped me out a lot.
Thank you. Very thorough and in-depth. You are not annoyingly padantic.
I watched you for the first time last night and liked it so much I'm watching this other great video of yours tonight.
You really nail these videos. You make me feel like a student again whenever I watch them, so many insightful lessons! You've earned a new sub!
Glad you like them!
Thanks for this Mark! I have moved from Canon to Sony and learning a lot about my new camera thanks to you!
Thank you Mark, very informative. Cannot wait to try out these new focus skills when I am on safari next month. Will be great to catch the wildlife instead of the flora around it this time.
This is very helpful and informative. A lot of others try to teach the subject matter; you succeed.
So useful. Thanks for taking the time to make these movies. I really can't understand why some peeps give a thumbs down, just daft
Fantastic video as always Mark, found this particularly helpful as I've been missing focus on a few birds-in-flight shots. Can't wait to put this into practice and get out shooting again!
Your ability to demystify is outstanding! I'm going to try wide more often now. Thank you!!
Have fun!
Very informative and details. People told me that they usually preferred flexible spot focus mode but could not explain clearly the benefits over other modes. I now understand the usability of wide focus area mode and lock on mode. Thank you.
Many people offer suggestions or recommendations without actually knowing how the camera is designed to work. I also have to admit to getting slightly frustrated with photographers recommending a single setting. Sony would not give us so many options if there was a single ‘best’ setting for all situations.
I'm new to Sony A7 world this year and was struggling to understand the nuances of these focus modes. This was very helpful. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for all the useful info Mark. BTW that motorcycle photo is absolutely stunning. I didn't know it was even possible.
Glad it was helpful!
I just want to thank you for your precious teaching. Thank you very much!
You're very welcome!
Your motorcycle pics are phenomenal
Terrific. Clear and comprehensive.
Awesome explanation mate. This is the best video on this topic.
Thank you Mark for your reply to my query on assigning functions on Sony camera lens....I don't know how you do it but the message was well received...I'm just a hobby photographer but belong to a non competitive camera club in Grimsby Ontario Ca...you're the best thank you...
Happy to help!
I am so thankful for you! This is the problem i have experienced at dog photography.
I can't wait to try and use your advise. :) Thank you!
Happy to help!
I noticed the joystick, if pressed goes to AF-S. So you can have the best of both worlds. Using back button focus using AF-C and the joystick pressed to AF-S. I'm very new to Sony, so this may of been a recent firmware update. Before this video. Anyway thought i'd share !
Thank you Mark for all the helpful info to get the best out of our cameras.
I'm waiting for the next "subscribed" mile mark. Sony lovers are very appreciative of your free stuff! Thanks, Mark! You'll have 500.000 subscribers before the next year is out.
500,000 would be nice - the associated advertising would mean that it would finance a full-time support role. Shooting jobs for money and not being able to share the images and workflows now seems a waste of my skills as an educator.
Thanks a lot Mark! A very informative video on the focus system.
Superb video! Thank you, Mark! Very thorough and succinct.
Glad it was helpful!
Top notch!! Always a pleasure 🙏
excellent tutorial. Thanks so much.
So clear when you explain it...
Excellent video. Super helpful breakdown
Glad it was helpful!
Another great video Mark. I have learnt so much. Thank you
Most helpful video I have found to date to help me futher my knowledge of my A7iii. I will be going to your website. Thank you.
You are the best camera expert; no doubt! Thank you so much ❤🙏🏻
Great video. Very concise and most informative. Thanks Mark.
Outstanding tutorial!!! Precise and understandable explanation! By far the best video i found that explains the capabilities of my sony alpha 7. Thank you so much!
That's so useful video that I have been looking for! Thanks Mark!
Glad it was helpful!
Fantastic focus starter guide. I have been shooting spot and have been disappointed and will try wide on my A7ii. Many thanks
Just be aware that on the A7II the PDAF focus is a little slower than on the later cameras. It got quick in full frame around the release of the A7RII which came after the A7II. You should be able to track people walking but not running. Sony was still perfecting on-sensor PDAF with its release of the A7II.
Many thanks. It will be fine for my casual photography needs and is a big jump on my Olympus EM5's focussing which was hit or miss each time.
@@AlphaCreativeSkills
Love your vids Mark.
Great video Mark!
I keep coming back to this video as its so concise and covers a wide range of situations WITH suggestion of possible solutions. I can't thank you enough for the clear explanations! It's always helped me so much!😌
Glad it was helpful!
Mark, this was great. I am going to look at your other resources now. Coming from Canon it's quite a leap getting to know the Sony AF system.
I also have free-to-download eBooks on my website for a range of Alpha cameras.
Fantastic, this cleared my doubts about wide and wide lock on, and when to use them ! Thank you again Mark.
Great, very concise guide again Mark. Thank you!
Many thanks Mark for sharing this video. I learned stacks!
Glad it was helpful!
PS-Sony should at the very least give you a 400mm lifetime loaner!
How did you get the Alpha a next to your name Sir?
MFear_ sir?
As always, wonderfully informative, clear, and useful. Thanks, Mark!
Awesome, comprehensive and easy to understand, thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
Needed this! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you didnt knew c2 was already assaigned. Sony did a great job i just had to switch iso to the center wheel and subject lock to the center button everything else was already mapped out good for me
Great video Mark. Thank you!
I might be slow but I have to watch these clips a couple of times, taking notes.
Speeding up the video to 1.5 x is a works well for me.
I have my cam out and kinda just follow long with my cam. It is helping me remember alot.
Firstly great shot of Marc coming around what I think is lukey heights at Philip island. But I don't think you could use and rely on wide focus mode from behind the fencing if photographing motorsport.
If the fence is very close to the camera it is unlikely to be picked up by the camera ss something it needs to focus on. If the fence is in the middle distance then I would use Zone and position the Zone at the top of the frame. I am, however, most likely to use a lens with a longer focal length where the entire frame clears the top of the fence.
Best Video on youtube. I watched a lot
Thanks for this informative video! Even after fiddling around with my sony a7ii for 4 years how I still struggle with the auto-focus especially on moving subjects.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you, extremely helpful
GREAT VIDEO!!! HEADING TO YOUR WEBSITE.
Interesting wide for sports & animals works well on Sony.
Question turn Image stabilisation off at high shutter speeds for animals?
I have SteadyShot support videos on my channel.
Thank you Mark for your valuable wisdom! This was my problem keeping my subject in focus!
Glad it was helpful!
These videos are so helpful. Thank you.
Very helpful, Mark. Thanks. I've been using Nikon SLRs for my whole career and just got a Sony a7s as a backup so this is very useful.
Glad it was helpful!
Helpful as always
Thanks for the helpful video. Loved the motorcycle shot as well.
Love your videos and the FB Group is Incredible.
That's awesome. Thank you for explaining.
Very useful informations
Thanks again for a great learning video!
Very Informative! Sony should make the focus brackets more visible in the Zone mode of AF. Prior to attaining focus they are gray and barely visible when the subject has mostly dark colors. The brackets are small and separated by greater distance than say S,M,L brackets and because the zone can be moved, the brackets should be more visible.
I agree - I put this in my Sony Alpha wish list for 2019 movie 👍
Awesome, thank you.
Best tutorial on this ever!
Great vid. Is it possible to turn off face priority to avoid confused tracking
Yes - and I have placed the option in my Fn menu
Thanks, another well explained video.
I moved from a Sony A7rii for landscapes to a A7iii for bird photography and struggled like crazy to get decent focused shots. I could manually focus, and assuming decent light, got decent static photos and the odd great in flight shots... but was constantly let down with birds in flight, which is my passion ( albeit the A7iii was miles better than the A7rii in focus acquisition).
The point about the A7rii for landscapes is that you can use a tripod, lower the ISO, and you should get brilliantly in-focus shots with either wide or zone focus mode. For birds in flight, the percieved wisdom is that you should use lock on-flexible spot, and I really STRUGGLE!! My failure seems to be, Mark, that the camera hunts for a line of contrast in LO-FS and this means that many / most shots miss focus a little because birds dont have 'em !
I will let you know if I have sorted the problem with wide, and better selection of the right mode ! Thanks Mark
I wouldn't normally recommend spot AF unless the bird is in amongst branches or sitting on a branch waiting to take to the wing. In low ambient light, when using smaller apertures and/or teleconverters and with low subject contrast Lock-on AF can often struggle. The answers are to use a wider focus area, choose a vantage point that puts greater distance between the subject and the background, use a wider aperture lens or update to a camera that uses the new AF tracking algorithms. Most bird photographers will gravitate to using an A9 (if their budget permits) - even thought it has a lower resolution than an R.
I like using the spot focus, however in simple, super high contrast situations, I notice that the camera has trouble focusing. I think using wide will fix that. Thanks.
A larger focus area is much more likely to find an edge with sufficient contrast so that focus is rapid. I also needed to make the point that 90% of the time the Wide area will find the subject you wanted to photograph without you having to go to the trouble of placing the spot on the edge of a subject.
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Thanks for the response. I've been taking photos for 42 years so probably unlike most of your viewers, I know exactly what I want in focus and what I want. Thanks.
Just bought the Sony AR7IVA...you have done an excellent presentation on the focus area which I found a bit confusing. Fortunately the camera is smarter than me :)
Glad it was helpful!
i had a lots of trouble autofocusing in low light when using medium spot focus area. i'll try some different modes. tnx
Great detail in all your video's!