"Sony A7R II: Focus Accuracy Better than Any DSLR I’ve Ever Used" - Digglloyd

[RobPan]

A second question: can one have BF (back focus) on the A7RII? I had it on the 5D3 and I loved it.

I assume you mean back button autofocus. I'd be mad if I had back focus

The answer is yes: you can decouple AF-on from the shutter release and map it to a number of different buttons.

Yes, this is function named "AF-on" which could be assigned to any programmable button/position.
And AF with half press of shutter release button still will be functional.

Thanks! But I hope I can disable the AF through the half press of the shutter release. It would not be helpful if the subject is not in the center. [Simple example: a portrait, you want the subject to be to the left of the center. You focus and press the (assigned) AF-on button on the back of the camera. Next you move the camera to the right, so the subject will be in the left half of the picture. If pressing the shutter release now causes AF again, your picture will be unsharp.]
Regards, Rob.

 

[3kramd5]

A second question: can one have BF (back focus) on the A7RII? I had it on the 5D3 and I loved it.

I assume you mean back button autofocus. I'd be mad if I had back focus

The answer is yes: you can decouple AF-on from the shutter release and map it to a number of different buttons.

Yes, this is function named "AF-on" which could be assigned to any programmable button/position.
And AF with half press of shutter release button still will be functional.

Thanks! But I hope I can disable the AF through the half press of the shutter release.
Regards, Rob.

You can. Gear menu -> 5th tab -> set "AF w/ shutter" to Off.

 

[Neutral]

As the A7RII body does have built in IS, will it be better to switch off the Canon IS (in the lens)? I suppose IS in the body will not go well with on lens IS at the same time. Is this correct?

Enable it on the lens; in body IS is disabled when you attach a stabilized lens.

Yes I also think that it is better to use lens IS when using Canon lens but need to consider following:
A7rII does not know about IS on Canon lens, information about Canon lens IS not relayed to the a7rII by adapter - I use Metabones III one.

I use the Metabones IV, which does pass IS information to the body. When I put on an IS lens, if I try to enable Steady Shot, it says no and tells me to enable it on the lens.

OK, so Metabones IV is smarter than Metabones III in this respect and does everything as required and provides better communication in general between a7rII and Canon lens

Interesting if it provides better integration of Canon Lenses with A7rII for AF, especially for Continues AF while camera is performing object tracking.

With my Metabones III and EF 70-200 I see PDAF points only in AF-S mode but do not see anything in AF-C mode, even no green AF lock square though A7rII is tracking object and provided in-focus indication.
In addition, some AF functions are not available for AF-C mode including Zone, Expand Flexible Spot and all “Lock-on AF” options.

I am interested to see if it makes any sense to get Metabones IV adapter instead of III and if it gets me any real advantages and additional features over my existing one ver.3, especially for AF-C mode.
In general some selected Canon lens perform very well with a7rII via Metabones adapter and for AF-S provide extremely accurate focus but for continious AF it is still questionable and need to be researched more.
At the moment I do not have high expectations here as for fast continuous AF lens and body need to be very tightly integrated which is not the case with 3d party lenses.

To get best of Canon lenses in continuous AF mode it still better to use them on 1DX or other Canon bodies with similar AF system.
Therefore, for now I do not consider a7rII as replacement for my 1DX where instant continuous AF is required with Canon L lenses.
For stills – yes, a7rII now is perfect universal camera, for continuous AF possibly more or less OK with native lenses (I still did not test that in depth).
The other thing we still do not know much about a7rII PDAF points - how many are cross type, is there any difference in accuracy for PDAF points in the center of PDAF area and PDAF points at the edge.

 

[Neutral]

Found interesting article about Sony A7r II with Sigma 150-600mm:

http://www.mirrorlessons.com/2015/08/28/sony-a7r-ii-autofocus-with-sigma-lenses/

"we took the opportunity to push the Sony A7r mark II‘s autofocus capabilities to the extreme by mounting the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Contemporary (Canon EF mount) and the Metabones Mark IV adapter to take some shots of the birds in action."

 

[Neutral]

Another fresh a7rII review by Steve Huff and the same about AF with Canon lens:

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2015/08/31/the-sony-a7rii-camera-review-a-real-world-look/

"Using it with a Canon lens was also enjoyable. The image above and below were both shot with the Canon 50 1.2 using a Metabones adapter, and the AF was faster on the A7RII than the Canon 5DIII using the same lens! Crazy but true, and verified by many who were with me. I loved the 50 1.2 Canon so much on the A7RII I put one in my Amazon cart right after testing it out. I never did buy it as it’s not a cheap lens but one day I just might as it seems to do really well on the A7RII.

Was much more enjoyable to use on the A7RII than it was on my old 5D from long ago (would always front focus or back focus on the 5D for me). This lens keeps its 3D character on the A7RII"

 

[arthurbikemad]

All this smoke blowing up sonys butt yet one thing confuses me, why is it that all the media events I see, MGP and many more... not one A7 in sight? How odd...? Just an observation

 

[Neutral]

All this smoke blowing up sonys butt yet one thing confuses me, why is it that all the media events I see, MGP and many more... not one A7 in sight? How odd...? Just an observation

Reason is simple - White Tele L lenses which are better to be used on 1Dx or similar bodies and this will be still the same for some number of years from now.
I have both 1Dx and a7RII and like both and by now a7rII is more universal camera for me than 1Dx .

And where do you see smoke ?
I do not see any smoke, just people starting using a7rII and sharing experience.
As for media events - it is too early for a7rII , just started shipping.
Also let's wait for a7sII and rumored a9.
Things are starting to change now.

 

[arthurbikemad]

You know what I agree with you, and all this smoke has got my interest, I want an A7R II to go with my 5D3

Keep pumping out the feedback, it all makes me even more interested, I won't hold off to much longer!


edit: Hummm, been looking at a few new videos about the AF etc, does look GOOD, VERY GOOD!

 

[tpatana]

Reason is simple - White Tele L lenses which are better to be used on 1Dx or similar bodies and this will be still the same for some number of years from now.

Because of the size, or why?

I have both 1Dx and a7RII and like both and by now a7rII is more universal camera for me than 1Dx .

What situations would you definitely prefer Sony? And in what 1Dx?

And my biggest question on mirrorless cameras is the AF for indoor sports. Say HS basketball, would the Sony AF still work on those?

 

[tpatana]

Also, the 5fps is rather slow. Can that be increased if you dial down the resolution?

 

[arthurbikemad]

Same concerns as me, the limited videos online make the AF look great, but I fear I will miss the speed of my DSLR, also I wonder what the new mk2 1DX will be like, I know it's another price hike and size etc etc etc but tech wise.. still the Sony looks good, I'd love to try one out... in time I may take a leap of faith and give one a spin.

 

[benperrin]

Same concerns as me, the limited videos online make the AF look great, but I fear I will miss the speed of my DSLR, also I wonder what the new mk2 1DX will be like, I know it's another price hike and size etc etc etc but tech wise.. still the Sony looks good, I'd love to try one out... in time I may take a leap of faith and give one a spin.

So far I'm missing the speed of a dslr however I'm using a commlite adapter which isn't meant to be as good as the metabones 4. The metabones just seems way over-priced to me.

 

[Neutral]

Reason is simple - White Tele L lenses which are better to be used on 1Dx or similar bodies and this will be still the same for some number of years from now.

Because of the size, or why?

Overall system performance - both are designed to work together.
L type lens mage quality itself combined with the instant and precise AF on native body.
Canon L type tele lens are the best at the moment

 

[Neutral]

I have both 1Dx and a7RII and like both and by now a7rII is more universal camera for me than 1Dx .

What situations would you definitely prefer Sony? And in what 1Dx?

And my biggest question on mirrorless cameras is the AF for indoor sports. Say HS basketball, would the Sony AF still work on those?

1Dx for actions/sport/events where instant and precise continuous AF is required using 24-70, 70-200 and 100-400 L lens.

a7rII now for everything else - this is now just universal camera at all light conditions for stills and not very fast moving objects.
Did not tried a7rII for indoor sports yet as was using 1Dx for that so far and continue to use
May be I will try at some time using fast native lens , but not sure that it will work well enough.

Attached shot done using 1Dx at ISO12800 with EF 100-400 lens , 1/640, f4.5, no flash.
Here where AF tracking precision was required.
Not sure that it is possible with a7rII with lens selection that available at the moment.

 

[bwud]

About 5 days into my vacation and have yet to pick up the 5D3 except when using it to store my 16-35.

That being said, I'm probably focusing manually a good 80% of the time - which is a dream with the A7R II (setting aside the horrendous EVF display in low light). In my experience, the AF is really good in good light, but in backlit or other high contrast scenarios, it struggles much more than my canon cameras.

Nice piece of kit, though. As mentioned before, I'm surprisingly already used to the size, and the 5D just feels big (but with better controls, still).


First two are with the 16-35 f/4 L IS, manually focused. Lot of highlight and shadow adjustments in the backlit photo of my wife, and a lot of shadow boosting in the green forground on the second.

Third is with the native 28mm f/2, manually focused (because lets face it, it's anyone's guess where focus is in AF when the little green square covers multiple streets - again focus magnify in the EVF is a dream).

 

[meywd]

About 5 days into my vacation and have yet to pick up the 5D3 except when using it to store my 16-35.

That being said, I'm probably focusing manually a good 80% of the time - which is a dream with the A7R II (setting aside the horrendous EVF display in low light). In my experience, the AF is really good in good light, but in backlit or other high contrast scenarios, it struggles much more than my canon cameras.

Nice piece of kit, though. As mentioned before, I'm surprisingly already used to the size, and the 5D just feels big (but with better controls, still).


First two are with the 16-35 f/4 L IS, manually focused. Lot of highlight and shadow adjustments in the backlit photo of my wife, and a lot of shadow boosting in the green forground on the second.

Third is with the native 28mm f/2, manually focused (because lets face it, it's anyone's guess where focus is in AF when the little green square covers multiple streets - again focus magnify in the EVF is a dream).

I love the third image, where was this taken?

 

[bwud]

Dubrovnik, Croatia.

All of them are, actually. My wife is standing at the right-most side of the round fortress at the bottom right of the wall, and the other was taken slightly south of there (towards the water) looking east (left).

 

[tpatana]

Nice. I was in Dubrovnik -86 or so if I remember correctly. I think I was ~11 or 12 at the time. I think that pic is from the old city? The new part had the beach thingy in the middle. And the ice cream vendor on the beach thought young kid like me don't know how to count, so he tried giving me incorrect amount of change. And local bar had outdoor stage for music, Pet Shop Boys was played by this obvious fake-Pet Shop Boys, although they wore the white scarf to look more authentic. And the opposite side from our hotel, across the beach, had narrow streets and steep hills to climb. Or at least that's how they felt for small kid.

Nice place.

 

[that1guyy]

Also, the 5fps is rather slow. Can that be increased if you dial down the resolution?

No.

 

[psolberg]

off course. the days of phase only systems are over. anybody who has had focus shift on a dslr knows why.