Moderator: E.J. Peiker

All times are UTC-05:00

  
« Previous topic | Next topic »  
Reply to topic  
 First unread post  | 7 posts | 
by Larry Shuman on Fri Nov 12, 2021 7:16 am
Larry Shuman
Forum Contributor
Posts: 460
Joined: 25 Nov 2009
I do not own or plan to buy mirrorless until I can learn more about its workings. I know that the Z6 has 273 focus points and has menu settings for wide, small etc focus points. Does the user actually see the wide, small etc in the eye view port or the back screen? If not how does the user get the proper focus points onto the subject? I can see my focus points on all my DSLR cameras. I can page thru them by pressing  the appropriate button and turning the appropriate wheel. From my limited use of a Z6 I found seeing the focus points isn't possible is it?
 

by E.J. Peiker on Fri Nov 12, 2021 7:52 am
User avatar
E.J. Peiker
Senior Technical Editor
Posts: 86761
Joined: 16 Aug 2003
Location: Arizona
Member #:00002
Yes you can see the focus point or points on all mirrorless cameras, you can even see it tracking the subject or eye around the frame.  Here is a video on that camera where you can see it in action.  It starts around the 30 second mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGTFWXgOY2s
 

by Larry Shuman on Fri Nov 12, 2021 7:57 am
Larry Shuman
Forum Contributor
Posts: 460
Joined: 25 Nov 2009
So that's all you get is one point out of 273? What does wide and small selections do?
 

by E.J. Peiker on Fri Nov 12, 2021 8:35 am
User avatar
E.J. Peiker
Senior Technical Editor
Posts: 86761
Joined: 16 Aug 2003
Location: Arizona
Member #:00002
No you get them all.  Small would be spot size which you can vary on a mirrorless camera since the sensor is doing the AF rather than a separate AF array that has fixed size AF detectors.  Most cameras have a small, medium, and large AF square available.  Wide is just one of the modes where it enables AF in a wide area instead of a single point or the entire sensor.  It's great for horizontal motion.  There's a lot of info out there on all of this.  A little googling should have you up to speed on all of the AF modes and how they work for whatever camera you are interested in.  The Z6 is not one of the most sophisticated AF cameras compared to high end models but it still has many modes and is fairly capable.  For example, it does not have Nikon's 3D tracking...
 

by aolander on Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:00 pm
aolander
Forum Contributor
Posts: 276
Joined: 3 Jul 2004
I'm not sure what you're asking.  No, you can't see them all at once, but you can move the focus point to any one of the 273 when in Single Point.  Yes, you can see the wide, small, etc. on either the viewfinder or screen.
Alan Olander
Minnesota
 

by Larry Shuman on Sun Nov 14, 2021 6:20 pm
Larry Shuman
Forum Contributor
Posts: 460
Joined: 25 Nov 2009
After handling a Z6II at the store yesterday I saw the wide AF large and Wide AF small. I'm aware that the camera also has Dynamic single focus. When I switched the camera to movie and pressed the shutter the view showed a lot of focus boxes. Why is there a difference between the two settings? When I had the camera set to normal photography and brought up a Wide AF large- is there a way to calculate how many focus points would be in the wide AF large box? In my D3s I don't see the D9, D21 or D51 I see a single focus point, but I know how many are in the focus circle on the ground glass. Same as the D810 I have. Is there a way to calculate the percentage difference between the sensor size and the wide AF large box?
 

by E.J. Peiker on Sun Nov 14, 2021 8:07 pm
User avatar
E.J. Peiker
Senior Technical Editor
Posts: 86761
Joined: 16 Aug 2003
Location: Arizona
Member #:00002
A mirrorless AF system and a DSLR AF system are completely different.  On a DSLR the AF is done off sensor at the bottom of a camera after light passes through the mirror which allows a small part of the light to go through it and bounce off of a secondary mirror onto the AF sensor array.  What you see in the viewfinder are which AF sensors are active.  On a mirrorless camera, the AF sensors are actually part of the pixels on the sensor and as such are very different.  They behave very differently and since they are part of the sensor can be made much more intelligent.  The spot size is what it is.  I'm not sure why calculating size percentages is important.  The most important thing in transitioning to mirrorless cameras is to mentally let go of some of the things you have been doing in the DSLR world - this is most important with regard to AF systems.  The capabilities of most mirrorless cameras these days are way beyond what could have ever been done on a DSLR.  Once you come to terms with the AF system in most mirrorless cameras, you would never want to go back.
 

Display posts from previous:  Sort by:  
7 posts | 
  

Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group