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Sony Firmware for a9 Animal Eye AF/Interval Shooting

Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 9:27 am
by SantaFeJoe

Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 10:13 am
by E.J. Peiker
I was absolutely shocked that this worked on Ringed Seals in Greenland that were easily 100 yards away. After the FW update on the a7R3 I just set it for animal eye AF (rather than human because I don't shoot humans with this camera). I wasn't even thinking about the eye AF in Greenland shooting and as soon as the seal turned it's head far enough, the camera immediately picked up it's eye and started tracking it.

Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 12:14 pm
by hullyjr
Hi EJ,

Did you try the eye focus on any birds?

Cheers,

Jim

Re:

Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 4:19 pm
by E.J. Peiker
hullyjr wrote:Hi EJ,

Did you try the eye focus on any birds?

Cheers,

Jim
No and Sony has already said that this won't work but they are working on it.

Re: Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 8:43 am
by Andrew_5488
E.J. Peiker wrote:
hullyjr wrote:Hi EJ,

Did you try the eye focus on any birds?

Cheers,

Jim
No and Sony has already said that this won't work but they are working on it.

I tried it on A7R IV and it was working on some close Lesser Yellowlegs when they're not moving much.
But at this point is still hit or miss or mostly miss.

Re: Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 10:44 am
by E.J. Peiker
Andrew_5488 wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:
hullyjr wrote:Hi EJ,

Did you try the eye focus on any birds?

Cheers,

Jim
No and Sony has already said that this won't work but they are working on it.

I tried it on A7R IV and it was working on some close Lesser Yellowlegs when they're not moving much.
But at this point is still hit or miss or mostly miss.
It is designed for mammal eyes at this point.  I think trying to use it on birds is just an exercise in futility ;)

Re: Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 12:35 pm
by neverspook
E.J. Peiker wrote:
Andrew_5488 wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:
hullyjr wrote:Hi EJ,

Did you try the eye focus on any birds?

Cheers,

Jim
No and Sony has already said that this won't work but they are working on it.

I tried it on A7R IV and it was working on some close Lesser Yellowlegs when they're not moving much.
But at this point is still hit or miss or mostly miss.
It is designed for mammal eyes at this point.  I think trying to use it on birds is just an exercise in futility ;)
That's pretty exciting even for just mammals. But seals have big and obvious eyes that are relatively easier to detect than say the smallish deep set eyes of bears, for example. Anyone tried it bears?

Re: Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 1:28 pm
by E.J. Peiker
neverspook wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:
Andrew_5488 wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:
hullyjr wrote:Hi EJ,

Did you try the eye focus on any birds?

Cheers,

Jim
No and Sony has already said that this won't work but they are working on it.

I tried it on A7R IV and it was working on some close Lesser Yellowlegs when they're not moving much.
But at this point is still hit or miss or mostly miss.
It is designed for mammal eyes at this point.  I think trying to use it on birds is just an exercise in futility ;)
That's pretty exciting even for just mammals. But seals have big and obvious eyes that are relatively easier to detect than say the smallish deep set eyes of bears, for example. Anyone tried it bears?
Not at 100 yards, it's pretty much black on blackish :)  I was really surprised because all of the examples I've seen have been dogs, cats, monkeys, etc - zoo shots or pet shots for the most part.
Image

Re: Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 1:34 pm
by neverspook
E.J. Peiker wrote:
neverspook wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:
Andrew_5488 wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:
hullyjr wrote:Hi EJ,

Did you try the eye focus on any birds?

Cheers,

Jim
No and Sony has already said that this won't work but they are working on it.

I tried it on A7R IV and it was working on some close Lesser Yellowlegs when they're not moving much.
But at this point is still hit or miss or mostly miss.
It is designed for mammal eyes at this point.  I think trying to use it on birds is just an exercise in futility ;)
That's pretty exciting even for just mammals. But seals have big and obvious eyes that are relatively easier to detect than say the smallish deep set eyes of bears, for example. Anyone tried it bears?
Not at 100 yards, it's pretty much black on blackish :)  I was really surprised because all of the examples I've seen have been dogs, cats, monkeys, etc - zoo shots or pet shots for the most part.
Hmm. Be nice if they refined it for real life wildlife photography. Not all wildlife is 100 yards away but very commonly at a great distance than a pet.

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 1:36 pm
by E.J. Peiker
See my revised post above - I revised it while you were typing your last response, Roberta!

Re: Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 1:38 pm
by E.J. Peiker
neverspook wrote:
Hmm. Be nice if they refined it for real life wildlife photography. Not all wildlife is 100 yards away but very commonly at a great distance than a pet.
It will get better and better.  Sony is right now at the bleeding edge of this technology - they have publicly stated that they would like to develop this for birds and reptiles as well.  Everyone else is just playing catch-up with people eye-detect.

Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 1:40 pm
by neverspook
E.J. Peiker wrote:See my revised post above - I revised it while you were typing your last response, Roberta!

So what I would like to see is how well it works for something like bears with small deep set eyes and bears on the move when eye tracking is most needed? I think you should test that out and let me know how it goes. :)

Roberta

Re: Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 1:41 pm
by neverspook
neverspook wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:See my revised post above - I revised it while you were typing your last response, Roberta!

So what I would like to see is how well it works for something like bears with small deep set eyes and bears on the move when eye tracking is most needed? I think you should test that out and let me know how it goes. :)

Roberta
And does this mean you now have Sony long lenses and have given up on your Nikon dSLR gear?

Re: Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 1:45 pm
by E.J. Peiker
neverspook wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:See my revised post above - I revised it while you were typing your last response, Roberta!

So what I would like to see is how well it works for something like bears with small deep set eyes and bears on the move when eye tracking is most needed? I think you should test that out and let me know how it goes. :)

Roberta
I've read several articles about people testing of it on bears and it works fine according to them.  The photos I've seen are from Alaska of Brown Bears and it worked very well.

Re: Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 1:48 pm
by neverspook
E.J. Peiker wrote:
neverspook wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:See my revised post above - I revised it while you were typing your last response, Roberta!

So what I would like to see is how well it works for something like bears with small deep set eyes and bears on the move when eye tracking is most needed? I think you should test that out and let me know how it goes. :)

Roberta
I've read several articles about people testing of it on bears and it works fine according to them.  The photos I've seen are from Alaska of Brown Bears and it worked very well.
That is impressive. So ARE you using Sony now for wildlife with Sony big glass? Have you given up on your Nikon stuff??

Re: Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 1:54 pm
by E.J. Peiker
neverspook wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:
neverspook wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:See my revised post above - I revised it while you were typing your last response, Roberta!

So what I would like to see is how well it works for something like bears with small deep set eyes and bears on the move when eye tracking is most needed? I think you should test that out and let me know how it goes. :)

Roberta
I've read several articles about people testing of it on bears and it works fine according to them.  The photos I've seen are from Alaska of Brown Bears and it worked very well.
That is impressive. So ARE you using Sony now for wildlife with Sony big glass? Have you given up on your Nikon stuff??
I use both.  Sony has nothing like the 500PF and their big lenses, the 600 f/4 and 400/2.8, are the traditional large and heavy lenses which I will no longer deal with - they are also priced in the stratosphere.  I will likely be putting the new 200-600 through it's paces but the f/6.3 leaves a bit to be desired.  The Sony 100-400 is fantastic, blows the doors off of all other manufacturer's lenses in that regime, and works much better with a 1.4x than the others so when I am on a travel shoot focused primarily on landscapes or cityscapes and I do run into wildlife worth shooting, I use the 100-400 with and without the TC and the camera in APS-C mode which is 26 megapixels on the a7R4.

Re: Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:00 pm
by neverspook
E.J. Peiker wrote:
neverspook wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:
neverspook wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:See my revised post above - I revised it while you were typing your last response, Roberta!

So what I would like to see is how well it works for something like bears with small deep set eyes and bears on the move when eye tracking is most needed? I think you should test that out and let me know how it goes. :)

Roberta
I've read several articles about people testing of it on bears and it works fine according to them.  The photos I've seen are from Alaska of Brown Bears and it worked very well.
That is impressive. So ARE you using Sony now for wildlife with Sony big glass? Have you given up on your Nikon stuff??
I use both.  Sony has nothing like the 500PF and their big lenses, the 600 f/4 and 400/2.8, are the traditional large and heavy lenses which I will no longer deal with - they are also priced in the stratosphere.  I will likely be putting the new 200-600 through it's paces but the f/6.3 leaves a bit to be desired.  The Sony 100-400 is fantastic, blows the doors off of all other manufacturer's lenses in that regime, and works much better with a 1.4x than the others so when I am on a travel shoot focused primarily on landscapes or cityscapes and I do run into wildlife worth shooting, I use the 100-400 with and without the TC and the camera in APS-C mode which is 26 megapixels on the a7R4.
Yes, I have been enjoying that 500 PF. Makes long hikes into wildlife locations much more pleasant.
Be nice if Sony came out with a 500 f4 though as that would likely weigh less that their 400 f2.8 and 600 f4.

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:02 pm
by E.J. Peiker
It would still be bigger than I am willing to deal with.

Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:06 pm
by neverspook
E.J. Peiker wrote:It would still be bigger than I am willing to deal with.
Yeah, but here in BC very often that extra stop of light is very important.

Re: Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:12 pm
by E.J. Peiker
neverspook wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:It would still be bigger than I am willing to deal with.
Yeah, but here in BC very often that extra stop of light is very important.
I'd rather bump the ISO by one stop than carry an extra 4 pounds for one stop of light ;)