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face detection and eye AF - what camera to choose?

Jesper

New member
Greetings,

My first post on getdpi.

I am looking for the optimum choice for a second hand purchase with these needs:

I need to shoot from very freely without looking at screen or in viewfinder - 100% experience and intuition when it comes to framing. And I need to work with at least one speedlight hand held detached from camera. Mainly used 17-40mm before, and the range suites my purpose.

I have used Canon so far, but am looking for face detection and eye AF. In the combination 'best working for the least money' pro use semi rough - and without knowing anything at all - I think Sony is the brand to look at?

Really looking forward to read your input on this matter, since I am completely in the wild.

Best, Jesper

(If at the same time this camera could be my new over-coat for bringing everywhere it would be a dream come true - but not a must in this search)
 

ggibson

Well-known member
Hey there, welcome. Sony's continuous AF and eye-AF are very good, especially on the latest releases from the last year (mk III models, and A9). I have an A7rII and it is quite good as well, tracking people and young children in moving situations.

Here are some things you might not know about it in use, however. Eye-AF requires an additional button held down to be activated AFTER a half-shutter press (there's no on/off toggle). I set it to the AEL hold button. Press and hold on the shutter halfway to acquire the face with AF-C, then pressing and hold the eye-AF button to stay on the eye. If eye-AF loses the eye briefly it can re-engage, but not always. So depending on your situation, this may or may not be useful to you. I really wish you could set the camera to automatically use eye-AF, as pressing and holding two buttons in succession like this is not very ergonomic. Also, it may be hard to rely on eye-AF if you cannot look at the screen or viewfinder. Those are my main words of caution about this tech, since it's easy to assume it is magic from all the marketing hype. Maybe go to a store if possible to handle one of these cameras and see how it works.

Still, I think as far as the competition goes, these situations can be very tricky and no camera is perfect. I'm quite pleased with my A7rII chasing around my 2 year old, and don't really have any wish to upgrade to the new generation cameras. I get lots of keepers.
 

Jesper

New member
Hey there, welcome. Sony's continuous AF and eye-AF are very good, especially on the latest releases from the last year (mk III models, and A9). I have an A7rII and it is quite good as well, tracking people and young children in moving situations.

Here are some things you might not know about it in use, however. Eye-AF requires an additional button held down to be activated AFTER a half-shutter press (there's no on/off toggle). I set it to the AEL hold button. Press and hold on the shutter halfway to acquire the face with AF-C, then pressing and hold the eye-AF button to stay on the eye. If eye-AF loses the eye briefly it can re-engage, but not always. So depending on your situation, this may or may not be useful to you. I really wish you could set the camera to automatically use eye-AF, as pressing and holding two buttons in succession like this is not very ergonomic. Also, it may be hard to rely on eye-AF if you cannot look at the screen or viewfinder. Those are my main words of caution about this tech, since it's easy to assume it is magic from all the marketing hype. Maybe go to a store if possible to handle one of these cameras and see how it works.

Still, I think as far as the competition goes, these situations can be very tricky and no camera is perfect. I'm quite pleased with my A7rII chasing around my 2 year old, and don't really have any wish to upgrade to the new generation cameras. I get lots of keepers.
Thank you for your time and effort. Hard to understand it should be a 2 finger job to deal with AF eye lock, since it's a major key in the camera. I was hoping an older model could do the job as the A7rII seems to be around 1500 GBP on eBay. Any words about that?

The technic I use is extremely rare to have precise focus on the eyes with my Canons. So I am somewhat easy to please here..
 

ggibson

Well-known member
One thing I would add is that the A7III has the wider PDAF of the A9, which covers more of the sensor compared to the A7rII or even A7rIII. That could be important for keeping the eye tracked.

Some thoughts around the 2-finger eye-AF usage (but I'm not 100% sure):
- It might work to use back-AF to let a separate eye-AF button be held down to start tracking. So set button 1 for back-AF, and button 2 for eye-AF. Tap 1 to acquire face, hold 2 for eye-AF. Might work.
- Simple Auto-everything mode might use eye-AF automatically with shutter depress?
- The button placement looks a bit more friendly on the latest generation bodies, so the finger gymnastics may not be as annoying.
 

Jesper

New member
One thing I would add is that the A7III has the wider PDAF of the A9, which covers more of the sensor compared to the A7rII or even A7rIII. That could be important for keeping the eye tracked.

Some thoughts around the 2-finger eye-AF usage (but I'm not 100% sure):
- It might work to use back-AF to let a separate eye-AF button be held down to start tracking. So set button 1 for back-AF, and button 2 for eye-AF. Tap 1 to acquire face, hold 2 for eye-AF. Might work.
- Simple Auto-everything mode might use eye-AF automatically with shutter depress?
- The button placement looks a bit more friendly on the latest generation bodies, so the finger gymnastics may not be as annoying.
Thanks. I will keep the answer for solving tests if I get my hands on a Sony. I will try to reply to your replies if I get knowledge of a one finger method.
 
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