I really don't see how this differs from the AI servo focus tracking that has been available for several years on cameras such as the Canon 5D mk3 and 1DX. With the 5D mk3 the photographer selects the object to focus on and then the camera automatically switches to different focus points as the object being tracked moves around the frame. You can tell the camera to ignore anything that passes between the camera and the subject being tracked, in exactly the same way as you can with the Sony. Gary clearly doesn't understand what Canon's AI Servo does because he says in the video that AI Servo means the camera automatically selects the focus point, usually whatever is nearest to the camera. It doesn't. The photographer selects the initial focus point and the camera then passes the focus point to one of the others as the subject moves around the frame - exactly the same way as the Sony does. All AI Servo means is that the camera continues to focus on moving objects as they move rather than locking focus once it has been achieved as it does with One Shot. Does Gary really believe that all those professional Canon and Nikon sports photographers that you see around the stadium at large sporting events would all choose an inferior focusing system?
Excellent technology! And you are the first person to show it to us! I looked it up on Google, and all relevant links have your video on it! Thanks for doing what nobody else seems to have done so far!
I received my A77 Mk 2 this morning and for the life of me I cannot get it to select the Lock On AF Flexible Spot, as when selected it comes up with the following message. 'This operation or setting not available as follows: Focus Mode, Automatic AP,' and at the bottom right OK. When the OK is pressed via the joy stick it reverts back to Expand Flexible Spot. Help GARRYYYYYYY?
Thank you Gary For the great vid! I now understand it too! I do have one request can you show a demo on the Eye-AF where the camera locks focus on the eye? And can you try it on birds and animals to see if it would work on them too!
What's the difference from Lock-on AF: Expand Flexible Shot that your talking about and the other options of, Expand Flexible Shot and Flexible Spot? Second question was wondering what would be best to track jets at airshows?
Hola Gary Fong, yo tengo una Sony a77 con un lente sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 para fotografías de aves que es mi pasión, tengo la incertidumbre si realmente vale la pena el upgrade hacia a77 mark II, que opinas? Otra pregunta relacionada: Tiene mucho mayor control de ruido la a77II que la a77? Agradecería tu respuesta pues estoy indeciso y necesito de tu apoyo. Desde ya muchas gracias, saludos.
How does this compare to the D4s Group Area focus? With the introduction of the Nikon D4s, Nikon brought out a mode called Group Area AF. This mode is supposed to help you when shooting in continuous focus to keep the focus from shifting away from the subject.
enrikotube Gary's Quote is that "Nothing Nikon or Canon has can compare". Now if the quote was "Nothing else at this price point can compare", I would not have asked the question. I shoot the D4s and it tracks a subject in 3D space very, very well. I would just like to know from Gary if he feels the Sony is better. No Disrespect implied.
Can the FULL, complete menu be viewed via the viewfinder on the A77ii or are there some parts of the menu that the backpanel lcd are required/necessary for? Thank you.
Thank you for the vid! Sorry for my bad english, but i hope you can help me... I need to find the fastest writing SD Card for the A77ii. Does it make any sense if I use the SanDisk Extreme Pro SDHC 32GB Class 10 (95MB/s)? Do you know how fast the "buffer-empty-speed" of the A77ii is? I've heard that the "buffer-empty-speed" is only 45MB/s of the A77ii. This means to me that a SanDisk Extreme Pro SDHC 32GB Class 10 (95MB/s) is then rather unnecessary, because the camera cannot cope with this speed, or not (I know that the 95MB/s shows up the reading speed of this card, but the writing speed is probably higher than 45MB/s)? I hope that you have collected experiences in that way?
Now that this model is unavailable can you recommend another Sony model for taking sports action pics please Gary? Really need the 12fps or higher for ball sports like soccer to capture the ball on the boot! (or very close to) My Canon 80D only has 7fps and frequently misses the moment. Very good for everything else with the 55-250 IS STM lens (88-400mm 35mm eq).
The a77II is still available. It's listed on Sony's website, and all the online camera suppliers I checked still have a stock. You could also consider the a99V or go all out and consider the a9!
Shopbot (lists all the sellers in Australia) website in Australia says a77II not available. a99V is full frame and quite old now. No chance of getting an a9. Might have to look at an RX10 MkIII or a Panasonic FZ2500.
Hi Grary, in May I switched from my Sony Alpha 65 to the new Alpha 77II and the variety of available Auto Focus modes are a bit distracting. With this video I now know what is the perfect Auto Focus mode to choose for shooting horse jumping competitions.... (my Flickr site is here www.flickr.com/photos/andip66/)
Sir, no offense to you but...you are completely and utterly wrong. As Adam Brown has pointed out, Canon and Nikon cameras with translucent LCD focusing screens (meaning the AF points aren't permanently visible unless configured as such) are fully capable of performing the same AF tracking. It has nothing to do with the type of viewfinder (OVF vs EVF) The newer systems (1DX, D4, D7100 etc) are able to use both phase information from the AF sensors and colour information from the metering system to aid tracking. Therefore, the only really relevant question here is how good the tracking is- and the newer systems with denser focus point coverage and modern algorithms (a la 61-pt system in 5DIII) are still the gold standard for sports photographers worldwide. The only unique thing to Sony is the inclusion of such a highly-specced AF system in a semi-pro camera, which is absent in the competing offerings from Canon and Nikon- until you take into account the coverage of the more accurate cross-type focus points, in which case Sony has made the incredibly dim decision to cluster them all in the centre, making them completely unavailable once the subject moves to the sides OR the camera is turned into portrait orientation. Another major flaw in this comparison is the nature of "testing" in the two examples. In the first, there was only ONE instance whereby the AF system's view of the subject was interrupted, compared to multiple times in the latter. Also, the subject movement was far less erratic and your own camera movement far more consistent in the first example. In such a comparison, ANY camera set to automated tracking would have a higher chance of hitting the subjects since the user is clearly unable to follow the subject manually! Don't get me wrong- I am not blaming you. Firstly, as mentioned earlier, the second subject was far more of a challenge to track than the first, so I would expect anyone , including myself, to perform less well. Secondly, the first three seconds of the video tell me that when shooting at 12fps in JPEG, the A77II's EVF is unable to display the image in real time, instead showing a choppy playback of individual captures. Anyone faced with such a situation would have huge difficulty following a subject properly during continuous captures (though there was clearly no EVF lag in the second example when no photos were being taken- well done Sony!). In conclusion- Sony isn't doing anything that the other camera manufacturers aren't. Are they doing it better? Well, better than most (for AF tracking, based on what I know). Is it good enough if you really want sustained 12fps shooting to make sense? No way...
I really don't see how this differs from the AI servo focus tracking that has been available for several years on cameras such as the Canon 5D mk3 and 1DX. With the 5D mk3 the photographer selects the object to focus on and then the camera automatically switches to different focus points as the object being tracked moves around the frame. You can tell the camera to ignore anything that passes between the camera and the subject being tracked, in exactly the same way as you can with the Sony.
Gary clearly doesn't understand what Canon's AI Servo does because he says in the video that AI Servo means the camera automatically selects the focus point, usually whatever is nearest to the camera. It doesn't. The photographer selects the initial focus point and the camera then passes the focus point to one of the others as the subject moves around the frame - exactly the same way as the Sony does.
All AI Servo means is that the camera continues to focus on moving objects as they move rather than locking focus once it has been achieved as it does with One Shot.
Does Gary really believe that all those professional Canon and Nikon sports photographers that you see around the stadium at large sporting events would all choose an inferior focusing system?
Thank you, Gary! This demonstration affects my decision about upgrading from A77 to A77-2.
big fancy name but truly innovative. apart from this focus mode what other features are there which are different than other cams.
Excellent technology! And you are the first person to show it to us! I looked it up on Google, and all relevant links have your video on it! Thanks for doing what nobody else seems to have done so far!
I received my A77 Mk 2 this morning and for the life of me I cannot get it to select the Lock On AF Flexible Spot, as when selected it comes up with the following message. 'This operation or setting not available as follows: Focus Mode, Automatic AP,' and at the bottom right OK. When the OK is pressed via the joy stick it reverts back to Expand Flexible Spot. Help GARRYYYYYYY?
Wow! Impressive! How does this compare with the Canon 7DII? Battle of the APS-C Titans??
Which camera should I buy for photography Nikon d7200 or the Sony a77ii?
Clean & Neat presentation...Thank you Sir..
Thank you Gary For the great vid! I now understand it too! I do have one request can you show a demo on the Eye-AF where the camera locks focus on the eye? And can you try it on birds and animals to see if it would work on them too!
That would be great. I was also thinking about Eye-AF.
What's the difference from Lock-on AF: Expand Flexible Shot that your talking about and the other options of, Expand Flexible Shot and Flexible Spot? Second question was wondering what would be best to track jets at airshows?
Hola Gary Fong, yo tengo una Sony a77 con un lente sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 para fotografías de aves que es mi pasión, tengo la incertidumbre si realmente vale la pena el upgrade hacia a77 mark II, que opinas? Otra pregunta relacionada: Tiene mucho mayor control de ruido la a77II que la a77? Agradecería tu respuesta pues estoy indeciso y necesito de tu apoyo. Desde ya muchas gracias, saludos.
ill buy a sony a77ii for sports...thank you and make more videos about sony a77ii Mr. Gary
How does this compare to the D4s Group Area focus? With the introduction of the Nikon D4s, Nikon brought out a mode called Group Area AF. This mode is supposed to help you when shooting in continuous focus to keep the focus from shifting away from the subject.
why compare it to nikon flagship? this camera at d7100 or 70d level, but this is clear winner for me
enrikotube
Gary's Quote is that "Nothing Nikon or Canon has can compare". Now if the quote was "Nothing else at this price point can compare", I would not have asked the question. I shoot the D4s and it tracks a subject in 3D space very, very well. I would just like to know from Gary if he feels the Sony is better. No Disrespect implied.
Thanks Gary, does the flexible AF point also meter on the A77II or is that the centre point only?
thank you very much for the great vid! NOW I UNDERSTAND IT!
Can the FULL, complete menu be viewed via the viewfinder on the A77ii or are there some parts of the menu that the backpanel lcd are required/necessary for? Thank you.
You can cycle through the entire manual with the viewfinder.
Excellent way to show the feature. Now i understand!
Thank you for the vid! Sorry for my bad english, but i hope you can help me... I need to find the fastest writing SD Card for the A77ii. Does it make any sense if I use the SanDisk Extreme Pro SDHC 32GB Class 10 (95MB/s)? Do you know how fast the "buffer-empty-speed" of the A77ii is? I've heard that the "buffer-empty-speed" is only 45MB/s of the A77ii. This means to me that a SanDisk Extreme Pro SDHC 32GB Class 10 (95MB/s) is then rather unnecessary, because the camera cannot cope with this speed, or not (I know that the 95MB/s shows up the reading speed of this card, but the writing speed is probably higher than 45MB/s)? I hope that you have collected experiences in that way?
Now that this model is unavailable can you recommend another Sony model for taking sports action pics please Gary?
Really need the 12fps or higher for ball sports like soccer to capture the ball on the boot! (or very close to) My Canon 80D only has 7fps and frequently misses the moment. Very good for everything else with the 55-250 IS STM lens (88-400mm 35mm eq).
The a77II is still available. It's listed on Sony's website, and all the online camera suppliers I checked still have a stock. You could also consider the a99V or go all out and consider the a9!
Shopbot (lists all the sellers in Australia) website in Australia says a77II not available.
a99V is full frame and quite old now.
No chance of getting an a9.
Might have to look at an RX10 MkIII or a Panasonic FZ2500.
This is very impressive... Thank you SO much for going through this! Kudos to you sir! :)
I tried getting to that but mine is grayed out and I can't access it?
Hi Gary , a small question : that memory recommended to shoot in bursts mode?
( ps: great videos, sub in spanish please)
just curious... what about the other guy was also wearing RED?
Doesnt the a6000 have this also? Some say a6000 focuses faster
Awesome !!
Thank you!
Hi Grary, in May I switched from my Sony Alpha 65 to the new Alpha 77II and the variety of available Auto Focus modes are a bit distracting. With this video I now know what is the perfect Auto Focus mode to choose for shooting horse jumping competitions.... (my Flickr site is here www.flickr.com/photos/andip66/)
Sir, no offense to you but...you are completely and utterly wrong.
As Adam Brown has pointed out, Canon and Nikon cameras with translucent LCD focusing screens (meaning the AF points aren't permanently visible unless configured as such) are fully capable of performing the same AF tracking. It has nothing to do with the type of viewfinder (OVF vs EVF) The newer systems (1DX, D4, D7100 etc) are able to use both phase information from the AF sensors and colour information from the metering system to aid tracking. Therefore, the only really relevant question here is how good the tracking is- and the newer systems with denser focus point coverage and modern algorithms (a la 61-pt system in 5DIII) are still the gold standard for sports photographers worldwide. The only unique thing to Sony is the inclusion of such a highly-specced AF system in a semi-pro camera, which is absent in the competing offerings from Canon and Nikon- until you take into account the coverage of the more accurate cross-type focus points, in which case Sony has made the incredibly dim decision to cluster them all in the centre, making them completely unavailable once the subject moves to the sides OR the camera is turned into portrait orientation.
Another major flaw in this comparison is the nature of "testing" in the two examples. In the first, there was only ONE instance whereby the AF system's view of the subject was interrupted, compared to multiple times in the latter. Also, the subject movement was far less erratic and your own camera movement far more consistent in the first example. In such a comparison, ANY camera set to automated tracking would have a higher chance of hitting the subjects since the user is clearly unable to follow the subject manually!
Don't get me wrong- I am not blaming you. Firstly, as mentioned earlier, the second subject was far more of a challenge to track than the first, so I would expect anyone , including myself, to perform less well. Secondly, the first three seconds of the video tell me that when shooting at 12fps in JPEG, the A77II's EVF is unable to display the image in real time, instead showing a choppy playback of individual captures. Anyone faced with such a situation would have huge difficulty following a subject properly during continuous captures (though there was clearly no EVF lag in the second example when no photos were being taken- well done Sony!).
In conclusion- Sony isn't doing anything that the other camera manufacturers aren't. Are they doing it better? Well, better than most (for AF tracking, based on what I know). Is it good enough if you really want sustained 12fps shooting to make sense? No way...