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One of the major benefits of mirrorless cameras is improved autofocus. 100% coverage and 5000 autofocus points. So, are all images you make will the 100% sharp 100% of the time? I’m afraid not. No matter how good autofocus gets, there will always be times when you take a portrait and can’t get both eyes to be sharp. Is the autofocus at fault? No, the photographer is.[Read More…]
Ever since the Sony A7III was announced, it drew quite a bit of attention. Some of the features like eye-tracking seem almost too good to be true. Photographer Manny Ortiz takes us for a ride in the driver’s sit photographers viewfinder on a shoot with the camera. I gotta say, it’s an impressive piece of kit.
The first thing Manny highlights is the eye-tracking autofocus. Look at the Gif below to judge if this is something you would enjoy working with.
For most people, exactly how phase detection autofocus in a DSLR works is a mystery. All we know is that the AF in the camera we’re using either sucks or it’s awesome. While autofocus can indeed suck, it often fails us because we don’t understand it enough to work around its potential pitfalls. This video from ZY Productions demystifies DSLR autofocus and explains why cross type AF points are a big deal.
One of the main selling points for the newly announced Sony A9 is its superior autofocus. The autofocus has 693 point wide-area phase-detection points and according to Sony, it can do up to 20fps with AF/AE tracking. Sounds impressive right?
If you were wondering what’s a 20 FPS auto-focusing beast is good for, watch this movie from Gary Fong. It shows a pole vaulter going the entire distance of the course while the camera keeps tack-sharp focus. Not only that, it does so being “fully opened” with a 70-200mm f2.8 GM lens.
Whenever I buy a new lens, I have to calibrate it and AF fine tune five different DSLRs. Two are my primary stills shooters, and three are for video. But if I only have the video DSLRs out with me, and want to grab a few quick behind the scenes shots, I need to know their AF is spot on. So, I use the SpyderLENSCAL to calibrate every lens with every body. For me, it’s worth the cost.
If you’ve only got one camera and one or two lenses that you’ll only need to calibrate once, though, it might seem like a bit of a high expense. You buy it, use it once or twice, and then it just sits in a box. Well, there are other options. You can make your own. This video from Crafty Cams has been out for a while, but it’s recently become popular again and it’s well worth a watch.
It seems that Sony is going after Canon shooters and are trying to make an enticing offer that will allow Canonistas to keep their lens collection while moving to a A7R II system.
In a recent (somewhat promotional) interview between (Sony Artisan) Thibault Roland and a top engineer from the recently announced A7R II crew, the engineer claimed that with a full firmware upgrade and a good lens adapter like the Metabones Mark IV, Sony’s are a tight match for AF speed vs Canon DSLRs:
We were confirmed that AF of Canon lenses was “much faster than before. With adapters (and in particular with a firmware updated Metabones mark IV) Canon lenses are almost as fast as on a Canon body”
A few weeks ago, we posted an article over Sony’s introduction of the Xperia Z2, coming with what they claim as the world’s best smartphone camera. Right now, HTC is in the middle of its announcement for its new flagship: the HTC One (M8).
Many photographers, me included, focus by half pressing on shutter release. Then we re-compose. Then we complete the press.
Photographer Steve Perry shares a great improvement to your workflow by decoupling the autofocus button from the shutter release, and relocating it to button on the back of the camera.
This decoupling allows for several great benefits:[Read More…]
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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