DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

 
@diyphotography

Telegram Me

Instagram

Submit A Story

This is what Sony’s new real-time AF tracking looks like in action

Share
Tweet
January 24, 2019 by John Aldred 5 Comments

There’s been a lot of buzz around the new real-time Eye AF and AF tracking on the recently announced Sony A6400. Even more exciting, though, is that this system is also coming to the Sony A9, A7III and A7RIII full-frame mirrorless cameras in a future firmware update.

Photographer Patrick Murphy-Racey recently got the chance to try out the new real-time autofocus tracking with version 5.0 of the firmware for the Sony A9 in Los Angeles. And, fortunately, he filmed it for the rest of us to see.

This was a test of how the A9 was able to use the new hybrid tracking feature by combining the use of distance, movement, Face Detection, Eye AF, color, and pattern. By using all of these together the AI (artificial intelligence) residing in the camera’s programing is able to see the human body type, pattern of clothing & hair, movement, employ Eye AF and Face Detection all at the same time. This creates a very easy to use and even scary combination of auto-focus. I call it the “Spider-Monkey” AF setting. You kind of have to see it to believe it so I’m posting this video to show what it’s like in real time.

Two clips are included in the video above, each played through twice. The first time at 100%, and the second time repeated at 45% speed to help you more easily see what the camera’s doing. Each time the big white box flashes, that’s the camera taking a shot at 20 frames per second.

No matter what brand you shoot, or whether you love or hate Sony, it’s very impressive, and seems to keep up with very fast movements with relative ease. I am curious to see how many of the shots did actually nail perfect focus, but I bet there’ll be a lot of very happy A9, A7RIII and A7III owners out there in a few short months.

Real-time AF tracking will come to the A6400 first with A9/A7RIII/A7III firmware updates coming shortly after.

Share
Tweet

Related posts:

Sony is bringing realtime Eye AF and native timelapse to the Sony A9, A7RIII and A7III Sony fixes data loss, lockup and memory card issues with new v2.1 firmware for the A7III and A7RIII The first Sony A7III firmware arrives to fix “blinking pixels” in video and prevent touchscreen death Sony plans to dethrone Canon with $9 billion camera tech investment

Filed Under: news Tagged With: Eye AF, firmware, Firmware Update, sony, Sony a6400, Sony A7III, Sony A7RIII, Sony A9

About John Aldred

John Aldred is based in Scotland and photographs animals in the studio and people in the wild.

You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.

« How I photographed the same red cabin in different ways over the years
Stop making these mistakes when cleaning your camera sensor »
  • Sada

    Try it with side not from front face ;D or just any helmet .

  • stewart norton

    I’d love to see 100% crops of those images…nailing focus of a fast moving target at f1.4 !??!?? If it does that well I will be mighty impressed .

    • Kay O. Sweaver

      It looks like a pretty wide angle lens. The front boxer is almost perfectly in focus as well. I’m estimating depth of field is at least a foot deep, so is this impressive, or trickery?

  • Stefan R. Manzow

    It‘s still a Sony…(inside joke)

  • MegaNickels

    Damn son.

Popular on DIYP

  • This epic video is what happens when a pro racing drone pilot turns on the camera
  • The Nikon Z6 goes head to head with the Sony A7III with some surprising results
  • Canon EOS RP first impressions leave filmmakers disappointed
  • Stop Instagram from ruining your videos with this easy technique
  • Apple makes a Bokeh commercial, uses “bokeh” as a verb and pronounces it wrong
  • This guy wants to rescue 100,000 film cameras by the year 2020
  • This photographer dismantled a real Lamborghini Miura for his amazing Disintegrating Cars series
  • How much should photographers charge in 2018
  • These are five free and simple mobile apps every landscape photographer should install
  • Atomos Shinobi goes head to head with SmallHD FOCUS 5″ at $75 less

Recent Comments


Previous Polls

Dunja Djudjic is a writer and photographer from Novi Sad, Serbia. You can see her work on Flickr, Behance and her Facebook page.

John Aldred is based in Scotland and photographs animals in the studio and people in the wild.

You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.

JP Danko is a commercial photographer based in Toronto, Canada. JP
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.

To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.

JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.

Clinton Lofthouse is a Photographer, Retoucher and Digital Artist based in the United Kingdom, who specialises in creative retouching and composites. Proud 80's baby, reader of graphic novels and movie geek!
Find my work on My website or follow me on Facebook or My page

Recent Posts

  • Landscape photography is NOT a competition
  • This unexpected Lightroom slider helps making perfect black and white conversions
  • George Mendonsa, the “kissing sailor” from iconic photo, dies at 95
  • Tamron to launch wide angle 17-28mm f/2.8 Zoom for Sony FE
  • Manfrotto parent company, Vitec, acquires motion control company Syrp

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2019 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy