Animal Eye AF - Lynn from Korea

Although the A6400 will not "officially" have animal Eye-AF until the new firmware is released at mid-year, my A6400 seems to recognize Lynn's face as a "face" and hones in with Eye-AF. BTW: the new firmware release for the A9, A7iii and A7Riii has Animal Eye-AF included along with a general upgrade of auto focus capabilities... I encourage anyone who owns one of these cameras to upgrade the firmware and take advantage of the improved focusing system...

https://photos.smugmug.com/Pets/MALT...90412_8563.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Pets/MALT...90412_8564.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Pets/MALT...90412_8581.jpg

Animal Eye-AF is a ball with which to shoot just as human Eye-AF is great fun to use. I shot these with my A6400 and the Sony 70-200mm f/4 G OSS lens which is a wonderful combination... Although I normally shoot my Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens with the tripod ring attached, I remove the tripod ring from the Sony lens because it seems to balance a bit better that way on my tiny A6400.

Do I absolutely need animal Eye-AF? Heck no! However I don't "absolutely need" internal metering, interchangeable lenses, or a focusing coupled to the camera... My first cameras dis not have those niceties... But, would I buy and use a camera in the 21st Century that doesn't have internal metering or focusing and did not have the capability to change lenses - not only no but, HECK NO!

It seems to me that the nose is sharper than the eyes in these shots; the eyes look a touch soft. Have you done a comparison of a spot focus on the eye and this mode? From what I have seen this mode seems to miss more than it gets right.

Nice series, I have that feature on my D750 but it only seems to work when in portrait preset mode.

Richard,

I just upgraded my A7iii to the new firmware, I do have to say it's pretty awesome. I have a few photos I can share with you guys later tonight if you wish to see them. I only have access to my RAW files but I can share the JPG versions later tonight.

Also, the new upgrade improved AF with the MC11 adapter, to me, it feels like it now acquires focus 2x as fast; which is pretty nice.

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Originally Posted by Manfred M

It seems to me that the nose is sharper than the eyes in these shots; the eyes look a touch soft. Have you done a comparison of a spot focus on the eye and this mode? From what I have seen this mode seems to miss more than it gets right.

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I have noticed that with a larger contrast between eye and fur the camera will nail focus (assuming you have the metering mode set properly)*, but when the animal has a similar fur and eye color the camera will focus on the contrast section. I have examples I an share later tonight if you guys want to see them.

*Note, the is speaking for the Sony A7iii. I have noticed when I have animal eye AF enabled and I have center focus; if the animals eye is in the certer frame it will track focus inside that center square however, if the animal's moves outside that center square the camera will stop tracking the eye. When I have wide focus enabled the camera will track the animals eye through pretty much all of the camera area of view. This also works for adapted lenses. I hope this makes sense.