Sony A7x lounge

^ Travis, another excellent black and white image!

You and Eddie should try the Focalmark app to generate the tags on Instagram. Works well.

digital_AM wrote in post #18350767
^ Travis, another excellent black and white image!

You and Eddie should try the Focalmark app to generate the tags on Instagram. Works well.

I quite like this site for tags https://displaypurpose​s.com/

Damn, that is stunning. Well done. Which lens?

digital_AM wrote in post #18350767
^ Travis, another excellent black and white image!

You and Eddie should try the Focalmark app to generate the tags on Instagram. Works well.

Thank you sir. I have been enjoying doing more Black and white recently.

I don't do a lot of hashtags...and most of them are in recent posts so they come up fast when I am posting to IG. What is the purpose of an app like that...I am not familiar with it.

irishguy0224 wrote in post #18350794
Damn, that is stunning. Well done. Which lens?

Thanks. Batis 25, I forgot to update that on the metadata...that lens got a workout on that trip. I used it a lot.

TRhoads wrote in post #18350797
Thank you sir. I have been enjoying doing more Black and white recently.

I don't do a lot of hashtags...and most of them are in recent posts so they come up fast when I am posting to IG. What is the purpose of an app like that...I am not familiar with it.

It's to save time tagging your images. The tags it creates are not the generic ones you see all the time. Avoid those since your image will be buried in the millions of other images. It allows you to select your subject (ie landscape, black and white, architecture), the location (ie city), and camera manufacturer (ie Sony). Then it generates the tags for you to copy to your post. I add them as a comment so it doesn't clutter my image post description. It will generate up to 30 tags (15 are free). To unlock the others and get more features, you pay for the app for $2.95.

just peeped your flickr, you have some incredible images in there.

digital_AM wrote in post #18350806
It's to save time tagging your images. The tags it creates are not the generic ones you see all the time. Avoid those since your image will be buried in the millions of other images. It allows you to select your subject (ie landscape, black and white, architecture), the location (ie city), and camera manufacturer (ie Sony). Then it generates the tags for you to copy to your post. I add them as a comment so it doesn't clutter my image post description. It will generate up to 30 tags (15 are free). To unlock the others and get more features, you pay for the app for $2.95.

Interesting, I will have to check it out. IG is still a mystery to me...somedays I am not sure why I mess with it.

irishguy0224 wrote in post #18350807
just peeped your flickr, you have some incredible images in there.

I see that! Thanks, I appreciate the feedback!

Portrait shooters.......I'm curious as to how reliable you find Sony's eye AF? I get the sense that people love this feature. There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for this feature around the net. People often say this feature may even contribute to there decision to purchase a particular lens. Unfortunately, I have not had similar experiences. I don't expect it to work like magic but seriously, it should work. My experience has been abysmal and consider it not much more than a seldomly useful gimmicky feature. These are strong words....I know. But seriously, unless I'm within a few feet of the subject under perfect lighting conditions it simply does not work. And when it does it will often choose the wrong eye...i.e. the one furthest from the lens, perhaps even an eye with a shadow over it! And don't dare let the subject move around or turn head even slightly away from the camera!

For example, last evening the scenario was this.....a6500, E50/1.8 @ f/2 (82.5 FOV), subject standing in heavily filtered sun with bright light ~10-15 ft behind subject, 2 flash set up. Eye AF failed miserably shooting both full length and 3/4 body portraits. Like not even a single shot worked. I gave up thinking perhaps I had a setting wrong. After an extensive internet search I clearly have all settings correct. Not sure what's up? Could it be that the feature is much less robust on the a6500? Could it be that the e50 is just a crappy lens (it certainly is a cheapo). Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Anyhoo....not hoping to start a huge discussion here just looking for some honest feedback regarding peoples' experience with this feature.

idsurfer wrote in post #18350894
Portrait shooters.......I'm curious as to how reliable you find Sony's eye AF? I get the sense that people love this feature. There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for this feature around the net. People often say this feature may even contribute to there decision to purchase a particular lens. Unfortunately, I have not had similar experiences. I don't expect it to work like magic but seriously, it should work. My experience has been abysmal and consider it not much more than a seldomly useful gimmicky feature. These are strong words....I know. But seriously, unless I'm within a few feet of the subject under perfect lighting conditions it simply does not work. And when it does it will often choose the wrong eye...i.e. the one furthest from the lens, perhaps even an eye with a shadow over it! And don't dare let the subject move around or turn head even slightly away from the camera!

For example, last evening the scenario was this.....a6500, E50/1.8 @ f/2 (82.5 FOV), subject standing in heavily filtered sun with bright light ~10-15 ft behind subject, 2 flash set up. Eye AF failed miserably shooting both full length and 3/4 body portraits. Like not even a single shot worked. I gave up thinking perhaps I had a setting wrong. After an extensive internet search I clearly have all settings correct. Not sure what's up? Could it be that the feature is much less robust on the a6500? Could it be that the e50 is just a crappy lens (it certainly is a cheapo). Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Anyhoo....not hoping to start a huge discussion here just looking for some honest feedback regarding peoples' experience with this feature.

I find it works well if the subject is looking at the camera, if they are turned away at all it doesn't. It picks the closest eye for me the majority of the time and it's pretty much flawless for people who are posing for a photo I.e. Not my 3 year old who barely stays still and will barely look at the camera. I do use it a lot for Callum though but the eye af doesn't like having to move from one side of the frame to the other quickly, I generally switch to small focus box when eye af struggles.

I use it when the subject is fairly close with very high hit rate if subject isnt moving much. Walking is sometimes ok, definitely wont catch a runner.

idsurfer wrote in post #18350894
Portrait shooters.......I'm curious as to how reliable you find Sony's eye AF? I get the sense that people love this feature. There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for this feature around the net. People often say this feature may even contribute to there decision to purchase a particular lens. Unfortunately, I have not had similar experiences. I don't expect it to work like magic but seriously, it should work. My experience has been abysmal and consider it not much more than a seldomly useful gimmicky feature. These are strong words....I know. But seriously, unless I'm within a few feet of the subject under perfect lighting conditions it simply does not work. And when it does it will often choose the wrong eye...i.e. the one furthest from the lens, perhaps even an eye with a shadow over it! And don't dare let the subject move around or turn head even slightly away from the camera!

For example, last evening the scenario was this.....a6500, E50/1.8 @ f/2 (82.5 FOV), subject standing in heavily filtered sun with bright light ~10-15 ft behind subject, 2 flash set up. Eye AF failed miserably shooting both full length and 3/4 body portraits. Like not even a single shot worked. I gave up thinking perhaps I had a setting wrong. After an extensive internet search I clearly have all settings correct. Not sure what's up? Could it be that the feature is much less robust on the a6500? Could it be that the e50 is just a crappy lens (it certainly is a cheapo). Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Anyhoo....not hoping to start a huge discussion here just looking for some honest feedback regarding peoples' experience with this feature.

I find it extremely reliable and it's been a game-changing feature for me. Critical accuracy down to the eye ball is basically on point with just about every shot, and I've never been able to consistently nail the eyes like this prior to using this feature. Travis made a comment about eye-ball selfies y'day, and yeah seeing a reflection of yourself in the eyeballs of your subjects at 100% is basically the norm with eye focus.

You are using it in AF-C right? It's good, but not great in AF-S.

One thing about AF is that it is highly dependent on AF capabilities of a specific lens. i.e. with the 85 GM its extremely accurate for subject's that are standing in place, but because the AF is slow on that lens, not so great if the subject is are walking or running. The 70-200GM, which has a very fast AF motor, fare much better here. The FE50, while a good lens optically, is known to be not-so-great on the AF front. I suspect that's where your issues with the AF is stemming from.

Eye focus at 200MM @f2.8 with a heavily backlit subject (used an octabox to light the subject)

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/TtEr​iG

I have yet to be able to get Eye-AF to even work...so I don't fool with it anymore..then again...I have only tried using it with the 85GM...which as Carlo points out is not the best lens for it. My other portrait lenses are adapted and its not a feature...I just prefer to use the small flexible AF point and have had good success with that.

TRhoads wrote in post #18350944
I have yet to be able to get Eye-AF to even work...so I don't fool with it anymore..then again...I have only tried using it with the 85GM...which as Carlo points out is not the best lens for it. My other portrait lenses are adapted and its not a feature...I just prefer to use the small flexible AF point and have had good success with that.

I find that it works really well with the 85GM actually, given what the 85GM is. Like the 85L, it's very much a posed portraiture type lens....kind of slow for anything else, eye focus or not. But the DOF of 85 1.4 is very thin and its very hard to nail critical focus on the eyes, and the 85GM will consistently nail the eyes. It won't track a person walking or running, it does a very good job of accounting for the movement between poses and what-not. I often do a series 3+ poses back to back, and keep the eye focus button held down between shots and it works well.

I'm buying the Neewer Battery Grip so I look like the Photographer on a wedding. Anyone has it? any issues?