Sony’s Real-time Eye AF feature can automatically detect and track the eyes of animals as well as humans.
Nick sent me the video I posted yesterday about how awesome the original Sony a7S is (watch the video, it’s conceptually awesome!), and it gave me some motivation to put a little love into my camera. I decided, that after all these years of use, that I was finally going to remove my scratched up lens filter which has been stuck on my camera since I bought it in 2014. At some stage I must have dropped my camera and it bent the filter ring making it impossible to screw off.
I watched a few YouTube video tutorials where people were hacking their lenses with pliers, screwdrivers, hacksaws and even band saws. I also looked at some expensive tools, but end of the day I just used brute strength to unscrew the filter and amazingly it came off! I had tried SO many times in the past, and thought about taking it in to a camera shop to take it off SO many times (I’m SO lazy!), but last night, it just popped off!
I took the opportunity to order a new filter (mainly to protect the lens), and I was left feeling pretty excited about potentially taking much sharper and clearer shots now that my scratched up filter is no more.
Thing is, after watching the video Nick shared with me, the YouTube algorithm served up a few reviews of the much newer Sony A7III and A7C cameras, and the few videos I watched went to town with showing off how amazing eye tracking technology is on these cameras. I shoot locked in at 1.4, and I very often miss focus on eyes, so what I do to compensate for this (once I find a shot I like) is take a few shots “just in case” some of them miss focus. Buying any of these new cameras with eye tracking would absolutely be a game changer for me in nailing the shots I’m after with much more confidence.
So I started looking at the A7III and the A7C (same camera but smaller). I posted this up on Facebook and immediately got comments suggesting the A7IV. I’m no gear head (I usually only replace things when they break), and had no idea the A7IV even existed! Turns out it’s the perfect camera for me. Insane real-time eye auto focusing, faster, more durable design and longer battery life. At $3.5K it sure isn’t cheap, but my trusty 35mm Zeiss will screw right on and all in all I think it’ll be a great investment for me.