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Sony A7IV (eye) autofocus problems - report here
- Thread starter brandagnostickk
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Consensus seems to have moved to an understanding that it's NOT 100% of cameras... what I've been saying all along. Some people have received replacement cameras and others have bought multiple bodies, and it seems to be the case that the problem exists to varying degrees with different bodies. In the past few days, the discussion has shifted to how a hardware issue might be at play, or and interaction between faulty hardware (bad Exmor processors) and the firmware. Some comments from the past 3 days:
"I bought two bodies within two days of each other. They both had terrible eye autofocus. I returned them and bought a new body about three weeks later. The difference in serial numbers was about 3,000 digits. I still have the third body and the eye AF is much better than the first two but still not as good as my a7iii"
"I’m so confused what to think anymore. When the camera works, it’s great. I work in the consumer electronics industry, I’m not an engineer so my views are just what I see in my industry. I am starting to think there was a bad batch of hardware, sony is scrambling on what to do and what to say right. During My phone conversation with Sony they told me they were unaware of any issues."
"something is unsyched is the system could it be that not all A7IV have the same chips and maybe the A7IV that has newer chips are running perfect and those that have a problem have old chips that's causing the problem. Using old and new chip in a system can cause it to be unsyched."
"if binned processors or processors which cannot keep up with the real-time analysis of the eye is the case, that could explain the intermittent issue. We could be facing a situation where some chips in some cameras can run the algorithm correctly and others cannot."
"Regardless of whether it is hardware or software, first thing I would try and do is rectify the issue with a software update. For example, if it is down to processing power on some units with lower clock speeds, Sony could release an update where they reduce the sampling rate per second, increase the size of the zones being analysed, make various other tweaks to reduce the intensity of the feature on those lower clocked processors."
etc etc...
Except that will cost me $30 in taxi fare and an afternoon of time ... and I'm not experiencing a problem that needs to be fixed. It's pretty clear from the facebook group that some bodies experience the problem more than others (e.g., when the same individual tries multiple bodies and has a different experience).
OK.
As an FYI, here's the 50GM at F1.2 and F1.8, Wide AF:
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"Be curious, not judgmental"
-Walt Whitman
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Yes, I see the problem is noticeably worse at 1.4, but that doesn’t change the fact that in my shots, the eyebrows are clearly out of focus while the target iris is fine.
Hey Docno / anyone
Can you check something on your camera ... I am getting cranky here with this 2nd A7iv body I got :
* Full Face : Eye focus on human (this time Sony 24-105 F4) - Eye are detected
* Two eyes & Nose & Mouth but no chin ... Boom - can't detect human eyes anymore and I need to start changing to animal ...
Animal Eye detect - the square is much much bigger than the human eye detect (like 9 times bigger ... ) - And I am guessing that this "helps" to very reliable front focus ...
I see another return and swap .... LOL
Please tell me if you notice the same - or is it my camera only ...
Can you check something on your camera ... I am getting cranky here with this 2nd A7iv body I got :
* Full Face : Eye focus on human (this time Sony 24-105 F4) - Eye are detected
* Two eyes & Nose & Mouth but no chin ... Boom - can't detect human eyes anymore and I need to start changing to animal ...
Animal Eye detect - the square is much much bigger than the human eye detect (like 9 times bigger ... ) - And I am guessing that this "helps" to very reliable front focus ...
I see another return and swap .... LOL
Please tell me if you notice the same - or is it my camera only ...
I didn't even know I had a problem until I got the Sigma 85mm F1.4. Prior to that I just had the A7C kit lens (F 4-5.6) and the Tamron 28-200 (F 2.8-5.6.). But I've rented a number of Sony lenses and bodies since then, and the results are always similar.Yes, I see the problem is noticeably worse at 1.4, but that doesn’t change the fact that in my shots, the eyebrows are clearly out of focus while the target iris is fine.
Based on your results and mine at F 1.8, I'm now of the opinion that the problem is an artifact of larger apertures. But if anyone has some counter-examples, please post them.
--
"Be curious, not judgmental"
-Walt Whitman
This discussion is going to be the worst flame for a supposed issue..
OK, I have that lens. I'll try tomorrow... sun's going down here now, and my subject--oops, wife--is not around at the moment.
To make sure I understand... you frame the face so the mouth can be seen but not the chin? And in that case, the human eye-AF stops working at all, but animal eye-AF still gets the eyes? What focal length were you using ... the long end, I presume?
Home lighting. Set focal length to 105mm at f4. I could walk up to where the top of the head and most of the chin was out of frame and still have human eye-AF. It was only when I got past the lower lip that the Eye AF box would disappear or at least become unreliable.
I was able to get in closer than this and still have Eye AF
I was surprised Eye-AF still worked here, though arguably it's more eyelashes than iris (if you pixel peep)
I believe this to be a different issue: I can demonstrate, using a 3rd party app, that at some point the camera no longer recognizes the image as a human face. And at that point, it doesn’t bother looking for eyes.Home lighting. Set focal length to 105mm at f4. I could walk up to where the top of the head and most of the chin was out of frame and still have human eye-AF. It was only when I got past the lower lip that the Eye AF box would disappear or at least become unreliable.
I was able to get in closer than this and still have Eye AF
I was surprised Eye-AF still worked here, though arguably it's more eyelashes than iris (if you pixel peep)
--
"Be curious, not judgmental"
-Walt Whitman
Yes, that’s what’s being said. The question is at what point it stops recognising a face. For one poster, it seems to be when the chin is ‘cut off’. I can pretty well get as far as the lower lip before the eye AF stops. Interestingly, it seems the other poster can come in closer if using animal eye AF….I believe this to be a different issue: I can demonstrate, using a 3rd party app, that at some point the camera no longer recognizes the image as a human face. And at that point, it doesn’t bother looking for eyes.Home lighting. Set focal length to 105mm at f4. I could walk up to where the top of the head and most of the chin was out of frame and still have human eye-AF. It was only when I got past the lower lip that the Eye AF box would disappear or at least become unreliable.
I was able to get in closer than this and still have Eye AF
I was surprised Eye-AF still worked here, though arguably it's more eyelashes than iris (if you pixel peep)
Hi
Thanks !
I was holding it in my hands ... selfie ... so actually pretty wide - Let me check again ... 50mm .. this is now day light here .. F4 .. if chin inside .. eyes are detected .. if not chin. .. it will loose it LOL
Change to animal eye .. can detect the eye .. but the focus square is huge
Thanks !
I was holding it in my hands ... selfie ... so actually pretty wide - Let me check again ... 50mm .. this is now day light here .. F4 .. if chin inside .. eyes are detected .. if not chin. .. it will loose it LOL
Change to animal eye .. can detect the eye .. but the focus square is huge
brandagnostickk
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Petrolhead
Leading Member
I am based in the UK and noticed there are a lot of A7 IVs for sale, used. Could this be the reason
Precision camera (in US) says the repair is completed and it is now, for the last week, been in quality assurance evaluation before shipping it back to me. Zero info on what was done, if anything. The repair happened very quickly so I'm wondering if they found nothing wrong and are shipping it back as received. Not sure why the quality assurance part is taking so long. Hoping it comes back working perfectly, but keeping my expectations low to avoid too much disappointment.
When I sent my A7C to them a few weeks ago, they sent me an itemized list of repairs along with the estimate. They needed a credit card number at that point.
Sony had me send it there under warranty, so maybe I won't see an itemized list until I receive the camera back from them?
Tristimulus
Veteran Member
Hardly. The A7IV is a top seller and some buy just to try out.
The eye focus issue mentioned in this thread is a minor issue and only a few are aware that one need an f/1.4 lens, low contrast low light and close focus to get some imagesout of focus. Having strong eyelashes and an iris in shadow helps to bring out the issue.
Have personally not seen the issue but then my brightest lens is a 1.8/85mm lens.
Seems like Sony is aware.
schildzilla
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Sadly the issue is not only appearing with these conditions you've mentioned. I have had Eye-AF related issues several times with full body portraits (mostly back focus), bright sunlight, studio light, it happens even at F6.3, F4 (dpreview noticed that), F2.8 etc and it's not only a front focus issue, it can switch to back focus in rare (even static) cases as well.
The issue is just easier to take note from closer distances, that's why people are asked to do the test from close distances. For full body portraits if the issue is showing up, there is a huge loss of detail and if you look closely, you can see that the focus is somewhere else like behind the ears or on objects in the foreground. There are good days where most pictures are sharp and there are bad days where most pictures are out of focus.
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