Which A series to get for this use case

[Xshooter]

Hi. I like photographing fast military jet aircraft flying low level training missions down valleys. I’m usually at an equivalent height or slightly above them on hillsides.
They fly through at about 450mph at 400 feet or less. It’s a few seconds of action and one chance to get the good shot before they are out of sight.
I have decided to upgrade to Sony from a lesser known brand as the autofocus acquisition and subject tracking stickiness on my camera just isn’t as good as Sony and its peers.
I’m not sure I can afford the new Sony A1 ii, so my options are perhaps the original A1, the A7RV, or A7CR.

as I understand it, the original A1 doesn’t have the latest artificial intelligence AI technology for subject detection/tracking (compared with A7RV and A7CR), However I understand the A1 does perform more AF calculations per second (120) than the newer A7RV and A7CR. Does this only enable the A1 to detect and acquire the subject? Is the actual subject tracking and AF stickiness of the A7RV and A7CR better than the A1 subject tracking, due to the newer AF AI chip?

the A1 has a higher frsme per second burst rate compared to the other bodies which is useful for fast moving objects, but it’s primarily the Autofocus capability I’m interested in.

Based on the use case above, which body would would you recommend?
I’m not considering the A9 III as I would like the higher megapixel resolution and don’t feel I need 120fps, global shutter won’t be a big advantage as I see it.

thank you for your advice.

 

[Interceptor121]

Get the A1 for moving shots and dont worry about AI

If your plane is the only thing with a clean background it does not matter at all if the camera recognises it or not

You will have no blackout in the EVF that is more important than other considerations

 

[Xshooter]

Thank you for reply. The background will more often than not be trees, hillsides, it will not be blue sky. The aim is to get the aircraft landlocked with a backdrop of trees, rocks, scree, hillsides, or water (if over a lake). I’ll be above or at same height as the aircraft looking down or across to them.

 

[ray_burnimage]

Thank you for reply. The background will more often than not be trees, hillsides, it will not be blue sky. The aim is to get the aircraft landlocked with a backdrop of trees, rocks, scree, hillsides, or water (if over a lake). I’ll be above or at same height as the aircraft looking down or across to them.

I’d also recommend the A1 over your other choices.

 

[Interceptor121]

Thank you for reply. The background will more often than not be trees, hillsides, it will not be blue sky. The aim is to get the aircraft landlocked with a backdrop of trees, rocks, scree, hillsides, or water (if over a lake). I’ll be above or at same height as the aircraft looking down or across to them.

You want to be able to keep seeing the plane with no blackout

the other two cameras read slow you need to use mechanical shutter and lossless raw will be limited to 7 fps at that point the camera takes 100ms to read so you are only looking at live view for 30% of the time and risk of loosing sight of the subject is high

You can of course point the lens and go blind on the EVF but framing could suffer

A1 will deliver up to 20 fps real time blackout free there is no benefit from having an A1II in that respect

 

[ahaslett]

Sounds like the Mach loop.

I agree, you want fast sensor readout and EVF refresh, so A1.

I have A7CR and A7Riv, but I’d take my OM1 for the fast refresh. AF acquisition speed might matter more than tracking, although skill probably matters more.

Have fun.

Andrew

 

[Xshooter]

Many thanks for great advice and explanation !

 

[Xshooter]

Yes Mach Loop and Lake District area. Sounds like the votes are for A1 rather than A7RV then for faster sensor calculations and fps rather than the AF AI ability.

 

[UncleVanya]

Owning the a7RV not the a1 I can attest to the fact it can capture these types of images but the a1 a friend has is far stickier in complex tracking.

 

[ray_burnimage]

Yes Mach Loop and Lake District area. Sounds like the votes are for A1 rather than A7RV then for faster sensor calculations and fps rather than the AF AI ability.

Exactly this. You don’t need AI AF for aircraft. But the faster AF calculations and blackout free shooting are your friend in this scenario.

 

[Xshooter]

Many thanks. Sounds like A1 is the body to go for. Some comments on here that for fast jets I should prioritise AF 120 calculations per second and 30 fps rather than the new AI technology of the A7RV

 

[Hotel Lonely]

Many thanks. Sounds like A1 is the body to go for. Some comments on here that for fast jets I should prioritise AF 120 calculations per second and 30 fps rather than the new AI technology of the A7RV

Id say it's a half half thing. In some cases the AI really helps a lot.

It depends on what kind of a shooter you are. If you're an opportunist shooter you usually would rely on subject tracking or general object tracking, following the "Focus then Frame" ideology. Otherwise if you're very experienced with the subject you're shooting, you can try "Frame then Focus" or trap focus, which is to set your focus point to where you want your subject to be, then wait until your subject gets into your framed position. Both are valid approaches, but they're based on different mindset.

That is unless your subject always stays in the center of your frame

 

[Xshooter]

Many thanks. Sounds like A1 is the body to go for. Some comments on here that for fast jets I should prioritise AF 120 calculations per second and 30 fps rather than the new AI technology of the A7RV

Id say it's a half half thing. In some cases the AI really helps a lot.

It depends on what kind of a shooter you are.

That is unless your subject always stays in the center of your frame

Ha! It’s a fast military jet flying at 500 knots, invariably the jet is nowhere near the centre of my frame. Sometimes I zoom out rather than zoom in to ensure I can track and frame the aircraft. I hope A1 camera would be the better option in this case against busy hillside backgrounds