Originally posted by clackers Don't worry, Fenwoodian, the claims about Pentax AF-C were scurrilous and lacking comparative evidence back in 2016, too. We've been hearing about it for years, and it baffles me today when I photograph wildlife, sports and action. I'm getting the same pics as the guys standing beside me. And making the same mistakes!
The fault is with the people making the claims about Pentax autofocus, as this guy says in the video:
Pentax K1 Autofocus Samples - Can it focus? - YouTube
I'm with Craig, when he says : "I think we're finding that the scarcity of credible testing and reports makes it difficult to draw valid conclusions on the relative AF performance of camera brands and systems. We hear lots of brief anecdotes, but these typically don't remove the user from the equation. In comparing AF performance, it's essential to remove the non-system characteristics. To put it bluntly, if a person reports that they had terrible experience with Camera X's AF, was it because they had terrible technique or was it really the camera's fault?"
This test is objective and not done by a camera company or their advertising representatives (eg Amazon/DPR). If somebody wants to fund them to generate more data for 2019, good on 'em.
Until then, people should stop making assertions.
New mirrorless systems commonly have to rely on two stages of focus, a hybrid of CDAF *and* onboard PDAF, and the PDAF is not up to the standard of the dedicated modules in a mirrored SLR, because it would take up too much area of the sensor.
Perhaps this is why the Nikon Z and Canon EOS R series, despite the hype and the advertising blitzes, anecdotally have worse autofocus than the older DSLRs they're based on. But that's a guess, not a fact - which is what this thread is all about, right?
I have EOS R in testing and what I can say is:
1. af-s is fast, af-c is ok but with 2fps when tracking is activated...
2. the grip and the general ergonomics are far better than any Sony, Fuji or Olympus cameras I've put my hands on
3. the touch bar is useless and I wish I had a joystick instead
4. image quality is similar to 5D Mark IV
What I like is that is small enough to be discrete. Here is EOS R next to my 5D Mark IV, both with 35mm lenses on.
Now, back to af-c and tracking.
The advantages that makes me shoot faster with Canon in difficult situations are:
1. the possibility to change from AF-S to AF-C with a single press of a button, without taking my thumb from the shutter button. In figure 1 from the image posted below is the button that I configured just for that (when I press that button I go from AF-S to AF-C and if I press again I go back from AF-C to AF-S); that button is very important for me when I shoot action
2. the joystick makes changing the af points easier than with wheel buttons (figure 2)
3. AF-C cases - there are 6 cases just for AF-C and each case has 3 different settings that I can tweak in order to get the best performance in different shooting scenarious (figure 3)
4. the af points (figure 4) - let's say that:
- I have selected the top right af point and I want to select very fast the top left af point; I don't have to press the joystick to the left until I reach the top left af point. I can go to right and it will jump to the top left af point
- I can have one af point selected when I'm shooting vertical and in the same time I can have a different af point (or group of af points) selected for shooting horizontal
- I have the option to select in poor lighting situations only the 45 af points that are f2.8 sensitive
5. Af area selection (figure 5) - when I shoot action, I don't have active all 7 af areas (spot, single point, zone, etc.). I activate from the menu only the 2 af areas that I need so that if I want to go from spot to large area af I don't have to press 6 times the joystick. I use single point af and zone af if the subject is small and the background is not busy. So, when I shoot the bird on a branch, I shoot in single af point. If the bird is in flight, with one press of a joystick I go from single point to zone af.
People often think that only af is important when shooting action. But there is much more and a camera helps if it offers to the photographer options that makes shooting faster. And we have to include the lenses also for best results. K1 or K3 are not cameras dedicated to action.
This doesn't mean that you can't take action with them. You just have to learn the camera and adapt your shooting style, that's all.