Sony A7R V: Bird Photography / Birds In Flight Review (+ Bird Eye AF Explained)

[@DanielSymphonies]

i heard that for birds in flight on the a7rv it’s best to set it to “locked on” and to turn ON aps-c cropping. apparently when using aps-c cropping you got focus points covering the entire frame and it should perform much better

[@nat-lj8kt]

I did a very simple test with eye af on A1 and 7R5. Close range wide open continuous focus on eye then rapidly move the camera and shoot a burst. Beyond a certain speed, sensor read time causes missed focus on A7R5. I think AI cannot predict direction and if it did, it could compensate slightly and adjust after missing. The A1 burst has 90%+ keeper rates on this test. A1 much better when you have relatively fast focus changing action towards or away from camera camera. A7R5 is fabulous but sensor readout is the achilles heel and depending on subject matter it will affect you.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Thank you for your feedback, I agree, I think the sensor readout limits the AF capabilities a bit.

[@johnpeterka8355]

How good is the A1 for weddings and portraits? Are the colors from the A1 as good as those from the A7RV? If not, how easy is it to fix the colors in post processing?

[@Jeo-What]

Both are great when the AF is locked onto the final images (not in the EVF/LCD only as A7RV does get out of focus shoots after pressing the shutter release sometimes) except you can not shoot with 100% black-out free silent electronic shutter with flash/strobe and Anti-Flicker enabled to avoid bending on A7RV. Set the AWB to "White" and the usual complains about the yellow cast is fixed.

[@nat-lj8kt]

@@johnpeterka8355 50 vs 60 megapixels is not going to matter. Every camera can miss the white balance sometimes. Whether A7RV is better I do not know. I would trust A1 autofocus a lot more in critical situations, use electronic shutter so it's totally silent without any issues unlike a slow readout camera. For portraits af speed doesn't really matter nor frame rate so A1 is overkill. For street photography, A1 is silent ninja with very high speed and performance in catching once in a life time shots

[@michaelchan1081]

started shooting the A1 at intro. certainly an upgrade over the A7r4 I was using. shoot mainly wildlife, so the autofocus was game changing. spent about one second debating the upgrade to the a7r5 at intro. yes, I consider it an upgrade for not just the sensor size, but the other features you mention in your video. today the field kit is the 200-600 on the A7r5 and the 100-400 on the A1. birds in flight is a specialty that has many variables and the autofocus/tracking falls pretty to many of them. flight with a bright sky background is wildly different from an owl flying in a dark barn. my latest experience with the A7r5 was pretty remarkable. owl flight from the back of the dark barn to the lighted door. no time to bring the body up to frame a shot. just pointed the lens like a shotgun and followed the bird shooting one burst. 59 shot burst had 12 printable owl images, 20 unprintable, rest had no owl in the frame. what was amazing was once tracking was established, it recovered after scanning past rafters with the owl behind it. you don't go into a barn planning to shoot like this, but with the A7r4, I would have gotten zero printable shots. congratulations on a fine video. it was very informative.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Thank you for the comment and for sharing your experience, I appreciate that. Glad to hear you got good results with the A7R V, it certainly is a very capable camera.

[@antoniofernandezdiaz7372]

can i ask you.... steadyshoot on or off for bird in flight??? it seem to me to read in the video Mathieu put it off

[@goswamidhaval]

I am going for a small trip for wild life photography. Itwas great to understand the modes for bird eye auto focus...Thank you for the amazing video.

[@philipgowdy]

Think I will keep on using my A9. Interesting that you and many others think that its no better on BIF, it will be interesting if you get a firmware upgrade for that but Sony dont do many upgrades as with the A9. Fingers crossed for all the new Sony owners, it could be a long wait..regards.

[@momchilyordanov8190]

In short - it's more expensive, the settings are more complicated, the AF is the same (or worse) and there is no change in IQ. Doesn't sound like a great deal, with only advantages being a new hinge for the back screen and higher resolution EVF.

[@pedroespinal6871]

Thank you for a great video that explained many details in a manner that I was able to follow. The charts presented have very good information for making comparisons. The Photos also made a great presentation. I will apply many of your recommendations for setting up a menu for bird, animal and sports action photography.

[@Jeo-What]

Thank you for this review that I should of waited before purchasing the A7RV and falling for the marketing hype on the AI. Though I do not shoot BIF I experienced the inconsistent AF lock when taking multiple shoots with lower keep rate than the A7IV. The explanation on the AI. processer is best explained here over all the reviews I had watched. It's accurate in "RECONIZEING" the subject and not necessary "100% LOCKING ONTO" the subject when the shutter is pressed. It's like the left brain is not talking to the right brain in this camera or like an ADHD camera to me which does give me good keepers only when the subjects are not moving too fast at low fps. I do miss the Fuji X-H1's sweet mechanical shutter sound while facing rolling eyes and complains in indoor quiet events and weddings when using the much better Eye C-AF on Sony A7 systems. Should just got the A1 instead as I find myself having the LCD facing the camera body in closed position 95% of the time since the EVF is so good.

[@sigurdrille9693]

Thank you for the thorough and great review! Great camera, interesting how AI autofocus is lagging behind the „normal“ autofocus considering birds in flight. I personally think around 40MP to 50MP enough, but getting 26MP in APSC crop is really impressive!

[@RJ-wy6cx]

Sony is by far the best focusing system I have ever used

[@Zhorellski]

I have my AR7V AF settings on default and I have quite a few soft shots of birds and not detecting eye. I will adjust them to your recommendation, thank you!

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Great, let me know if the performance improves!

[@Marc-op3ov]

Fully agree with this excelent review, shooting BIF is really below expectations, compared to Canon R5 and Nikon Z8 the sony AR7 R5 doesn't come into play. Landscape and portrait performance is ok, but then the Sony A7R IV is a better option. Really disipointed, the gap with A1 is deep, consider to sell my Sony gear and go back to Nikon, z8 and z9 , and the new prime lenses are looking good if wildelife is important for you.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Yes I like the Z lenses Nikon is designing for wildife. Can't wait to test the Z8!

[@enolamns]

Sony hast nothing to offer in this Range which ist crazy

[@Jonathantuba]

I tried the A7Rv for wildlife photography when it first came out and concluded it nowhere near the A1 particularly for birds in flight - so I ended up buying a second A1 as I wanted two bodies for African safari. I know the A1 is expensive, but for wildlife it is still the best, by far.

[@davidleakenneyphotography]

Did you upgrade the 200-600mm firmware for this? made a big difference for me once I installed the new update.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Yes, I had the latest firmware version installed.

[@j16m02]

Wow! Very interesting Mathieu. You just confirmed my impressions. Your results for BIF is the same as mine. I moved up from the A74 because of the "improved" AF but found little to no improvement. Naturally I assumed it was me. I do appreciate the 26mp in crop mode compared to the 14mp with the A74 though. I also agree regarding set up. The menus are so deep and nuanced that more often than not I just throw up my hands and say "forget it! It's good enough". I photographed my grandson playing baseball this spring, and honestly got better results "eyes in focus" with my OM-1.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Thanks for the feedback! Are you keeping the R5 then?

[@j16m02]

@@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons I'm not sure yet. So many things to consider. I'm getting up there in age, and size and weight are getting more important to me. I find myself pulling the A7R5 out of the cabinet as I prefer the body to the A6600, but then putting a APS-C lens on it. I love the little Sigma 18-50 DG DN compared to my Sigma 28-70mm F2.8, just for the size. So, I'm waiting to see what the rumored A6700 has to offer. Birding is my main interest, and I always shoot the A7R5 in crop mode anyway so why lug around the bigger body. I'm also considering the Fuji X-S20. It's hard to imagine the AF is as good, or nearly so, as the Sony, but if I recall, you got fairly good results with the Fuji X-H2 bodies.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

I got good results with the X-H2 cameras, just not the killer AF the announcement made us hope for. However they aren’t smaller than Sony’s APS-C models. I also got good results with the X-S10, so I imagine the X-S20 should be capable too. It’s a good combo with the 70-300mm. Curious to read more about the A6700, I hope it will be a substantial upgrade.

[@rickymcc9072]

Thanks for a useful comparison, so I liked and subbed. I'm more a generalist, but did attempt red kites at a Welsh feeding station with my new a9iii. AF lock-on and sharpness were excellent with a Sony 200-600G but I would have liked a few more pixels for cropping. But it sounds like 'swings & roundabouts' what you gain in croppability you lose in AF accuracy and visa versa? I have an a7iv, FX3 and recently an a9iii. All good for specific use cases. I had considered buying an a1 (price dropping) but went for newer a9iii (better screen, AF, speed, ergo, global shutter etc etc). Also I'd been missing my old a9 (sold) for sports action. I guess an a1 upgrade (a1 mkii?) will deliver new screen, better AF accuracy again plus other benefits befitting a 'flagship' but that won't likely appear before end 2025? So, a9iii was an easy decision. I'm now considering buying an a7Rv and selling my otherwise excellent a7iv. Previously I had an a7Riii, upgraded that to a7Riv, but was disappointed with AF accuracy on a7Riv with my 200-600G. A7Rv offers new screen and hi-res EVF (as on a9iii) plus croppability options not afforded by my a7iv and FX3 (really video only). AF with AI is generally reported as better, but maybe the 200-600G is a difficult lens to drive vs say a 70-200 GM mkii? Perhaps I also need to consider their 300mm f2.8 GM with 1.4x & 2x TCs? Any views on merits of switching a7iv for a7Rv and a 200-600G for a 300GM?

[@Roy88772]

I shoot on A6700 and noticed a very strange thing. I tested 4 supertele lens - Sony 200-600, Tamron 150-500, Sigma 150-600 Sport (E) and 150-600 Contemporary from Canon EF MC-11 converter. With all my surprise Sony and Tamron lens has exactly same issue which you describe, alote shot are miss focused. On Sigma lenses this not accruing almost at all, i don't understand how this is possible, especially on Sony but that was my results. I even tested 3 different units of Sony 200-600 and all have the same issue. AF was tracking and was blazing fast but when I check pictures a hole bunch of them were miss focused. Of course, I tested all of them on BIF.

[@kilik92]

Would love to see a review of the sony 600 F4. And maybe a test vs the 200-600

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Would love to test the 600mm F4! Quite expensive to rent though, I would need the right opportunity at the right time. But never say never!

[@PhilT993]

Very well done review. Thank you. Disappointing results for BIF. Waiting to see what the A9iii brings.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Thank you! I'm very curious about the A9 III!

[@veselinvasilev9362]

Thank you!

[@agrs1974]

I bought this camera after owning the A7r3 and the A7rv. I think at close range the camera is good but at any distance it struggles. I am actually thinking about selling it to get the A7iv. I know id lose a lose a ton of resolution but to me its over hyped. I use the 200-600 for birds and sometimes it takes an age to focus. I am thinking about upgrading both thd lens and camera firmware but unsure.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Why are you unsure about updating the firmware?

[@agrs1974]

@@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons Heard a few stories about boards getting damaged and the camera locking up.

[@StephaanBOSS56]

@@agrs1974 If you want the focus features on the A7R V to work as intended, you must upgrade the 200-600. Otherwise it's no use complaining. I have no issues with focusing what soever. it works better then on the A1.

[@Marc-op3ov]

I can not confirm this, the 200-600 mm is a good lens but not supper fast , the 70-200 gm II is musch faster, with better focus. Both lenses are better with the A1

[@tuco720s]

Thanks for this video I found it useful

[@jws6181]

thanks Mathieu for the good info and review of the A7RV, the good reasons for me too buy this camera are, 61mgp for cropping...the Aps-c mode 26mgp...the auto focus bird animal body and eye detection...the AI pross...all the differend settings for the autofocus and tracking...the over the 9 dot EVF and that great looking LCD...and the disadvantages are...10fps ore less...the sensor BSI (roling shutter?) no black out shooting(like my A9, hoping to buy an A1 used or outlet as the A1II comes out) the A9III has only 24mgp and 20-30fps is more than enough for me....a Stacked sensor and a eledtronic shutter is all I need...Bye, Greets from eastern Netherlands

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Thank you for your feedback! If you get the chance to find the A1 at a good price, go for it, it's an amazing piece of tech.

[@Cheese-Head]

How does the autofocus compare to canon R6 mk 2?

[@cameraprepper7938]

I am surprised to see you got fewer sharp photos than the A7RIV ! Would it be the same with a fully side-by-side comparison !? I can also see you had steadyshot off and Hi speed setting, there must also be some of the other settings that can be better !? If the Lens was the Sony 200-600mm 5.6-6.3 G, then it is know that there are problems with stabilizer for the R-series cameras !

[@pseudophotog]

A really interesting review, especially for the surprising result on the AF score. I am asking around to see if others have found that performance improves over time through AI learning. I also wonder if it would be better with the Sony 100-400 G Master

[@victorbastos5859]

Fantastic review....as always.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Thank you!

[@CrispyFloat]

For bird in flight shots you need to change focus mode to subject tracking.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

It’s pretty clear that I tested subject tracking, it’s even listed in the best settings…

[@matthewmallett4718]

I have the a7rv and your experiences with its autofocus matches what I have found. For people the ai autofocus is a definite upgrade and can easily be seen. For animals and birds in flight particularly, the ai focus is much less convincing. I also have an a1 and I do think in part the a7rv is a bit restrained by the slow sensor which doesn't show up with people moving around but does with fast moving subjects such as birds flying. Side by side the a1 is quicker to acquire and will hang onto subjects af wise much longer than the Rv. Also I was expecting the Rv to recognise birds and animals easier than it does and again it doesn't appear any better than the a1 (maybe less so in fact). The menu system for the af is unnecessarily complicated and suggests to me Sony knows they may have not got the system right yet. Why else give so many options if you were confident about the af capability. Hopefully because it has a separate ai autofocus chip then Sony can improve its recognition capabilities in these areas. After all it's a first generation idea on this camera and in every other respect the camera is superb.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Thank you for sharing your experience, I’m relieved not to be the only one thinking the same about the AF for birds. Looking forward to future improvements, I think it has a lot of potential.

[@matthewmallett4718]

@@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons I agree completely

[@daryshoot150]

Thank you for this very interesting video. My big surprise is the difference in the photo success rate between the a74 and the A7R5... which is basically unacceptable given the price difference. A SONY fix is essential in view of the number of photos in burst 6 and the wheelbarrows while we announce the A9 III with 40 images / s. Wait and see...Canon may be can! 😀🙃🙃🙃

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Really curious to see the A9 III.

[@ryancampbell1151]

This was great!!

[@pyroMaximilian]

Thank you for another great review. I was waiting for it to decide whether to upgrade from my A7R4 for birds/wildlife. On a separate note, is it just me, or do modern mirrorless cameras suffer more and more from false positive focus? I'm seeing this problem across several camera systems too with blurry photos of even static subjects. That, or subject detection modes that detect a subject's eye then focus on the background around its head and draw a green box around the eye!

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

I've seen this behaviour with some cameras, Fujifilm in particular, but not all of them.

[@benoittissier58]

I use the A7iv for sports and actually focused pics rate is ridiculously low (10% fully focused, about 70 % acceptable) while tracking in the EVF is always great. My understanding is that tracking can spot a face out of a misfocused image and show the little frame in the EVF. But actual fine focusing requires contrast. This is based on the high success rate on faces with lily white skin and dark eyebrows, wrinkles, glasses with thin frame. Whereas blond eyebrows and light eyes are repeatedly misfocused.

[@proksalevente]

@@benoittissier58Phase detect gauges distance. If distance is constantly changing (Especially on a slowly read out sensor) you need contrast to back up the phase detect AF.

[@carlossantini]

I would do the tests again with the 600mm & the 1.4x !

[@DCFotographs]

Surprised the A7RIV had better results. Do you have a video or article on that camera with your testing? Curious what settings worked best

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

All my birds in flight results can be found at the link below, where I also list the settings that gave me the best results (not that I haven't added the A7R V yet, but I'll do it today or tomorrow): mirrorlesscomparison.com/best/mirrorless-cameras-for-birds-in-flight/

[@lens.eye.]

I spent a lot of time trying to troubleshoot BIF focusing issues (or to be honest almost absence of AI AF) on a6700 with different range of the lenses and camera settings. Unfortunately it looks like ALL new Sony AI based cameras suffer from the same issue - they cannot detect and properly track fast objects especially if these objects change their form (like bird moving wings during the flight) or "run" from one side of frame to other. Statical (on a tree) or slow moving birds and animals can be detected and tracked on average or average+ level (I would say previous non-AI animal eye autofocus on a6600 worked better!). It is strange but other brands do not have such problems with AI chips / software. For example, in similar conditions (same place, same light and the same flying birds) my Olympus can detect and follow BIF without any hesitation... but bokeh in comparison with Sony is another story...

[@ericrobinson8078]

Interesting and well done video. Giving a camera lots of features is always going to cause problems for the user, especially the new user. When it comes to AF you are correct it's a relatively complex area with the A75R as there are a number of interrelated settings that influence performance. Now a year on with the camera currently at 2.01 and the 200-600 on 3.0 have you noticed any change in performance? I have to say I tend to put down missing the shot to the inadequacies of the guy holding the camera. I would like to hear any new thoughts you may now have given time has passed and firmware has been 'improved'. we hope. Incidentally Ive had the A7R5 for 14 months. Lets be honest it does take time to become acquainted with a new camera and with a complex one like the A7R5 its a task. Its certainly no a plug and play camera. Complex cameras put a high demand on the user, that for sure.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

I haven't found the opportunity to test the camera again.

[@Jeo-What]

With the newest major firmware update with several Alpha cameras, I wonder if the updated cameras like A1, A9 III, A7R V and A7 IV would increase their BIF AF-C hit rates.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Not sure, I don't recall reading anything about the autofocus in the firmware release notes.

[@supernovaB]

I really couldn't comprehend your 13:23 chart, until you said you only could use it for a limited time. Then I remember my first week with this technology masterpiece. In my first days I was so disappointed with my new A7RV performances. Dozens of video of settings and hundreds of forum comments later, just a slightly improvement. No upgrades. Don't ask me what happened: suddenly the AF became lethal. Not like the A1 I've tried this summer (that is another planet), but really consistent. Nothing comparable with A7x previously. I think there is something with that AI dedicated processor with self learning technology. I hope someone will understand my experience.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Thank you for your feedback. What you wrote makes sense, all this AI/deep learning technology should also mean the camera can improve the performance over time. It will be interesting to see if other users have a similar experience to yours. So far you're the first one reporting this here, many other viewers share the same impressions I had. I'm confident I will test the A7R V again in the future, obviously it will be a rented sample so I won't have control on what happened to the camera before. I also think it's the first iteration of this new AF system, and I bet Sony will improve it in the years to come.

[@TheAverageJoeBro]

I do! Same experience here. It’s been 1 month since I bought it and there’s something different about it today. It’s nowhere near disappointing for me because I’m coming from a sigma FP L, I had a Sony a6500 previous to that. The sigma being the worst AF I have experienced in a mirrorless system. This camera is light years ahead of anything I have ever owned. Not sure what the chart says to others but I definitely dismissed it immediately. Cameras buffs these days have no idea what slow is.

[@andrear9500]

Thank you

[@FocusRocus]

13:35 please explain why ibis was turned off, if it’s so good with eight stops of stabilization. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and advice.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

You don't really need stabilisation for birds in flight, especially when using fast shutter speeds like 1/2000s. 8 stops of stabilisation is most likley valid for much shorter focal lenghts. Also, don't forget that it's not just IBIS but you have the lens' OIS involved. You can keep Steadyshot On if you prefer, my advise would be to use Mode 3 on the lens (if available). With Mode 3, the stabilisation effect in the EVF is active at all time, so you don't get that ackward jerk when you half-press the shutter button, which can be quite severe with telephoto lenses.

[@johnpeterka8355]

Thank you for your video! We shot a wedding in June with two Canon R5's. My wife's back and shoulders hurt for five days later. We decided to switch all our Canon gear for Nikon, including my beloved R3. Now, I am pondering a return to Canon, stay with Nikon, or migrate to Sony. Before we do anything, may I ask if Sony produces the sharpest and lightest lenses? My wife will likely just use primes. I will use primes, 24-70, 70-200, and something longer for bird photography. Currently, we are using a 50MM, 85MM, 24-70, 70-200, and a 600 PF. They are all Z-mount lenses. Which Sony camera would be best for weddings, portraits, and sports/wildlife? I also have large hands, so I prefer larger camera bodies. I held a Sony A9 III at our local camera shot. That camera felt a lot better in my hands than the A7R V. Thank you. JP

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

May I ask why are you thinking of switching back? What is it that you’re not liking about your Nikon gear? To answer your question about lenses, I think we need to evaluate them one by one. It is true that lately, Sony has done a remarkable job in decreasing the size and weight of its new lenses, I have the mark II versions of the 24-70 and 70-200 and they are surprisingly compact, the tele in particular really impressed me. In terms of sharpness, I would need to compare them side by side. The Sony lenses are excellent on average, but I’ve been very impressed with some of the Nikkor Z lenses, the 70-200 2.8 being one of them. As for the primes, it also depends if we’re talking f1.4 or f1.8 for example.

[@johnpeterka8355]

@@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons - I just compared lenses on DXOMRK and they generally rate Sony GM lenses higher than Nikon or Canon. Our Nikon primes are 1.8 because my wife wanted lighter lenses. However, our two telephotos cannot compare to the Sony GM II’s. On a clear day, I would stack our 600mm f/6.3 PF against anyone’s equivalent lens. My biggest complaint on Sony’s is the ergonomics. Except for the A9 III, they are too small in my hand. I am so frustrated that I am pondering selling all our Nikon gear and wait for the Leica SL3 to arrive. Even without eye-AF on the SL2, I was able to get very sharp images (as long as the subject was relatively stationary).

[@johnpeterka8355]

@@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons - I love the ergonomics of my Z9. I updated to firmware 4.10, thinking my eye-AF would improve dramatically. It did not. I changed FN1 to be AF-Single Point and FN2 to be AF-3D. I have varied the metering settings, but nothing improves the accuracy of the eye-AF. I get a box over the eye, but in post the focus is not razor sharp on the eye. It might be around the eye, head, or whatever, but it is not on the eye. Our primes are 1.8 because my wife wanted lighter lenses. When I looked at DXOMARK, they generally rate Sony GM lenses much higher that the Canon RF and Nikon Z lenses. Our Nikon 24-70 and 70-200 cannot compete with the Sony GM II's. On the other hand, I would stack up our Z 600mm f/6.3 PF to anyone's comparable lens (as long as there is no atmospheric or heat haze). My chief complaint on the Sony's is ergonomics. Except for the A9 III, the bodies are too small for my hands. If I used a A7RV or a smaller body like the A1, I would either rub the skin off my fingers or develop calluses. Gloves would never be an option. Canon would be out because my wife would not tolerate the heavy RF lenses.

[@Jeo-What]

I would highly recommend the A1 with the silent blackout free electronic shutter with ability to enable Anti-Flicker to avoid bending in indoor shoots while still have the option to shoot with flash/strobe (electronic shutter: FF 50MP 1/200s APS-C 21MP 1/250s mechanical shutter: FF50MP 1/400s APS-C 21MP 1/500s) which the A7RV can never deliver. For lenses, if shooting 30fps is not important and 15fps is while keeping weights down during the wedding day is more important than the 3rd party Tamron 35-150mm f/2-f/2.8 zoom lens should provide you 35-215mm f/2-f/2.8 between FF 50MP & APS-C 21MP mode without the need of carrying a bunch of primes & zoom lenses and missing moments when swapping out lenses. Not to mention less frequent sensor cleaning would be required due to having one lens living on the body 99% of the time. I know most of us are all brain washed with "Trinity" lenses but my 16-28mm f/2.8 sigma now lives in the bag 99% of the time as I have learned to live with the 35-150mm. FF 35mm f/2 = APS-C 50mm f/2... 2 primes in one high MP sensor. Not bad for close up with 50MP either without carrying a macro lens.

[@oggg4604]

Would you not recommend this I was looking to upgrade and only use Sony . Would it be with investing in a second hand a1 ?

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

The A1 is much better: AF, drive speed, blackout-free live view, it’s a fantastic camera.

[@thomastuorto9929]

Great review. To the point & no fluff. Did you get any bent wings or slanted backgrounds while shooting BIF & panning with a busy background? Thanks for any replies.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Do you mean when using the electronic shutter? I mostly stayed with the mechanical shutter, as the e.shutter doesn't bring benefits in this case.

[@thomastuorto9929]

@@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons Thanks. That is what I wanted to know.

[@fromia1]

Would be interested to know whether the A6700 fares any better, since the AI auto focus is present and there aren't as many pixels to work with.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

I'm planning to test the A6700, probably after the summer.

[@vincentc9910]

I using A7Riv now and mainly shooting landscape, do you think I need to upgrade just for image stability? Thanks

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Not really, I don't see a valid reason to upgrade just for that, especially for landscape, unless you often find youself using slow shutter speeds without a tripod.

[@vincentc9910]

Thanks for the advice 🙏

[@tomkro9704]

Not sure how you can say for the A7IV: if bird is covered by a object the camera detects greatly the bird. That’s simply not true: if an object is in front of the bird, the AF detects the object closest to the camera. It will NEVER detect a bird behind another object, like for example a branch, leaves, etc

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Maybe because I tested the A7 IV? Watch my reviews or articles about it. There are examples with branches partially in the way, and the camera still focused correctly. Obviously, it won't work every time, but Eye AF helps better than standard AF settings.

[@lewcehjitl3282]

So True ive tested canon r6 and Sony a7iv and the Sony cannot focus birds in a cage while the canon quickly picks up the eye of bird behind the cage.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

We have different experience then. See answer above.

[@definitelydadda9489]

I can confirm that my a7iv focuses at the birds eye even with branches in the fore and background. This happened after upgrading both firmwares of my 200-600 and a7iv (version before the creator app). Depending on the available light it sometimes struggles but I noticed it less than before I updated my firmware. On a different note, it’s disappointing to hear that the newer a7v bird af performance is not as good as the a7iv, but I guess that’s a blessing in disguise as I will instead focus in spending to find them birds than getting a new body. Thanks Matt for the great review! 🥂

[@fredbakhuis7977]

Same experience after serious testing inna all Sony system. That the AF system has the posssibility of a working setting somewhere in the menu, is not worth the effort in my opinion. Chances are the camera is in a different setting and the shot will be missed. It took a sitting - yes sitting - peacock to reach 30% succesrate. After changing the setting within 'bird', the peacock was gone. This implementation of AI needs some serious technical and user friendlyness firmware update(s) in to even come close to the hype, in my opinion.

[@mikaelschulin4315]

Great review as always. Thanks! I am surprised by the low success rate for BiF. Wonders if this is true also for the prime lenses since I have better results with the 400 mm 2.8 than with the 100-400 mm 4.0-5.6 with the A1.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Possibly, although I've been using the same lens (200-600mm) for a lot of cameras lately, including the A1, the A7 IV, etc

[@el_cabroncito]

Let's see... The same ratio obtained with less expensive cameras like XT4, XH2 and XH2s.

[@RishiRajKoul]

WHICH sw vERSION WERE YOU RUNNING?

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

The one before 2.0, I think it was 1.1 or 1.2, can't remember exactly.

[@TheDka1]

Thanks very much for this video, quite interesting that the AF doesn't seem to be improved on the A7RV (compared to its other Sony contemporaries). I'm interested in your thoughts on Panasonic, have you been able to test any of them (particularly the S5II)? They've finally implemented PDAF, but from what I've read about the BIF AF it's not quite there yet.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Not yet, but I would love to test the S5 II. I'll see what I can do.

[@TheDka1]

@@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons Thank you!

[@mikede2464]

I would not even consider the A7RV for BIF. Sensor readout speed forces mechanical shutter, mechanical shutter max FPS is too slow, and shutter blackout cripples AF on faste(er) moving subjects. I don't think the A7rVis intended for BIF; smaller sensor cameras (A9 series) and/or A1 are intended/better suited for BIF.

[@refuztosay9454]

So in conclusion _ don’t sell your A1 :). I guess Sony wasn’t stupid enough to make a camera that was superior to the higher priced model. I don’t expect Sony will issue a firmware to change this positioning either - unless until the A1 is replaced. And great video btw -your findings are same I have with my a1 and 7r.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Thank you, nice to hear you got the same findings as I do. Sony doesn't have a great track records with firmware updates (except for a few specific cameras), so you're probably right.

[@TheArtist441]

I think my A7RIII with the small spot AF box works much better than the A7RV for animals and birds after using the A7RV myself. The supposed AI AF is more of a hindrance to wildlife photography than anything else and past medium range, it's completely useless. The human eye detect might be impressive but haven't tried that personally as yet

[@dr.alanmarcus4741]

There are new firmware updates both for the Sony A7RV and the Sony G 200-600mm. Have you update these before you ran the tests? I understand that the firmware update for the lens has a significant effect on focus response.

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Yes for the lens, and it's an old firmware actually: it came out in November '22 and is about the stabilisation, not the AF. Firmware 2.0 for the A7R V came out after my test, but again it's not about the AF, but the new Creator app (at least according to the official release).

[@paulwoodford4974]

I have to say the R5 looks to be very disappointing and overly complicated in the settings for what purpose at don’t really achieve anything! I hope they don’t go down this road with the new A1 2! I was on the fence about buying this for my girlfriend but not now I think this has definitely confirmed my worst fears And she will be better off staying with my A9ii for now

[@cameraprepper7938]

Do you use auto ISO !? I will recommend to use either 100 ISO or 320 ISO in good light situations, the sensor have a dual gain, so the 320 ISO setting is better than than 250 and 400 for dynamic range ! The noise level at 320 is about the same as at ISO 125 and 160 and ISO 320 have better noise level than ISO 200, 250, 400+

[@ads3453]

I find it horribly confusing with regards to Sony's cameras as to which is best for wildlife and macro. You speak to Sony and they point at this camera. However its clear that its not up there with the A9 / A1 in fact according your list its down the bottom of the list...

[@MathieuGasquetMirrorLessons]

Keep in mind that my list is specific to AF and birds in flight, it’s not a rank about the cameras as a whole. But I understand what you are saying, the A7R V would not be my first choice for wildlife. It would also help if Sony could be more consistent with firmware updates. For example they added focus bracketing to the A7R V, which is great for macro, why not add it to other cameras via firmware…?

[@j.kimmer1509]

Canon R7 has better bird eye focus than the A7RV for only $1,399.00 - i have both bodies. I will be returning my SonyA75 to get a full refund ... very disappointed with the gimmick "ai" chip.

[@pawelmod3292]

User error? Or perhaps system related issues? Not sure if it is possible to trust your statements. If you would say, in my opinion, basing on my short experience, during my a few shooting sessions, etc than perhaps we could learn something from you. But if you are just saying A is better than B then I’m calling it BS. There is no perfect camera…

[@MHarvey-tp5km]

​@@pawelmod3292exactly.

[@codyzimmerman6691]

Wrong.

[@theyouthblock8210]

SONY has the best focus system in the market. You're either joking or you don't know what you're sayin

[@Lowns_300]

User error 100%