Here’s the video:
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The two useful AF modes
The two useful AF modes for video are:
- Face detection
- Tracking – configured to the OK button
Tracking is slightly more accurate, but harder to do because the ‘box’ cannot be positioned that accurately.
Settings:
- AF-mode: AF-F Full-time AF
- AF-Area mode: Auto Area AF (This is necessary for both face detection and tracking to work)
- AF Speed: 0
- AF Tracking Sensitivity: 4
The bottom line is AF tracking for video is only useful for situations where the subject is mostly stationary, like sit-down interviews or news presenter/vlogger-type videos. Any sudden movements might completely throw out the AF system and it might not recover.
Hi Sareesh, Just small note. I was a little confused with the inability of face detection and AF tracking You are showing in the video, because my Z7 is not behaving like this. And then I found some serious mistake in your video. As You were testing face detection and AF tracking, when you moved the camera to show it, in fact You grabed the focus ring on the lens and moved it slightly. With this You actually overrid AF settings to manual mode. And this is, why the yellow box of face detection or AF tracking changed to the small red box of manual focus and didn’t work anymore, until You half-pressed the trigger again. Visible f.e. on 4:40, 8:03, 8:27, 9:13, 9:35, 9:57… You can see even on the top line of the display, how the AF-F sign changed to MF. So in all these cases it was actually not a caprice of camera AF.
Regards, Radek
Radek, thanks for pointing it out, you are right. The AF-F changes to MF as well during those times.
However, as far as performance is concerned, I have tested it many more times separately under different occasions, even with manual focus through the focus ring switched off.
Of course, it doesn’t change anything on information in video. The AF is not the best in the world, no doubt…