Does the Leica SL2-S have (proper) eye-af?

[thelivingyears]

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I currently have a Sony A7III, but I‘m thinking of buying a SL2-S. I‘m a bit worried about the AF-capabilities of the SL2-S. 

I‘m not doing sports or action photography. However, I love its af capabilities when it comes to shooting portraits of people, moving or not. of course children, animals etc. 

 

So how good does the AF of the Leica SL2-S work? 

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[LocalHero1953]

I suggest you do a search on this forum and read all the many threads on the same subject.

Result: you will not get a clear conclusion. It depends on whether:

• You are a glass-half-empty or glass-half-full personality.
• You are shooting iAF, AFs or AFc, tracking etc.
• You are comparing the SL2-S against your actual needs or the performance of other cameras.
• You want speed or accuracy.

The acceptability of performance also depends on how important it is for you relative to other photographic performance (e.g. colour science, low light performance, EVF, interface, durability, size/weight etc).

Does that help?😁

For context, I have owned the SL, SL-2, SL2-S, CL, TL2, Sigma fp, but no other brands since 2011. I shoot portraits, events, theatrical rehearsals & performance, dance etc. I shoot mainly in iAF, single shot (no burst) mode with body/face/eye focus.

Does the SL2-S have proper Eye AF? I have no idea whether its specs say it does. In practice, the SL2-S seems to nail the eye quickly most of the time when I'd expect it to.*

Where does it fail where I want it to succeed? Tracking moving figures in a scene, especially when they cross or their faces turn away. I'm willing to accept this limitation of the SL2-S for the other positives of the camera.

 

*Edit. I very rarely see a little AF box around just an eye - so rarely I don't look for it. But even without it focus seems to pick up the eye.

Edited September 17, 2021 by LocalHero1953

[thelivingyears]

Thank you for your comprehensive answer! I appreciate it. It seems to be a controversial issue. However, at the same time it seems as if it‘s not. 

What I still have to find out is whether it has a dedicated eye-AF. My Leica Q2 doesn‘t have it. At least it just puts boxes round the heads, not the eyes.

I also find it surprising that there are not videos on Youtube that demonstrate the eye-af‘s capabilities. 

In most tests they say that the AF isn‘t good. you also say that one needs to know how to achieve things. But then again, I was used to shooting with Pentax DSLRs. Not the quickest AF for a long time but I got my shots without much effort. Unfortunately I‘m spoilt now because the (eye)AF of the Sony cameras is insanely good. 

[hoolyproductions]

41 minutes ago, thelivingyears said:

What I still have to find out is whether it has a dedicated eye-AF. My Leica Q2 doesn‘t have it. At least it just puts boxes round the heads, not the eyes.

It does not, only a setting for face/body detection (which as noted above does 'often' lock onto the eye, if the stars are aligned, but you still only see a green box around the head). I haven't had much opportunity to try it out but have been generally pleased with the results so far - particularly if there is only one or two faces in the scene.

Edited September 18, 2021 by hoolyproductions

[Photoworks]

yesterday I had a shoot with the SL2 , portrait of actors, 6000+ capture using face detect AF with the 75 SL and the 24-90 SL.

the Summicron-SL lens accuracy rate is 98%, that is was I was getting with the sony A7r3.  Been portrait there was not too much running around , but I shoot fast and often changing perspective.

the 24-90 zoom does focus well. the beauty about contrast AF is that it is accurate. But the zoom had difficulty finding people sometime on wide angles, giving me a few boxes and some even on a film camera on tripod .

I think the AF is very capable unless you do sports and people walking to you. you should learn you camera and use it in the right focusing mode and AF settings.

Continues AF is a challenge for the camera and for me on most cameras, unless it works 100% I just will not use it.