Q3 eye detect

[SJH]

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Hi everyone - I've had the Q3 since launch day and overall I'm really enjoying the camera and all the new features.

However, I'm struggling a bit with the eye detect feature. In summary it appears to be worse than the implementation in my SL2-S in that for example I was shooting at a 60th party event and both outside and indoors (good evening summer light) when this feature was enabled, if framing say 5 people in various positions, the eye detect was practically unusable as both 'eye' and 'body' indicators just constantly jumped around all over the place.

My SL2-S however would select an individual (eyes) but allowed me to toggle to another subject using the joystick. Frankly the Q3 was unusable in this mode and I reverted to shooting in spot focus mode, I appreciate of course it's a 28mm fixed lens but the SL2-S with its MIII processor appears to work far better then the Q3 with a MIV processor!!

Overall though the Q3 was significantly better later in the evening, as I started to bump up the ISO, compared to my Q2 in this scenario, I'd say it's on a par with the M11 but not quite as good as the SL2-S in this regard. In my view this was always the achilles heal of the Q2, poor higher ISO performance. 

Anyhow getting back on topic is anyone else experiencing this? I would stay though that that the tracking mode is much better than the Q2 and locks on like a limpet, so strange that the eye detect seems so poor?

[theBear]

There is a good video on YouTube from mathphotographer that talks through all the settings and goes into detail about the various AF settings. With regard to Face/Eye detect he says it has a preference for the closest face to the camera and then you can toggle between eyes and faces with the joystic. Short press left or right for eye selection and long press left or right for face selection. Not sure if this is the same with the SL-2 and haven’t managed to try out myself yet as an tending to use spot as you said you reverted to.

[HL99]

I've noticed in some lighting situations (back light) my Q3 also struggles between eye and body detect, even with a single person. otherwise a fantastic camera, and focus is still better than the Q2

[beewee]

I’m assuming you’re using AFc or iAF? Maybe worth trying AFs.

Also, I’m assuming you’re not using body/face/eye + animal detect which is less reliable than body/face/eye (human only).

Edited July 12, 2023 by beewee

[HL99]

yep, AFc. i'll give AFs a shot

[SJH]

Thanks All and yes in very controlled conditions the eye detect AF works the way people describe above so similar to the SL2/S approach. So if you have say two people that are static and with a bland background, it works ok and just like my SL2-S. However, the minute you get into say an event scenario, people moving around (but not that fast)/sitting & standing, it's all over the place. The SL2-S, whilst not the same as the Sony/Canon/Nikon eye detect, makes a much better job of this and is the previous generation processor and no PDAF.

Like I mentioned though tracking seems a league above the Q2 and general AF responsiveness, so overall I'm really happy with the camera, I just think they need to sort out the eye detect as it doesn't seem as good as say the Panasonic S5ii or the SL2/S.

[M11 for me]

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I think that eye detect is not so easy with any camera when you have many people in your frame and you should act quickly. In that case it gets quite difficult as the focus process has to be fast and you work without a joy-stick or a wheel with which you could set the starting point of the focus field very quickly (and even without even looking through the VF when you have your camera just in your hand but not at the eye yet). 

The Q3 worked very well with me in "slow" situations. You might want to try with a fix AF point (maybe even spot) pre-selected. Position this AF point in the frame where you expect that the main person should be in your composition and should be sharp. Maybe in such shooting situations (60th birthday party as you write) it is not essential if the focus is on a specific eye. 

The reference to "Mathphotographer" is probably not so correct as he focusses his little puppet in the studio.

[SJH]

12 hours ago, M11 for me said:

I think that eye detect is not so easy with any camera when you have many people in your frame and you should act quickly. In that case it gets quite difficult as the focus process has to be fast and you work without a joy-stick or a wheel with which you could set the starting point of the focus field very quickly (and even without even looking through the VF when you have your camera just in your hand but not at the eye yet). 

The Q3 worked very well with me in "slow" situations. You might want to try with a fix AF point (maybe even spot) pre-selected. Position this AF point in the frame where you expect that the main person should be in your composition and should be sharp. Maybe in such shooting situations (60th birthday party as you write) it is not essential if the focus is on a specific eye. 

The reference to "Mathphotographer" is probably not so correct as he focusses his little puppet in the studio.

Thanks for your thoughts and yes that’s true to a certain extent e.g large moving groups but for me 4-5 people that are relatively static shouldn’t be a problem. As you say though I resorted to the old ‘spot and refocus’ or placing spot focus in the right part of the frame.

The disappointing thing for me is that my SL2-S is much better in the situation I describe above!

[katieg]

I’ve had similar issues/frustrations with this feature. It seems like the iAF mode PLUS eye/face/body detection with multiple subjects (more than one person), it really does not do well. Clean/clear lighting situations it can somewhat handle it, but high ISO situations and busy backgrounds, it really struggles. 

I do find a little bit better success with switching it to AF-Single point and then using Eye/face/body detection when I have multiple subjects. I can quickly figure out how to toggle between a person if I don’t want the one it’s initially focused on. Takes a little bit of practice, but it’s been acceptable for me. I do like the buttons all on the right side now to make these adjustments quicker.

 

There are still some times where even that autofocus mode set up gets frustrating with multiple subjects in the frame, in that event, i just quickly switch it back to AF-Single and Spot Focus mode and do the ol’ focus/recompose that I’m used to when I had the Q2m and Q2 before that.