Are you happy with Q3's Autofocus? What kind of AF mode you use?

[StefanoGili]

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Hi all, it's been 3 months since i bought my q3 and i'm still facing some issues related to the autofocus. I came from sony wich has the best AF in the market and i'm a little bit disappointed with the Q3 autofocus. I use AF-S with SPOT or FIELD and i faced some out of focus images in wich i cannot see any element in the photo that has focus instead of the subject, i mean not in the foreground nor in the background.

I wonder if someone of you has expeerienced the same "issue" or what settings are you using. I usually take the focus and reframe, since the q3 has not a joystick, i was thinking it could be a problem of depth of field, but it happens sometimes, even with close aperture like 4/5.6.. 

Any suggestion? When the focus is perfect, the details are impressive but sometimes i've lost important photos cause of this problem.

 

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[FusionX.Photo]

I live in AF-C with no issues, have tried AF-S a couple of times and wasn’t impressed.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, FusionX.Photo said:

I live in AF-C with no issues, have tried AF-S a couple of times and wasn’t impressed.

HI, I've been using "focus and recompose" with AF-S and Field focus. Do you use AF-C with Tracking focus to achieve the same result, or do you just shift the focus frame?

I guess with a couple of faces in the photo you can use AF-C and Face recognition?

[FusionX.Photo]

15 minutes ago, Corius said:

HI, I've been using "focus and recompose" with AF-S and Field focus. Do you use AF-C with Tracking focus to achieve the same result, or do you just shift the focus frame?

I guess with a couple of faces in the photo you can use AF-C and Face recognition?

I don’t have time to mess about recomposing, just field or zone, no tracking or face recognition, I’d rather pan gently than rely on tracking to be honest.

 

This for events and street.

[StefanoGili]

2 hours ago, FusionX.Photo said:

I live in AF-C with no issues, have tried AF-S a couple of times and wasn’t impressed.

AF-C is not reilable in my case, because recomposing will change the focus on another spot, in addition to the fact i find it really noisy and not very well performing.

Thanks for your advice.

I'm seriously thinking to use manual focus only...

Edited September 25, 2023 by StefanoGili

[jk356]

Can anyone comment on using the intelligentAF?

[BobsFirstLeica]

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1 hour ago, jk356 said:

Can anyone comment on using the intelligentAF?

My understanding is that iAF initially is AF-S. But if there is any movement in the subject it will change to AF-C in an attempt to keep the subject in focus.  Personally I don't use it, not because it doesn't work, but because it is not the way I have used AF in other cams.  If I want AF-C I will set it to AF-C.

Bob

[adrianh]

I would understand if the camera would focus to something else, but the way I read your post NOTHING is sharp? If this is the case, you might have other issues. 

[mholeica]

I use iAF with face recognition and if that struggles I switch to iAF with field. 
The only out of focus shots I have are the ones I know missed focus, shots which have locked focus where I want it to lock have been in focus. These days I don’t pixel peep too much though so maybe if I zoomed in a lot it might not be super sharp but tbh zoomed out it’s how it should be. After taking shots I do usually click the top bottom to check focus on camera - on EVF if I can.

[Le Chef]

I thought iAF only worked with JPG’s, hence never using it. I’m mostly in AFS and Spot or Field, depending on what I’m doing, and will quite often switch to manual focus.

[jk356]

Is the q3 AF better than the q2?

the red dot forum shills state it is a game changer!

[Miltz]

I use AF-S field small. Unfortunately face/body detection is awful compared to my Nikon. Autofocus overall is very good and low light autofocus is excellent, just stay away from face detection and body unless you’re in excellent light and the person is not moving at all. 

[Patrickfoley@mac.com]

6 hours ago, jk356 said:

Is the q3 AF better than the q2?

the red dot forum shills state it is a game changer!

For me it really is a game changer. I’ve owned both the Q and Q2 in the past. For photographing people, especially candid shots, the Q3 is so much better. 

[clasami]

AF-S and spot. No problem at all. Using Body/Face recognition is a fail once there are more than three people in the frame. Rectangles all over the place like in a computer game.

[ChrisQ3]

The latest firmware (v1.3) has improved face detection! 

[Voxen]

9 hours ago, ChrisQ3 said:

The latest firmware (v1.3) has improved face detection! 

Improved how? Speed? Accuracy? Thanks for your feedback.

[ChrisQ3]

2 minutes ago, Voxen said:

Improved how? Speed? Accuracy? Thanks for your feedback.

‘Improved’ is as much as Leica have said… I guess we need to try it and answer the question ourselves. 

Edited September 29, 2023 by ChrisQ3