SL3's Animal Detection

[MediaFotografie]

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...during the test phase last year, the "animal recognition" was not yet available, is also something rare for me, but I tried it out over Easter with good to very good results; everything with SL 24-70/2.8, AF-S, open aperture (or almost) and greater distance, i.e. heavily cropped; the swans in the reeds were quite difficult for an AF.

I'm pleasantly surprised, nice!

 

 

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[frame-it]

did you try it on a running dog or other fast moving animal?

 

Edited April 1, 2024 by frame-it

[MediaFotografie]

vor 48 Minuten schrieb frame-it:

did you try it on a running dog or other fast moving animal?

 

no, my examples moved very slowly

[frame-it]

17 minutes ago, MediaFotografie said:

no, my examples moved very slowly

try it on a dog running towards you

[helged]

Regarding running dogs; I am quite happy with SL3, with the comment that 4 or 5 fps in AFc is on the slow side; but I guess this will improve in SL3-S or Lumix S1ii. And I also think that the detection algorithm, particularly eye focus, will improve with FW updates.

 

[rgacpa]

17 hours ago, frame-it said:

try it on a dog running towards you

I used it on a white wolf running towards me in snow -couple of weeks ago. 30% hit rate. SL3+ 90-280 wide open. 
much better than my manual focusing!

[frame-it]

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54 minutes ago, rgacpa said:

I used it on a white wolf running towards me in snow -couple of weeks ago. 30% hit rate. SL3+ 90-280 wide open. 
much better than my manual focusing!

Only 30%?

[rgacpa]

16 hours ago, frame-it said:

Only 30%?

Yup. If not even a bit less. Left/right and directional change was much better than the SL2 (not sure that's saying much...).

[TheGodParticle/Hari]

18 hours ago, frame-it said:

Only 30%?

30% isn’t bad considering he’s still alive 😁

[BlackDoc]

Hi there !

I've tried animal detection in moving images (AFC). Those weren't quick movements (dressage equestrian sport) - okay, indoor and bad light.

Nevertheless: The AF was very easily distracted (adjusted to the background...) and in series mode there was a lot of waste. That's exactly what I don't need at SPORT events. The AFC "pursuit" was significantly better and more reliable in the cross check, especially with dark (but moderately fast) subjects and moderate light (I needed ISO 2000 at f2.8 to get a time of 1/640) and towards me the AF had more trouble. I can do it in AFS or even manually (single shot), but at the moment the animal mode might want to be improved again - and for the time being I won't want to rely on it (yet).
Which does NOT mean that the AF hasn't gotten better from SL-2 to SL-3.

[helged]

2 hours ago, BlackDoc said:

Hi there !

I've tried animal detection in moving images (AFC). Those weren't quick movements (dressage equestrian sport) - okay, indoor and bad light.

Nevertheless: The AF was very easily distracted (adjusted to the background...) and in series mode there was a lot of waste. That's exactly what I don't need at SPORT events. The AFC "pursuit" was significantly better and more reliable in the cross check, especially with dark (but moderately fast) subjects and moderate light (I needed ISO 2000 at f2.8 to get a time of 1/640) and towards me the AF had more trouble. I can do it in AFS or even manually (single shot), but at the moment the animal mode might want to be improved again - and for the time being I won't want to rely on it (yet).
Which does NOT mean that the AF hasn't gotten better from SL-2 to SL-3.

Yes, we can both hope for and expect AFc to improve in forthcoming FW updates.

Can you elaborate on the lens(es) you use and your af settings:

Drive mode (4 or 5 fps); Focus Settings (I typically use AF Setup -> AF Profiles with Pre-focus activated -> Wildlife with default parameter settings).

 

[BlackDoc]

vor einer Stunde schrieb helged:

 

Can you elaborate on the lens(es) you use and your af settings:

Drive mode (4 or 5 fps)

 

i´ve used BOTH

Zitat

Focus Settings (I typically use AF Setup -> AF Profiles with Pre-focus activated -> Wildlife with default parameter settings).

that´s exactly the same setting i am using.

 

Lenses: right at the moment I am using the 70-200 Panasonic f2.8

 

[helged]

22 minutes ago, BlackDoc said:

i´ve used BOTH

that´s exactly the same setting i am using.

 

Lenses: right at the moment I am using the 70-200 Panasonic f2.8

 

Thanks.

SL3 is waaaay back compared to the larger players, but I nevertheless find AFc on SL3 usable. I havn't experience with 70-200 Panasonic f2.8, but I would think this is a fairly fast focussing lens. Sigma 70-200 f2.8 certainly is. I havn't tested AFc indoor; this may reduce the focus hit rate.

Personally, I look forward to what Panasonic is going to release in a few months time (version two of S1 and/or S1R or something else with full frame sensor), as well as FW update(s) from Leica.

[BlackDoc]

one example -> Setting: SL3 + 70-200 PANASONIC, AFC Animal detection - ELECTRONIC Shutter 15Pics/ sec 

and what happened?
Taking a pic while zooming- and what we see is  I am beginning to loose AF and some kind of distortion. 

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[BlackDoc]

BTW

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there are "some" pics  where the combo delivered 

 

[SrMi]

1 hour ago, BlackDoc said:

one example -> Setting: SL3 + 70-200 PANASONIC, AFC Animal detection - ELECTRONIC Shutter 15Pics/ sec 

and what happened?
Taking a pic while zooming- and what we see is  I am beginning to loose AF and some kind of distortion. 

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If there is significant movement, there will be distortion with the electronic shutter. If you shoot higher than 5 fps, the focus will lock at the first frame. Subsequent frame will be out-of-focus if the subject moves outside the focus plane.

[BlackDoc]

vor 7 Stunden schrieb SrMi:

If there is significant movement, there will be distortion with the electronic shutter. If you shoot higher than 5 fps, the focus will lock at the first frame. Subsequent frame will be out-of-focus if the subject moves outside the focus plane.

Thanks for your summarise!

I just wanted to show this effect to those who are expecting a perfect pic series in AFC. And as we are talking about photography - sometimes (the own) mistakes give more chance to understand ….  

[helged]

9 hours ago, BlackDoc said:

one example -> Setting: SL3 + 70-200 PANASONIC, AFC Animal detection - ELECTRONIC Shutter 15Pics/ sec 

and what happened?
Taking a pic while zooming- and what we see is  I am beginning to loose AF and some kind of distortion. 

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Yes, the sensor readout time is so long that the electronic shutter needs to be used with (great) caution.

Sensors with max 8 ms readout time is generally ok for moving subjects or when moving the camera or zooming the lens, etc.; 16 ms readout time mostly work (eg Canon R5);  32+ readout time is too slow. And SL3 belongs to the latter (and it does’t help with very short shutter speeds; readout time is the same).

The electronic shutter on SL3 is fine for static subjects, like landscape, or for a moving subject at distance.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica L-Mount

[helged]

AF improvements on the way for Panasonic S5ii/S5iix; possibly something to be seen in forthcoming SL3 FW updates as well.

 

[jaapv]

I hope animal eye recognition will work  as advertised. That would be exceedingly useful for me.