MRJohn Posted January 20 Share #1 Posted January 20 Advertisement (gone after registration) My question is only related to still photography, not video: Did anyone have a chance to compare the SL3-S AF ability to "keep tracking the selected subject and not jump to another" vs the SL2-S and SL3 (and perhaps "Q43")? Within the l-mount alliance, how does it compare to Panasonic current best offerings? How does it compare to best in class outside of the alliance (e.g. Sony, Nikon...) - It seems to be a feature which software can solve with the right hardware and judging what people write in the forum and outside of it, hardware does not seem a limiting factor any more (I might be wrong). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 20 Posted January 20 Hi MRJohn, Take a look here SL3-S: is the AF ability to track subjects in busy scenes improved?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Simone_DF Posted January 20 Share #2 Posted January 20 1 hour ago, MRJohn said: My question is only related to still photography, not video: Did anyone have a chance to compare the SL3-S AF ability to "keep tracking the selected subject and not jump to another" vs the SL2-S and SL3 (and perhaps "Q43")? Within the l-mount alliance, how does it compare to Panasonic current best offerings? Ex SL2-S owner, now with a Q3 43 and a S5II. No, the AF stickiness is still a sore point of PanaLeicas. I have the impression that the Q3 43 after the most recent firmware update is slightly better than the SL2-S, but it could be confirmation bias. Both sucks anyway. The S5II is more firm, but not by much. 1 hour ago, MRJohn said: How does it compare to best in class outside of the alliance (e.g. Sony, Nikon...) - It seems to be a feature which software can solve with the right hardware and judging what people write in the forum and outside of it, hardware does not seem a limiting factor any more (I might be wrong). Compared to Canon and Sony it's not even close, for these two brands - I don't know about Nikon - once AF is locked onto a subject, it doesn't leave the subject unless the user actively disengage the focus to refocus somewhere else. Yes, it can be fixed via firmware and no, hardware is not the liming factor for the SL3 / Q3 series. 5-6 year old cameras like the A7III had this AF performance in 2018. What is important to understand is that Panasonic is new to PDAF, so it will require time and software optimization to reach the other brands, and with the S5II they have already covered a big gap. I'm positive they'll reach parity, but it's not going to happen tomorrow. 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LocalHero1953 Posted January 20 Share #3 Posted January 20 @Simone_DF - the question was about the SL3-S, not the SL2-S - is it the SL3-S you are commenting on? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simone_DF Posted January 20 Share #4 Posted January 20 2 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said: @Simone_DF - the question was about the SL3-S, not the SL2-S - is it the SL3-S you are commenting on? Thank you, I misread that as SL2-S Anyway, I would not expect any dramatic difference with the Q3 43 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRJohn Posted January 20 Author Share #5 Posted January 20 4 hours ago, Simone_DF said: Thank you, I misread that as SL2-S Anyway, I would not expect any dramatic difference with the Q3 43 In my experience, the Q3 43 is not very good at tracking a selected subject in busy scenes. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SrMi Posted January 20 Share #6 Posted January 20 6 hours ago, Simone_DF said: Thank you, I misread that as SL2-S Anyway, I would not expect any dramatic difference with the Q3 43 I would expect Q3 43 to be closer to SL3 than to SL3-S. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim Dahl Posted January 21 Share #7 Posted January 21 Advertisement (gone after registration) I can confirm that the Q343 (and the same with the Q328) does not have good AF. It works fine with single focus and non-moving subjects. The face recognition - it switches between person to person if there are several people. It does not lock. If it is one person, it switches between one eye and the other. So the finished result may as well be the eye furthest from the camera. That the eye closest to the lens should be sharp is a classic portrait rule. I really hope the firmware can improve it. I actually think it is the Q3's biggest flaw. So dear Leica focus on AF focus. ☺️📷 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simone_DF Posted January 21 Share #8 Posted January 21 Well folks, until Panasonic improves their AF, Leica’s won’t improve either. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRJohn Posted January 21 Author Share #9 Posted January 21 2 hours ago, Kim Dahl said: So dear Leica focus on AF focus. ☺️📷 well spoken - hope we get some replies to the initial question, really curious how the SL3-S compares 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronilux Posted January 21 Share #10 Posted January 21 vor 1 Stunde schrieb Simone_DF: Well folks, until Panasonic improves their AF, Leica’s won’t improve either. From my experience the AF in the Panasonic S9 and S5II is a good bit better, than the SL3 and SL2-S. I would be happy to have the AF of the S9 in an SL body. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LocalHero1953 Posted January 21 Share #11 Posted January 21 Come on guys, let's hear about the SL3-S. We all know about the SL2-S, SL3, S5ii, S9, Q3, Q3 43.............. 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oceantan Posted January 21 Share #12 Posted January 21 I brought the SL3-S with the sigma 150-600 for bird photography last Sunday. Compared to SL2-S, I had more keepers. And more importantly, I felt more confident with the camera’s focusing speed and tracking. It was fast enough to capture birds in flight as well. The only issue I had was when I kept half pressing the shuttle to track and ready to fire off, and after a couple of seconds, the focus will shift and wander off. When that happens, I just lift the shuttle and half pressed again. The focus will shift back to the subject immediately. 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRJohn Posted January 21 Author Share #13 Posted January 21 45 minutes ago, Oceantan said: I brought the SL3-S with the sigma 150-600 for bird photography last Sunday. Compared to SL2-S, I had more keepers. And more importantly, I felt more confident with the camera’s focusing speed and tracking. It was fast enough to capture birds in flight as well. The only issue I had was when I kept half pressing the shuttle to track and ready to fire off, and after a couple of seconds, the focus will shift and wander off. When that happens, I just lift the shuttle and half pressed again. The focus will shift back to the subject immediately. I am not actively familiar with bird photography, did you select one bird from a flock of birds (= "busy scene") and it kept tracking the selected bird better than the SL2-S would have? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernd-B Posted January 21 Share #14 Posted January 21 I received my SL3-S yesterday and tested the AF performance today. The pelican was flapping its wings, I shot with the Sigma 5.6/500 DG DN at 7 frames/sec with the electronic shutter. Over around 30 frames the AF stayed perfectly on the eye - see below Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! 4 Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/418707-sl3-s-is-the-af-ability-to-track-subjects-in-busy-scenes-improved/?do=findComment&comment=5744252'>More sharing options...
MRJohn Posted January 22 Author Share #15 Posted January 22 13 hours ago, Bernd-B said: I received my SL3-S yesterday and tested the AF performance today. The pelican was flapping its wings, I shot with the Sigma 5.6/500 DG DN at 7 frames/sec with the electronic shutter. Over around 30 frames the AF stayed perfectly on the eye - see below Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Thanks, that is good (and nice light in the shot), but not exactly a busy scene, like if there were several eyes to choose from. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oceantan Posted January 22 Share #16 Posted January 22 (edited) I shot this yellow bittern against a busy background during noon time when the sun was above head. There were glare from the lake surface and also water lilies all over the lake which made the bittern blended into the background. I expected the AF to be confused but the camera managed to keep the AF on the bittern. I think selecting animal AF mode helped the camera to focus on the bittern. I did shoot 3 birds perching on top of a tree. The camera had focus frames on the 3 birds. I did notice that the focus frame was consistent on the bird which was facing the camera while the other 2 birds, with their back facing the camera, had intermittent focus frames. Anyhow, my focus was on the front facing bird not bec the AF was consistent on it, but bec it as a better subject. Edited January 22 by Oceantan 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernd-B Posted January 22 Share #17 Posted January 22 (edited) To test the SL3-S I visited the Munich zoo yesterday. I have asked myself how the AF works in busy situations. The image above of the pelican is not really a busy situation, I fully agree. The penguins below were ready for their daily fish and grouped at one corner running around to get the best position. I have focussed with the animal detection (beta) on one individual which was perfectly kept in focus for the whole series - again with the Sigma 5.6/500 DG DN at 7 frames/sec. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Edited January 22 by Bernd-B 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/418707-sl3-s-is-the-af-ability-to-track-subjects-in-busy-scenes-improved/?do=findComment&comment=5744570'>More sharing options...
Photoworks Posted January 22 Share #18 Posted January 22 I like to see an animal in tall grass on a cloudy day. The SL3 will fail, can the SL3-S be a bit better? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRJohn Posted January 22 Author Share #19 Posted January 22 2 hours ago, Bernd-B said: To test the SL3-S I visited the Munich zoo yesterday. I have asked myself how the AF works in busy situations. The image above of the pelican is not really a busy situation, I fully agree. The penguins below were ready for their daily fish and grouped at one corner running around to get the best position. I have focussed with the animal detection (beta) on one individual which was perfectly kept in focus for the whole series - again with the Sigma 5.6/500 DG DN at 7 frames/sec. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! That sounds encouraging. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRJohn Posted January 22 Author Share #20 Posted January 22 (edited) Overall I wonder why it is so difficult for Leica to implement proper tracking in busy scenes. They mostly identify the right patterns to choose from. They are able to track a pattern mostly just fine. They have enough horsepower under the hood (their marketing certainly sounds like it). But the coexistence of other, similar patterns (e.g. more people, other faces...) seems to confuse the software and causes it to jump around sometimes. That should be a pretty straightforward problem to solve for a software engineer, maybe these guys have not been told what the problem was. There should be an initial choice, then a selection via cursor, then a sticky tracking of that selection. New choice should only come when the choice is de-selected through some button or double click (not by pressing the shutter), or when it is lost (some decision sequence like that). Let's hope... ... and curious if we get a few more responses from street photographers, zoo photographers, team sport photographers... Edited January 22 by MRJohn 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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