05-17-2011, 04:42 PM
(I know the community here tends to dislike my pictures, but this time I need some to demonstrate the case.)
I claim that in many practical cases high continuous-shooting frame rate of the Sony A55 can compensate for the presumed AF-speed deficiency.
I don't really care whether the camera fitted with 50mm f/1.4 in someone's hands can track an approaching train.
What I already know, is that in my hands, when fitted with either 16-80 f/3.5-4.5 or 70-210 f/4, it's unable to track my dog running towards me.
So, my solution is to preset the focus for the desired subject size, set the 6 fps or 10 fps mode, and keep the shutter pressed for approximately a second at the right moment.
After several rounds I'm rewarded with 1-2 usable pictures.
By the way, the dog's picture here is taken with an MF lens - Jupiter 37 - 135mm f/3.5 - made in USSR in early 80s. It has enormous number of aperture blades, and thus greatly outperforms the 70-210 set at 135mm in defocusing the background trees.
The flower-and-bug picture was taken with the 16-80 and 10 fps. The swinging of my head with the attached camera did the focus-guess job.
I claim that in many practical cases high continuous-shooting frame rate of the Sony A55 can compensate for the presumed AF-speed deficiency.
I don't really care whether the camera fitted with 50mm f/1.4 in someone's hands can track an approaching train.
What I already know, is that in my hands, when fitted with either 16-80 f/3.5-4.5 or 70-210 f/4, it's unable to track my dog running towards me.
So, my solution is to preset the focus for the desired subject size, set the 6 fps or 10 fps mode, and keep the shutter pressed for approximately a second at the right moment.
After several rounds I'm rewarded with 1-2 usable pictures.
By the way, the dog's picture here is taken with an MF lens - Jupiter 37 - 135mm f/3.5 - made in USSR in early 80s. It has enormous number of aperture blades, and thus greatly outperforms the 70-210 set at 135mm in defocusing the background trees.
The flower-and-bug picture was taken with the 16-80 and 10 fps. The swinging of my head with the attached camera did the focus-guess job.