Got my 5n today but....

[teefin1]

The quality of the images are so much better (to me) than the A57 but it's so slow to focus I can hardly catch a shot of my little girl. The 50mm seems to hunt for focus even more than the kit, what am I doing wrong?!

 

[quezra]

Are you using the AF assist light?

 

[korn_2956]

If the lighting is low it sucks.

 

[nianys]

It seems to suck even in pretty fair light.
For the first time today I attached the 18-55 as I knew the riding lesson of my 4 yr old would leave little time to accurately manual focus. Boy, I think I could actually have done better with the legacy lenses. Coming from the GX-1 the NEX is SLOW poke... No biggie for me, I'm manually focusing 95% of the time. But it sure ain't an action camera ;-)

 

[BigMike]

A little disconcerting as I'm considering the SEL50 1.8 as my next lens. Just wondering for those who own both the SEL50 and Sigma 30, which one has the faster auto focus. I currently own the Sigma 30 and there is nothing to write home about when it comes to AF speed, so definitely hope someone will confirm the SEL50 is noticeably faster...

 

[Dioptrick]

The quality of the images are so much better (to me) than the A57 but it's so slow to focus I can hardly catch a shot of my little girl. The 50mm seems to hunt for focus even more than the kit, what am I doing wrong?!

Try the SCN shooting mode, and select Sports Action. The lens focusing will be activated all the time even if you're not pressing the shutter button, so hopefully you can time it so that the focus lag occurs before you take the shot. It also selects the highest possible speed (but at the expense of higher ISO) so it'll get rid of some of the blur caused by subject movement or camera shake (sometimes adds to the OOF).

The NEX uses contrast detection for AF so if the subject/backgrounds are too similar it'll definitely struggle, but the Sports Action Mode might help - as long as the subject isn't coming right at you (or going quickly away from you)... and if that's the case, you can overcome that by the old-school MF trick of pre-focusing on a pre-determined spot and pressing the shutter when the subject gets there.

 

[dbmiller]

Make sure you have the latest firmware. The one and only update they put out did fix some AF hunting problems.

 

[teefin1]

Fab advice again, the firmware is up to date, turned the AF assist off and tried the scn sports mode, which did work but inhibits the use of creative options. Nianys is right, the AF pretty much sucks in relatively good light! The focus peaking is great so I shall try for a little longer. Does anyone know if the nex 7 or any of the new releases fare better in this regard?

 

[Dioptrick]

Does anyone know if the nex 7 or any of the new releases fare better in this regard?

Interesting question. I've not heard that the NEX7 is any faster, however apparently the NEX6 is speedier. Now since the NEX6 uses the same SEL lenses, I'm guessing it's all to do with better contrast detection software. If this is the case, lets hope Sony would make this upgrade available for the 5N in due course.

 

[korn_2956]

Interesting question. I've not heard that the NEX7 is any faster, however apparently the NEX6 is speedier. Now since the NEX6 uses the same SEL lenses, I'm guessing it's all to do with better contrast detection software. If this is the case, lets hope Sony would make this upgrade available for the 5N in due course.

The 5r and the 6 use phase and contrast detection.

 

[Dioptrick]

The 5r and the 6 use phase and contrast detection.

Have you come across any info as to where the phase detection sensors are, Korn? I'm wondering if these sensors are in the 5r and 6 body or in the newer SEL lenses themselves. If the phase sensors are in the camera bodies, there's no speedy AF upgrade for the 5N then. If the phase detection sensors are within the new lenses... there might be hope for a 5N AF upgrade.

Anyway, I've read somewhere that hybrid AF systems (phase and contrast detection) are pretty fast and can rival some DSLR AF systems.

 

[korn_2956]

Its built into the sensor. Says it can do 10 frames per second while auto focusing. 5n is a fast as its gonna be.

 

[nianys]

Anyway, I've read somewhere that hybrid AF systems (phase and contrast detection) are pretty fast and can rival some DSLR AF systems.

It is true of the Nikon J and V1 cameras, but so far they're the only sucessful hybrid AF systems. The one used in the Canon T4i and M mirrroless has been shown to be awfully slow, and I'm reading mixed previews on the NEX 6. I wouldn't expect miracles. For very, very fast AF, Panny is first and Oly close second.