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Author Topic: Mirrorless cameras and focus in bursts  (Read 1981 times)

walter.sk

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Mirrorless cameras and focus in bursts
« on: March 13, 2013, 11:37:41 am »

My wife is considering getting a small camera such as the NEX-7, Oly Em5, Lumix GH3, or Sony SLTA57 or A65. Any of them meet her need for a lightweight system with decent picture quality.  However, she does a lot of shooting in situations such as powwows, where she might close in on one dancer and shoot a burst using continuous focus, panning with the dancer.

She is currently using a Sony A100, and gets a pretty reasonable rate of in-focus pictures, but wants to upgrade this aging camera.  Going to a SonySLT would enable her to use her current set  of lenses, which is highly desirable.

What is your experience with the above cameras in the kind of shooting she does?  She does not want to go to a full frame camera because of size and the fact that she would have to buy new glass, even with a Sony.
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Ken Bennett

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Re: Mirrorless cameras and focus in bursts
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2013, 11:54:29 am »

I have a GH2. It does not do a great job at that sort of photography. On burst mode, the camera shoots multiple frames, but the viewfinder effectively blacks out for the duration of the burst. (Well, technically it shows the image you just shot, which is not helpful when following action.) Of the 4 m4/3 bodies we own, all of them do this, so I am not hopeful for the GH3....

Not sure about the AF during this process. I tried it only once, shooting a kayaking competition, and while I did get some decent photos, trying to follow the action was very frustrating.
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Ken Bennett

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Re: Mirrorless cameras and focus in bursts
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2013, 08:30:31 pm »

afaict from the GH2 manual, if you limit burst speed to L or M (2-3 images per second) Live View should continue to work.

Ah, thanks. I didn't recall that -- will try it next time.
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walter.sk

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Re: Mirrorless cameras and focus in bursts
« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2013, 09:24:29 pm »

Thanks, guys.  So far, not so encouraging...
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SZRitter

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Re: Mirrorless cameras and focus in bursts
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2013, 09:41:59 pm »

My experiences with burst on Olympus (E-PM1, so not as good as the E-M5 I'm sure) was less than pleasing on maintaining focus. I am curious about the NEX 7 and Nex 6 with the hybrid system in it, to see how well it does. Might be your best bet, but I have no experience. Also, once again, not sure, but could be interesting to wait and see what Fuji does. The new X100s and X20 have a hybrid focus system, and that most likely will make it's way (I'm guessing) into the X-Pro and X-E lines.
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: Mirrorless cameras and focus in bursts
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2013, 09:48:52 pm »

The Nikon V2 does 15 images per second.

Cheers,
Bernard
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