Fast Low-Light AF when using Sony Alpha Cameras 

These videos should ship with every Sony camera.. This guy knows his stuff. Hopefully the Sony money truck is visiting him often 🤑

Thanks Mark, absolutely helped me clear up a few low light focus problems that I’ve had since my change to Alpha cameras.

Fantastic tutorials Mark!!! Just bought an A7riii and your videos help me a lot to fully understand and customize my gear. Cheers

Best tutorials I have seen. Thank you for your excellent work, Mark!

Thank you so much- these tips are game changers..... I’ve always shot in AF-C, and I had no idea about live display affecting focus too!

Mark, as usual, you took a complex subject and “illuminated” it in ways, few other teachers on the planet could ever have done. (Pun intended, with illuminated)...thank you for being such an amazing resource for these complex and very new cameras. I will tell you now, I am anxiously awaiting your course on how to use the new 5.0 firmware, then 6.0 firmware for the Sony A9. Cheers, my friend.

Another nugget of gold, this video. Thank you.

Mark, Thank you so much for this video. It is really helpful. Just recently, I returned from a bird photography shoot at Bosque del Apache, NM and my a6300 was struggling to focus on cranes in AF-C mode in low light. I wish I could know these tricks that time to get more out of my camera. Great video once again for Sony mirrorless shooters. Thank you.

There was a firmware update that fixed the issue with the 85mm GM aperture not opening up while focusing. As long as Live View Display is OFF, the lens now opens up all the way to f/2 in both AFS and AFC. That's not fully open, but much better than it used to be originally. This fix was celebrated by the community when it came out for the a7rII, and the newer cameras never even had this issue. But you do have to make sure Live View Display is OFF, otherwise the iris does stay closed while focusing.

Thank you, very helpful. I normally shoot outdoors, natural light but occasionally have an indoor low light situation and I was essentially lost. This was a great help, I will use my new knowledge for New Year’s Day party shoot.

Thanks Mark for such a great explanation to these systems.

Your videos are soo good! Thanks again Mark!

Outstanding Video... thank you for this. It did address several issues I've suffered with in the past.

Thank you soo much for straightening that out and you do it in a great way! I just made the switch from Nikon to Sony and you make the transition easier!

EXCELLENT video tutorial Mark. I had NO idea about several of these items about the Sony aperture breathing to help the AF lock on. Great tips. Now I will need to see if this applies to all my lenses. I wonder if this also happens on the Sigma lenses (probably not?). Keep up the fantastic series of videos. You do SO SO much for the Sony alpha community. Its no wonder Sony chose you to be an ambassador.

Learned a few things about my A7III by watching this. Thanks!

The high aperture (I.e: high F stop) AF issue mystery resolved!! Thanks!!

Thanks, Mark. Another excellent video.

Had to watch it 4 times to check I undertstood it all properly there is so much info there! Another excellent video.

Hi Mark, I already add 55mm f1.8...on my A7iii. For daily photoshoot..street, portrait, family portrait. Thanks for always inspired me..indeed.🙏

Most helpful video on RU-vid. Thank you!!!

Brilliant. Just so helpful. Thank you for this.

You make a great teacher Mark great work.

Thanks Mark this helped TREMENDOUSLY with my A7RIV in the studio. Lower light caused the focus to "hunt" back and forth. I will use AF-S from now on in low light! Kudos brother!

perfect information, perfect presentation, thank you!!

Really helpful. Thanks Mark.

Thanks for sharing your information -very helpful

Thanks! keep spreading knowledge!

Learned my first valuable lessons after coming to mirrorless Sony systems from Nikon DSLRs >_< I was doing some low light photos last night and struggled to focus on moving objects in AF-C at 5.6 . I struggled really bad. putting this into practice will help. Thanks sooo much! I will try some of these tips tonight.

Great technical explanation!

Incredibly helpful, thankyou.

Another great video thanks for sharing.

This is one of those tips that are absolutely essential.

Wow. Been shooting a7rII since 2015, understood some things but not a lot of the relationships. I think the use of the image sensor as the exposure sensor is the number 1 thing that is most difficult for DSLR users to transition to. The fact that lenses differ from each other on how the camera body uses them. But the shifting of live view settings to get the most light for focusing was something i wasn't using. Thanks very much!!!!

Thanks. That's a really useful video. I didn't know about the AF-illuminator working with A6500 (and maybe some other cameras) and some of the Sony flashes have a focus-assist LED. I also didn't understand the differences in how AF-S and AF-C acquire focus.

Thanks so much. This just helped solve the problems that I was noticing.

Tank you very much Mark for this very helpful video!

Really helpful. Thank you.

Very interesting! Thank you!

Thank you so much! great video

awesome as always !!

Wish I watched this video before last weekends shoot. I was struggling to get auto focus with strobes and the live display would have been great to turn off. Next time! Thanks Mark.

Great tips on this video

Good grief! As a basic photographer using Sony since 2016 I had no idea about this low light focus "problem". Liovong in a part of the world that is more or less bereft of light nine months of the year, using your info I'll probably get a whole lot more photos in focus going forward. Thank you!

wow. i didn't know this at all. i got frustrated one with a night photoshoot coz i'm always in AF-C. very helpful. thanks!

Great info. Thanks

I was under the impression that in AFC there is a somewhat complex (read perplexing) algorithm at play which depends on the lens used, ambient light, aperture selected and amount of refocusing needed (change in focusing distance). By playing with these factors at studio-style F stops (like F8 or smaller) i can « force » my a7r3 to momentarily open the aperture fairly wide to refocus. But as you stated in the video this is less robust than in AFS. The other work around in studio is using strobes with powerful modelling lights. I tested the focusing accuracy of the Sony FE 50 1.4 (a problem lens in dimly lit studios) at smaller aperture settings using a Godox 400 Pro with modelling light only set to proportional vs a strobe with no modelling light. Needless to say the difference in image sharpness was night and day (pun intended). Great video btw!

very helpful tips! than you so much!

very useful thank you so much!

Very very useful thanks a million

hi brilliant as usual too good

Thank you for that, Mark. I knew a lot of that, but did not realize about the limitation on the 85mm f1.4. I had a very frustrating time shooting headshots in studio with that lens at f8 just a few weeks ago!

wow that was some great advice.

Huge help thank you

I’ve always wondered why my A6x00 cameras sometimes seem so sluggish to autofocus with my fancy Sony/Zeiss 16-70 f4 zoom (at the time pretty much the only upgrade from the lousy kit zoom). And now I know - it doesn’t open up focusing! Grrr, but also yay to at least know! Looks like I need to make a change! Another great MG video.

Excellent, thank you.

Excellent!

You are so good ! Would have to take a weeks vacation with you !

Cool tip thanks

Simply great! 👏

Thanks a lot. Didn't have a clue about this Wise monk of Alpha community.

Unfortunately, I have to stay in AF-C since I am mostly shooting dancers at their local events in the evening. Still, I love this video as it reminded me to check my AF illuminator setting to see if that could help. And just in general, this is a great video to better understand concepts behind the Sony camera system. Another well done video, Mark. Thank you immensely!

If I could give you more thumbs up for this video, I would. Thank you for this info. Excellent!

This is great information. However, this should be standard information provided to every Sony camera shooter. You should talk to Sony to incorporate a link to this video in their user manuals.

Spot on

thank you

Did anyone else read the title a different way? This camera is fast AF! 😆

Thanks you.

Amazing information Mark. On a side note, my Tamron lenses do the opening aperture stuff in AFC mode too.

Thanks very useful information. I'm looking to move from my DSLR to a mirrorless camera mainly for video features. I was set on a Z6 but once I heard about the lowlight AF problems I've switched to looking at Sony. I'll be honest I'm not 100% happy about doing that but I think it's the right system going forward.

Thanks again.

Thanks for the great video Mark. As a Nikon mirrorless shooter I suspect most of the AF-S and AF-C characteristics of the Sony’s apply to the Nikon’s. I just wish Nikon would provide such useful videos.

Brilliant tip than k you.

I have been enjoying your videos. I have learned a lot about my a7r3. Is it possible that you make a video and share your knowledge about how to shoot a group of people? Like a single line, doubles and so on.

AWESOME

Oh! That's why it wouldn't find focus. Thank you so much. Need to use af-s in certain situations.

Thanks thanks thanks!! 😉

Thankyou for the lovely tips :D Quick question, when shooting wildlife i have often wondered whether i will have more success focusing with a higher shutter speed and high iso or with a lower shutter speed and lower iso? (assuming that the shutter speed is fast enough to freeze the action appropriately offcourse) (or is there no difference as the light is equivalent?)

You are so grate

Good video Mark and it is the same findings as I have done. I shot low light club events. My biggest problem is stopped down group portraits with flash. AF-S works but is (too) slow. AF-C is useless when stopped down (but works fantastic wide open even with Eye-AF) in these environments so singe person portraits are super easy to get. But the group ones not. The HVL-F45RM I have as well, and it has the LED as you mention, but people don't really like to get it in their eyes. I have dimmed mine down with some layers of printer paper in front if it, but it is still too bright for people that have their eyes tuned in for a dark club. Can you please relay to Sony that we need a low light AF mode that focuses wide open no matter what the shooting aperture is set at. And they can do it in both AF-S and AF-C with PDAF only, we don't need the CDAF fine tuning and we don't care about the potential focus shift, the DOF at f5.6 or 8 will cover all that. And that the EVF will flicker and the aperture will rattle when going back and forth between focusing and taking mode, that we can live with as well, just as long as we can focus with ease. This is my biggest problem actually with using Sony. At times I wonder if I should bring a cheap Canon DSRL just for the group portraits... Thanks!

I like the way u worded that... 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽 LoL

Awesome video! I wonder if light metering mode could also affect how camera focus in dim light…

Another very useful video - I hadn't considered the Live View Disp Set option until now. Thanks, Mark. If using back button focus, would it be sensible to _always_ select Release, rather than Balanced Emphasis, as the priority for both AF-S and AF-C?

Thank you for the amazing tutorial as always! What is the NR technique or software do you apply for these images if I may ask?

Just tested a few sony and Sigma EF lenses and they open up even when focussing in AF-C, depending on how much light they are seeing. AF-S opens up the aperture every time

Good information. in low light 24-105/F4 can use it ? i feel F4 not like F1.8 or F2.8.. So how i can use this lens Sony FE24-105/F4 with sony A7R2 body in low light ? Thanks

Thanks Mark for this interesting video, thumbs up. Still a question, do you have to set something special for the hvl-f45rm flash so that the LED will function as AF-light? greetings from Belgium !

Thanks for making ths Mark. I shoot alot of weddings and Low light churches and Receptions with Flash is so dam difficult with my sony a7r4 and a7r3 compared to my old nikon systems. I wish the sonys night event scenes with flash could focus and be as fast as nikons because its really messing with the way i like to work with my subjects. adding that big of lag in focusing really fuks up moments

Hi Mark. I take tango dancing picture at night clubs. The subject is moving very fast and my 7ARII had hard time focusing sometimes. I just upgrade to A7R3. Hopefully this will help. Any tips for me? Manually focusing my lens would allow me to take the pictures faster once the subjust is within range of focus but I will miss a lots of shots. Automatic focus is slow and searching sometimes.

Very helpful Mark! So is the takeaway for video shooters to shoot wide open in A-mode under very low light? Seems like that's stating the obvious, but I've got plenty of blurry clips where I was chasing little kids around at a dimly lit birthday party.

Dear Mark, my A7R III also "breathes open" in AF-C with the 55mm 1.8, but it does it much later (with less light) than in AF-S. Seems that AF-C works better in lower light until it has to open up.

Dear Mark, Again an interesting tutorial. Do you also have the ideal settings for the A 6000? Thanks and best regards, Eelco de Wal

Mark, can you please do a video on the new firmware update in regards to Aperture Drive in AF please. How does this new function work in relation to this video you just put out?

Very useful as always, Mark! Moved recently to A7R3 from Canon, I noticed the Sony flash system isn't as good as the Canon's, although I expected to see the same great TTL implementation as we know it from Minolta, which works perfectly for events where you put the body in fully manual mode, but keep the flash in TTL. One question - I've the Sony HVL-F60RM, but I never managed to make its LEDs to work as AF assist light on the A7R3 - do you've an idea whether this flash has built in AF assist, or the LEDs are intended to be used only for video as constant light? I also wonder whether Sony implemented any IR AF assist as Canon does in their bodies, or it is just the annoying orange lamp? You know, having the eye-poking AF assist light in front of the subjects is a guarantee for super-annoying pictures. :) Keep up the good work!

Great tutorial！ Mark, I have a spin-off question, how did you make a photo with ISO high to 80,000 look so clear?

Mark thank you very much for this valuable information. I alway turn off Live view Display when shooting in low wedding reception light! However I shoot roughly close to f2.8 / 3.2 wide. But do I understand correctly that the lens is stoped down during my shooting and Live view effect are electronically simulated when turned off? I originally assumed that turning off the live view display will restore the DSLR behavior!!

I would love to go e mount but all my lenses are a mount I thinking about selling everything and going with Olympus it's good enough for me and a lot more afordable

Please make a video about zebra stripes and how to fix overexposed areas on camera. I own sony a7iii. Thanks!!!

Great Video. I still get a lot of noise in my event photography pics from iso 1600 and up. How are you getting such little noise on your pics at these ultra high iso's? Thanks

Thanks for this video. My Sony A73 paired with the Sony Zeiss 55mm at F1.8 can't focus in my dark nightclub shoots very well no matter I do but my new Sony A6600 can. My question is, which of the newer full frame Sonys would be mostly likely to perform as well as my A6600 for complex low light nightclub shooting? A7rIV or A9II ? Or even the new A7C? I assume its the processor that makes the difference. I love the A6600 paired with the fast 17-55 G lens focus motors. Now I want to replicate this miracle in full frame. Any suggestions which to buy? If I could find any information on this subject elsewhere I would not ask here but its scare. Thanks in advance for any advise.