# My first experience 7RIII / A7III AF accuracy & Speed on Canon 600mm lens?



## XL+ (Apr 20, 2018)

Hello! 
Back from the middle east, I´m now having plenty of time to shoot photos.
I was offered an nearly unused Alpha 7R III from an friend, who switched to filming.

So, I´m thinking on buying this camers, for time lapse (mirrorless). And buying an Metabones 5 adapter.

*My question: How does it perform on an 600mm II lens (Af accuracy and AF speed)?*
Any practical knowledge of Canonoams out there?

Thank you very much for your efforts


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## XL+ (May 7, 2018)

As non was able to tell me, if it works, I got an nearly new A7RIII to test it before buying. And an Metabone V adapter.
My impressions on using it on the 600mm L ISII:
IQ is very very very good, really fine details even in the corners. AF: hmmmm... this was not satisfying. In bright condition, it worked about 1/2 to 1/4 the speed as the 5D IV. If it is cloudy, or light is not so brigt, or there is low contrast, the A7RIII was "hunting" to get sharp. When I put the 1.4 III extender in, the AF got much slower and in some cases, no sharpness was found. No chance to get BIF.
On the 100-400 II the body was sometimes a little bit faster.
For my intentions it was really not fast enough, so I did not buy it.

Some days ago, I saw the new 7AIII and was able to use it on my lenses. 
AF is much faster, but not as fast as on Canon bodies. 
Interestingly, the Sony AF did not let me focus through windows (It always got stuck on the window). 
BIF are able to do on the 600mm without 1.4x adapter. On the 100-400 it is feealable faster then on the 600mm lens.

As I want to get some experience in MLS bodiens, I ordered it with two lenses. And I´m impressed by the superfast AF on the genuine Sony lenses. Fast BIF passing near - no problem. AF on birds (or my children) coming fast toward me (a problem on my 5D IV) is nearly almost 100% accurate. Wow.

So, I´m hoping Canon will make such an body too, as the superfast AF (and really also very good IQ) would be an +1000 for birders/WL photographers.
(But one thing to mention for Canon: the colours look better, much fresher, much more vivid than on the Sony)


Edit:
Could not repeat the last days fastness of the lens. On the A7III the 600mm and the 100-400mm II were sloooooow. Very slow and as longer I used them, the more unsharp pictures I got. Battery was still 60%, so I do not know what happened. AF in video is faster (4k)


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## Jack Douglas (May 7, 2018)

Thanks for the feedback. You didn't touch on the handling aspect with a big heavy lens - any thoughts?

Jack


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## XL+ (May 8, 2018)

Jack Douglas said:


> Thanks for the feedback. You didn't touch on the handling aspect with a big heavy lens - any thoughts?
> 
> Jack



The mount seems to be better than on the last Mk of the body. I tried to hold the lens via the grip of the A7III. It is possible and better to hold than the A7II. But not as good/comfortable as like an DSLR body.
In the shop where I bought it, said, the A7III is able to hold heavy lenses, as the optimized the body for the heavy 400mm from Sony that is coming in autumn.


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## XL+ (May 8, 2018)

To see, how the AF performed today: https://youtu.be/L9iuiNu-ZM4, https://youtu.be/9HpQQCqZRbQ, https://youtu.be/Jn4W_Y-g7Do, https://youtu.be/_Um1okyHgw8, https://youtu.be/vLzWiBZXB-g, https://youtu.be/7pEPGndigwo, https://youtu.be/tUuZHDj6ytk, https://youtu.be/T9ezTXcQ4xA

(Vids are not reworked, and please no comment on insufficient handling and camera work


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## Jack Douglas (May 9, 2018)

I just get a black screen with an exclamation mark via the links??

Jack


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## AlanF (May 9, 2018)

Jack Douglas said:


> I just get a black screen with an exclamation mark via the links??
> 
> Jack


+1


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## XL+ (May 9, 2018)

Sorry for the problem, Youtube has deleted the videos. I´ll upload them again.

Done.

Should work now.

Only the comparison vid with my 5DIV has to be redone, as youtube did not liek the big size of the video. (4GB)


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## Talys (May 9, 2018)

XL+ said:


> Sorry for the problem, Youtube has deleted the videos. I´ll upload them again.



They work great. Thank you very much for the videos! 

The AF speed looks to be approximately the same as a A7RIII with various Canon telephoto lenses (or Sigma) adapted with the MC-11.

I clicked on all of them, but couldn't watch very much as the AF hunting is migraine inducing.  The AF kind of reminds me of 90's home camcorders =X 



XL+ said:


> As non was able to tell me, if it works, I got an nearly new A7RIII to test it before buying. And an Metabone V adapter.
> My impressions on using it on the 600mm L ISII:
> IQ is very very very good, really fine details even in the corners. AF: hmmmm... this was not satisfying. In bright condition, it worked about 1/2 to 1/4 the speed as the 5D IV. If it is cloudy, or light is not so brigt, or there is low contrast, the A7RIII was "hunting" to get sharp. When I put the 1.4 III extender in, the AF got much slower and in some cases, no sharpness was found. No chance to get BIF.



I tried the A7III for about an hour, and it really doesn't seem any different than the A7RIII, except that the PDAF area is much larger (not with the 600 though!). The large PDAF area is very much appreciated, but more for consistency of behavior than anything else, because really, how often do you want an AF points close to the edges?

With adapted lenses, both seem, as you put it, not satisfying; I mean, if you have a kit >> $5k, you want it to, well, work better than that.



XL+ said:


> Could not repeat the last days fastness of the lens. On the A7III the 600mm and the 100-400mm II were sloooooow. Very slow and as longer I used them, the more unsharp pictures I got. Battery was still 60%, so I do not know what happened. AF in video is faster (4k)



For still photos, you may want to consider toying with:

- Reduce the subject tracking lock (whatever they call it) to the minimum value - this seems to speed it up some... even when you're in an AF mode that theoretically doesn't have subject tracking, like single point.
- Make sure AFC, not AFS
- It is critical to set the right range limiter on the lens (like 3m - infinity, etc.)
- Make sure Metabones is in basic (not advanced) mode
- Try a Sigma MC-11; it worked better for me in almost every lens I tried (like, 8+ Canon and 3 sigma).

I found that a frustrating aspect of the Sony AF system is that it behaves differently depending on whether it's in PDAF or CDAF, and you're forced to kind of use both because the featureset for one is different than the other. 

Personally, I think that adapted lenses is a waste of time for anything other super-light usage or mostly-manual-focus applications.


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