John E

Thanks Wolfgang, I've noted your settings chart and will experiment a bit more with the animal detailed settings. I have also set the subject recognition on/off toggle to the video record button. For others maybe reading this I also watched a helpful video on AI subject recognition from Mark Galer, a Sony ambassador. Following that for subject recognition and tracking of swimming fish I am inclined to leave subject on "Animal/Bird" and Recognition Part on "Eye/Head/Body".

Thanks Chris Ross, I have been diving with the Sony 90mm and tried "Animal/Bird" and "Animal" in the settings. I've tried Eye/Head and Eye/Head/Body. I've also tried changing the "Tracking Persistence" from 3 to 4. But I have found the tracking mainly either locks on some complex part of the background such as a bit of branching coral, or locks on temporarily then looses the fish, giving less predictable results compared to just using spot autofocus without tracking. I'll try your suggestion about birds and note your point about perched birds being more similar to fish. Also, continuing that thought, the background of tree branches could be similar to coral branches. I also will try to be more methodical in figuring out what changes seem to make a difference. So far I've probably been changing too many things at once! This picture was taken using small spot autofocus rather than tracking but I guess tracking should make this sort of picture easier.

Thanks Chris, That is super helpful. I saw tracking is covered a bit by Alex in video 2 around approximately 22 mins onwards. It looks like Alex has his tracking sensitivity on standard (3) (In the AF/MF menu 1 -> AF Tracking Sensitivity) and uses "animal" as the target (AF/MF menu 3). He talks about the "stickiness" of tracking being fine set like that. I still wonder about the recognition target settings... I am making an assumption that the animal setting is designed for terrestrial animals rather than fish, hence me wondering if moving from the standard settings improves fish tracking. The specific menu that I am looking at adjusting is the sub-menu after selecting the type of recognition target (i.e. Animal) That is, From AF/MF menu 3 -> Recognition Target -> Animal -> this then leads to five more options that I haven't seen covered elsewhere: Tracking Shift range (can be selected 1 (narrow) to 5 (wide) .... currently on standard (3) Tracking persistence Level (1 (Not Locked On)to 5 (Locked On) .... currently on standard (3) Recognition Sensitivity (1 (Low) to 5 (High)) .... currently on standard (3) Recognition Part (Eye/Head/Body, Eye/Head, Eye) ... currently on Eye/Head Recog. Part Sel. Settings (Eye/Head/Body, Eye/Head/Eye) .. currently on Eye/Head I've tried experimenting but it was inconclusive without really understanding what the camera's algorithms are designed for (cats and dogs !?), and feel the recognition sensitivity could be key...

Hi, I'm looking for any advice on good settings for using subject tracking autofocus on a Sony A7RV that is quite new to me. I have previously used an Olympus OMD EM 1ii where I used small spot auto focus but I don't have experience with subject tracking. My goal is photos of small fast moving fish. Thanks.

After having been on Wetpixel previously I firstly want to say thank you so much to the key people for creating Waterpixels! I started diving in 1982 and became an instructor in 1988 whilst studying marine biology. My wife and I now have a reef tourism business called Wavelength Reef Cruises in Port Douglas on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, taking snorkellers on day trips to the outer reef. I started underwater photography with a Nikonos iii but had a break for many years before going from Canon point and shoot, to Olympus TG, to OM-D EM 1 ii in an Isotta housing, to a recently purchased Sony A7RV in an Isotta housing. I mainly take pictures for fun but also have been involved in reef restoration techniques. This led to co-founding the Coral Nurture Program on the GBR in 2018, and so I also take pictures of our research projects. John

After having been on Wetpixel previously I firstly want to say thank you so much to the key people for creating Waterpixels! I started diving in 1982 and became an instructor in 1988 whilst studying marine biology. My wife and I now have a reef tourism business called Wavelength in Port Douglas on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia taking snorkellers to the outer reef. I started underwater photography with a Nikonos iii in the 1980's but had a break for many years. In the last 10 years I have gone from Canon point and shoot to Olympus TG to OM-D EM 1 ii in an Isotta housing to a recently purchased Sony A7RV in an Isotta housing. I mainly take pictures for fun but also have been involved in reef restoration techniques. This led to co-founding the Coral Nurture Program on the GBR in 2018, and so I also take pictures of our research projects. John