{"id":19894,"date":"2022-08-02T15:02:11","date_gmt":"2022-08-02T19:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=19894"},"modified":"2022-08-02T15:06:56","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T19:06:56","slug":"active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/","title":{"rendered":"Active Insect Macro Technique on Sony A7IV \u2013 Continuous Auto-Focus vs. Single Auto-Focus and Magnified View"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I was using the earlier Sony A7 cameras for insect macrophotography it was always a struggle to manage to get good focus on active insects like butterflies and bees.\u00a0 When magnified view appeared in the A7S (and elsewhere) I started using that to get really close focus on the heads of bees and other small critters.\u00a0 But the challenge was to perform the magnification button clicks and focusing before the little buggers moved on.\u00a0 And another complication is that only single auto-focus and manual focus work with magnified view, not continuous auto-focus.<\/p>\n

So recently I decided to try using continuous auto-focus instead of magnified view with the active insects.\u00a0 And I\u2019m satisfied that, all things considered, this is the better technique.\u00a0 Probably those coming from camera models with a longer history than Sony of competent auto-focus are not surprised by my finding.\u00a0 After all, continuous auto-focus isn\u2019t a new technology.\u00a0 But it is to me.\u00a0 Having competent auto-focus on a Sony A7 camera is a relatively recent phenomenon.<\/p>\n

What I think are the big advantages of this technique are really just the lack of the disadvantages that the magnified method has.\u00a0 With the continuous autofocus method there is no rush to try to restart the magnified view after every capture.\u00a0 This alone is worth a lot.\u00a0 Between continuous auto-focus and multiple shooting modes I can take a dozen shots in the three or four seconds it takes to get two shots using magnified view.\u00a0 And sometimes that is all the chance there is to get the shot.\u00a0 Looking at the results confirms that the number of keepers is much higher.\u00a0 Not to mention how much lower the annoyance and frustration levels are when shooting this way.\u00a0 It makes it easier to keep a handle on the environment and react to the movements of the insects faster.\u00a0 And this should be obvious.\u00a0 When in magnified view there\u2019s no way to find the bug when it flies to a new location.\u00a0 You\u2019re force to take the camera off your eye to find the insect again.\u00a0 Often, you\u2019ll have to back it out of magnified view and start over once you relocate the target.<\/p>\n

So, here\u2019s my restating of the obvious but if it helps anyone else out there in Sony camera world then good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was using the earlier Sony A7 cameras for insect macrophotography it was always a struggle to manage to get good focus on active<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[660,3,659],"tags":[3695,318,296,20,32],"class_list":["post-19894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-camera-reviews","category-photography","category-photography-reviews","tag-continuous-autofocus","tag-insect-photos","tag-macro-photography","tag-sony","tag-sony-a7-cameras"],"yoast_head":"\nActive Insect Macro Technique on Sony A7IV \u2013 Continuous Auto-Focus vs. Single Auto-Focus and Magnified View - Orion's Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Active Insect Macro Technique on Sony A7IV \u2013 Continuous Auto-Focus vs. Single Auto-Focus and Magnified View - Orion's Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I was using the earlier Sony A7 cameras for insect macrophotography it was always a struggle to manage to get good focus on active\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orion's Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-02T19:02:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-02T19:06:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/001.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"photog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\"},\"headline\":\"Active Insect Macro Technique on Sony A7IV \u2013 Continuous Auto-Focus vs. Single Auto-Focus and Magnified View\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-02T19:02:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-02T19:06:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/\"},\"wordCount\":406,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"continuous autofocus\",\"insect photos\",\"macro photography\",\"Sony\",\"Sony A7 cameras\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Camera Reviews\",\"Photography\",\"Photography Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/\",\"name\":\"Active Insect Macro Technique on Sony A7IV \u2013 Continuous Auto-Focus vs. Single Auto-Focus and Magnified View - Orion's Cold Fire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-02T19:02:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-02T19:06:56+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Active Insect Macro Technique on Sony A7IV \u2013 Continuous Auto-Focus vs. Single Auto-Focus and Magnified View\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"name\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\",\"description\":\"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"width\":4022,\"height\":1419,\"caption\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\",\"name\":\"photog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"caption\":\"photog\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Active Insect Macro Technique on Sony A7IV \u2013 Continuous Auto-Focus vs. Single Auto-Focus and Magnified View - Orion's Cold Fire","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Active Insect Macro Technique on Sony A7IV \u2013 Continuous Auto-Focus vs. Single Auto-Focus and Magnified View - Orion's Cold Fire","og_description":"When I was using the earlier Sony A7 cameras for insect macrophotography it was always a struggle to manage to get good focus on active","og_url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/","og_site_name":"Orion's Cold Fire","article_published_time":"2022-08-02T19:02:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-02T19:06:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/001.jpg"}],"author":"photog","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_site":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"photog","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/"},"author":{"name":"photog","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3"},"headline":"Active Insect Macro Technique on Sony A7IV \u2013 Continuous Auto-Focus vs. Single Auto-Focus and Magnified View","datePublished":"2022-08-02T19:02:11+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-02T19:06:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/"},"wordCount":406,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["continuous autofocus","insect photos","macro photography","Sony","Sony A7 cameras"],"articleSection":["Camera Reviews","Photography","Photography Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/","name":"Active Insect Macro Technique on Sony A7IV \u2013 Continuous Auto-Focus vs. Single Auto-Focus and Magnified View - Orion's Cold Fire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-08-02T19:02:11+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-02T19:06:56+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/02\/active-insect-macro-technique-on-sony-a7iv-continuous-auto-focus-vs-single-auto-focus-and-magnified-view\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Active Insect Macro Technique on Sony A7IV \u2013 Continuous Auto-Focus vs. Single Auto-Focus and Magnified View"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","name":"Orion's Cold Fire","description":"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization","name":"Orion's Cold Fire","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","width":4022,"height":1419,"caption":"Orion's Cold Fire"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3","name":"photog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","caption":"photog"},"url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/"}]}},"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19894"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19897,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19894\/revisions\/19897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}