Some people are struggling to access part 2, so I've made a short video that will hopefully help you. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/e82ajMmU3ZaloX0.html

Another Philip Bloom video with production quality and presentation of frankly cosmic proportions. And we get to watch it FOR FREE. Honestly don’t deserve this…..

Absolutely Great Review, I love the way you use to tell the story. A multiple funny shots. Looking forward to seeing part II.

Phillip, you've gone and done it again! Thank you for yet another thoughtful, artful, and informative video. I shall study it closely.

Thank you Philip for this most amazingly in-depth masterclass on the a7siii AutoFocus. I studied both videos, took notes, updated my camera settings, and practiced the techniques you so clearly and thoroughly explained. I’ve had my a7siii for a year and have experienced all of those situations. Now I know what the camera is doing and how to address those issues. Thank you so much, Daniel

Part 2 worked from the Netherlands just fine. Thanks for this valuable tutorial Philip, you are helping the entire Alpha video community!

Thanks Phillip! Will be heading over to part two immediately!!

Thank you. I have been struggling understanding the auto focus system on my A7SIII. This has been a tremendous help. I appreciate all your excellent videos.

I have used your setting ever since you did that seminar with B&H for the A7S ... its was a great one.. I am so glad to see again a Masterclass with settings and the Autofocus ! THANKS I will prep my A7S3 for this MasterClass

I don't think I've ever seen a custom button layout so dedicated to focus. That's very comprehensive and convenient.

My favourite youtuber, you are great man, really great, hope you continue doing videos for life😊

I just appreciate you so much! I've gleaned so much useful knowledge from you over the years.

Drinking game, a shot every time PB says focus. You'll have a very quick ending to your night out. Great work here, so much info!

Watching your videos is like sipping at a glass of the very finest malt whisky, or whisky liqueur, depending on your taste. Wrapping yourself in a warm velvet blanket, and being gently massaged with knowledge, whilst also being entertained in the gentlest of ways. A masterclass in video making poured upon a masterclass of Sony education. Inspirational and aspirational all rolled into one. Thank you for being so good at this.

Philip, thank you for a supremely helpful video. Typical excellence on your channel. Cheers mate, from the States! 🇺🇸💛🇬🇧

You are a Master -Thank you for this Phillip!

quality video as usual PB, helps us really unlock the full potential of our Sony's!

Very much needed video. Thanks Mr. Bloom!

This is incredible. Thanks for the time and effort! Autofocus seems simple…but yeah…using it to its fullest potential is a different story.

Hadn't seen much on ya for a while Philip, so glad to see you pop up in my YT feed. Had my Film Fellas hat on just the other day.

I need less than a second to exactly know that a Philip Bloom video is coming up. Always a good feeling.

Finally getting round to watching. Great deep dive mate. Also happy that Jimmy features 😜!

Great, straightforward, and very helpful video! Thank you!

Excellent work and I love your style. very professional and I am adopting my A1 settings to mirror many of your suggestions.

Yes yes yes thanks Philip , Glad you chose the A7siii, Its my main camera for video and happy to follow your guidelines etc

Thanks so much for both Part 1 and 2. I recently filmed some cyclists coming towards camera and thought I had it down, but missed the focus a few times. I revisited your videos and now I think I have it for my next shoot.

Amazing video, as always.

I thought you forgot about this! This is awesome!

Amazing and concise overview of AF features, thank you very much!

Great work sir. Top notch tutorial. Thank you for sharing. Looking forward. Subscribed and liked!

It's always a pleasure watching your videos. Your British accent and cats are awesome!

Thank you for putting together another one of your inspiring and beautiful videos! I'm sitting here with my FX6, now I just have to find my cat so we can watch it together.

Thank you Mr. Bloom.

Well done you've worked it all out.Great video for me as I can't make a decision these days about anything.Enjoyed Cheers.

Quality explainer content, thank you!

This has been extremely helpful as I have been struggling quite a lot with wildlife. Especially all the examples in Part 2 made it very easy to understand. Thanks a lot.

The only channel I don't want to fasten the playback speed.

This was great; very informative! Thanks!

A free masterclass with this quality is unheard of! Gorgeous work as always 🤟

Amazing video ,great job.

Great Topic, Lots of Tips, I have been using Canon , Panasonic and Sony Full Frame cameras for a few years now, The Sony Auto focus is another Level

Thanks for taking the time to make this video Philip ! Will you also do a review of the Sony A7IV ?

This is perfect! Haven’t dove that deep into my Sony. It’s been long overdue, now have a running start. Thanks!

This video has helped me so much! I have struggled to understand the focus settings ever since I got the camera, and now I get it! Thank you

15:30 - Excellent, thank you sir.

This is the video I needed

This is incredible

Good God.. never disappoint. THANK YOU!!! Saw your presentation at NAB Vegas couple years ago and right when I ran to get a pic with you security stopped me! lol But anyway my whole point was to personally say thank you for all the knowledge you've shared with your viewers. I Love the A7IV cause of the weight of the camera, I got back issues (herniated disc)... I noticed you had a similar back problem. Hope you're back to 100%.

So glad we can get this video on here instead of the weird unlinkable Sony site. Thanks Philip Bloom. You rock!

Super useful tutorial and very well done. Thank you. I just changed 1 thing to your set-up. In the fn function menu I replaced the AF/MF by the Exposure Meter Mode since AF/MF is already achievable via 1 of the buttons on camera in your setup.

Greetings from Greece! Some days before i sold my a7iii and now ive got a7iv.. Huge benefits at video with a7iv, i still workin on it.. Cheers!!

merci beaucoup pour les réglages ! c'est vraiment très bien pensé ! je m'abonne

Both episodes amazing.. That manual AF concept completely changed the way I will use AF. I just bought the A7IV as B-cam and I'm a bit sad now as I realise how my beloved and more expensive FX3 is actually not as flexible .. Yes, of course you can reassign the buttons, but I have a bit of OCD when it comes to have a button labelled "ISO" actually controlling focus for example.. Also feels like like there are less of them. .. (I now understand why you barely mentioned the FX3 in the video.. ) Thanks again for sharing all this.

Omg I could listen to this before bed

Thank you kindly🙏 Magnificent explanation Philip, will use this on kitty devil hops as the focus benchmark test. PS: It’s not a Philip Bloom film unless there’s a cat or cat hair on the camera (8min50sec) 🐈

Thanks again!

I can’t wait to watch part 2. Amazing that we get this stuff for free. Huge thanks and mad respect for all your hard work on this!

Amazing thanks 👍

Take about a cliff hanger ending............it's right up there with the original Dallas 'Who shot JR' episodes!!! Look it up kids. Btw, thanks for the video Phil as everything is so well explained 👍🏻👍🏻

GLAD I found your channel..it is AWESOME!! New sub....THANK YOU!

I had one of those Bolex 8mm cameras.

The example you gave about the sony 35 1.4 gm lens was very important to me, thank you very much for that, it's great #16:20 dk

Would it kill sony to put animal eye auto focus into the A1? It's meant to be the flagship!! Anyway thanks for the video.

Thank you for making this so clear, I’m a photographer scared of trying video for a whole raft of technical reasons that put me off….this really helped! Could I just ask in relation to the A1 and being able to switch focus like you suggest “manual auto focus”. Having watched part 2 does this mean I have to use the physical switch on the A1? Could you just run through how I can quickly switch on the A1? Many thanks for this content 👍🏻

Great videos Phil, I have a Sony a7s3 paired with Sony 200-600 lens. I shoot alot of wildlife and I find I have trouble with AFC locking on subjects in the upper end of zoom especially when there's a background like a hill, the focus wonders and mostly locks on to the background. I've tried Spot, Center Fix, Expanded Spot. What do you suggest?

The good new is that Sonys have very powerful autofocus. Bad news is, you need a degree in computer science to get it to work. Now, with Mr. Bloom's help, and all of the buttons reprogrammed on your camera you can get it to be your new focus puller. Always enjoy your videos, Mr. Bloom. Cats to cameras. All, very, very good. And you're kind enough do all that work and to share it.

About the LCD screen turning off when you attach an external monitor. Supposedly you get around that by Setup > External Output > HDMI Info Display OFF. But I haven't tested it.

Thanks Philip Great Job As always, your work is unique Can I hope? That one day I will see the Canon version of this video from you?

As a new a7s3 user this comes in clutch. Thanks!

I had one question about “focus hold.” I may have missed it in your video, but I soft-press the shutter button to hold the focus on a subject, then let it go when I want the autofocus to resume. I wasn’t sure if you mentioned it in your videos, or if you prefer not to use this function. Thank you.

For some reason, YT isn't recommending your uploads to me, even though I've subscribed and consistently liked your work for years. Hope all is well with you, Bloom.

Thank you for the very helpful and amaizing video. I downoladed the A7 IV file but on camera the file cannot be loaded???

High quality and informative Philip Bloom video as usual. Only thing, I don't see the link to Part 2 in the description. (I clicked on the Alpha Academy link but couldn't find it there, either.)

thank you

Hi Philip. These reviews are invaluable, many thanks. One question for you - I've been testing using face only AF on the FX6 and found that the depth of field seems to be entirelyin front of the subject, between the subject's eye and the camera. So if, for instance, you want another person or thing to also be in focus but they are a little bit behind the focal plane of the subject you are focusing on then you should set focus on the the furthest back subject. Do you have any thoughts on this? Thanks! Patrick

Thank you very much, you haven't by any chance received a non preproduction version of the a7IV for the settings file?

Hi Phillip, thanks for your amazing in-depth video. I have been using a very similar way of working, but have adjusted it to this improved version and have been loving it. I had a question about the FX6, as I can not seem to find a way to do the same with that camera. Since the ad/mf toggle is a hard switch on the front of the body, I can not find a way to effortlessly and smoothly switch between full manual and full auto with tracking etc. with a simple button toggle. Have you figured out a way to do this?

BRILLIANT! 🤓 I assume the Long Blonde Lady is your wife. (Or maybe I've heard you mention that.) It's wonderful that you two get along well enough that she can/will participate in these tests etc for us all to enjoy! (I just can't see you playing Peek-A-Boo amongst the trees.) 😅

thank you!!! :) Are the setting suites also A7iii?

Hello Philip, thank you for this amazing masterclass. I own the FX30 and curious to know if clear image zoom on the FX30 affects the autofocus tracking even with the updated firmware? Cheers

One trick that might be useful for FX3 users crying because of having less customisable buttons: instead of assigning AF ON to a custom button, you can just half press the shutter button. it works and saves you a button :)

And another banger from you! I really enjoyed watching both parts! I just have one question regarding the physical AF/MF switch on the lens: Could it damage the internals (af motors) if one toggles AF/MF via custom buttons while leaving the switch on its position? Because the switch stays on AF but you select MF by overriding it with the toggle? Thanks in advance!

Sony paying our favourite creators to show us how to use their cameras is a genius move. Love learning from you Philip. Great video

I think the new AI chip in the ZV-E1, A6700, A7R5, etc really changes the game when it comes to video autofocus. It would be good to have a follow up for those that have this chip in their cameras :)

Hi Philip I try to load the file from your google drive for a74, it says “ This file cannot be loaded”

This is incredible work; hard grueling work! Thank you for putting in the time! I'm off to hunt down Part 2. See you on the other side!

Hello Philip, how do you screen record on Sony A74? I would love to use that as you do - displaying the menus on screen with full quality.

Your video is very helpful! Thank you so much, the link for the camera settings is not working, is there any other way to access those files? (Edit)I found your google docs link in a reply to another asking for it! Thank you and God Bless!

Thanks for this absolutely helpful video. I’m just wondering if you can kindly feedback to Sony if it can make focus tracking available by using the multiselector, e.g. moving the focus frame to the point to focus and then activate focus tracking by pressing the center of the multiselector, instead of just using the touch screen. The reason why I’m suggesting this is because the small community of underwater videographers can’t use the focus tracking function since there’s no access to the touch screen with the A7SIII inside the underwater housing. We’re a small community which does not garner any attention from Sony and someone like yourself will have greater influence and sway, can perhaps help us to persuade Sony to add this functionality through a software update. Thanks in advance.

Hi Philip, thanks for the amazing video. I've been trying the touch focus you mentioned, but when I press the screen, instead of changing focus like in your video, I need to half press the shutter to focus in that area, rather than it doing it from the touch. Any idea why that may be? Thanks

top: I've been following your tutorials since the time with Letus extreme -bokey with Sony EX1R ... my questionw: what does the white vertical line mean in photo mode (2:18). it is also shown on the left of the display of my A7S3

Looks like the settings link does not work anymore 😢 great videos Phil as always. Love your classes on Mzed

Philip, really appreacte the work here and the instruction. I've been looking for something like this for quite some time now. Would love to see the second video but I can not even register. That site is slow and inoperable at this time for the most part. Frustrating. A year later and it is still very difficult. Can it not just be posted to KZfaq?

Just discovered that on a a7rv, there is now a tracking mode which allows to track in EVF. Do you intend to use such mode ? I have seen people tracking basket ball players,... what i don't understand is the focus area they use (ie: spot M) and how they put it fluently on a subject for tracking while with LCD it is straightforward to clic on a location and not moving the pot M along the screen...

Would love to see Sony allowing us to rename those 6 My Menu.

Can’t log in to the UK Sony web page with my Norwegian Sony web page information, and I can’t make a new UK account with my already existing e-mail address, so I have to create a new mail address just to create a UK Sony account.. this was a lot of work to be able to see part 2… 😌 But probably worth it nonetheless 😊

Any chance of a settings link for the ZV-E1?

If I'm filming two persons speaking at the camera, standing still. How would I autofocus on both of them? What settings should I use? Wide? Face Detect off?

Ah the annual “do we as humans deserve Philip’s generosity” moment

I did enjoy this alot! Only gripe is that I have an European account (Finnish) but it won't still let me use the UK site. What a pitty. :(