I was one of those displeased with the original video mostly because I truly respect your content being presented as an industry professional focused on education versus the “influencer” creators. As a user of the A7RIV and A7RV, it was clear to me that you did not have all the information in the original video which is unlike what I’m accustomed to on your channel. This updated video to clear things up with better information only confirms why I respect you and your content, well done!

Hi Glyn! Been following your channel for some time now, and this is so refreshing. Nothing other than respect for you to admit a mistake and then make yet another video showing how the mistake was corrected. Been learning a lot from your tutorials (more of a portrait photographer myself as well), and hope you keep up all the awesome work you do! Cheers, Peter

Really happy to hear you changed your mind. I just bought mine over the weekend and look forward to using it!

Really enjoying the few videos I've seen so far, helpful and entertaining! Cheers and subscribed!

Glad to hear you had success with the bird photos, Glyn! Keep up the good work! And good luck with your seascape photos!

Not a Sony user, so won't comment on that, but man, do I love a guy who can say "I was wrong!" - especially in a public forum. 💜

thanks Paul, ive just about to purchase my a7r v today but was humming and haring but you've made my mind up for me, great video and setting guide

Thank you very much for manning up and correcting the mistake. This helped me a lot

Great Video and i find it really cool that you updated the first video. It's great that you admitted your mistake and stood by it. In the last few years I've gotten the feeling that no one is honest online. So thank you. I recently upgraded my a7RIII to the RV and i love it. So the step is even bigger, compared stepping up from IV to V.

Well done Glyn, good 'update' well explained and expertly presented. Thanks for sharing 😎😎😎

Great update, Glyn. I found your channel recently to help with my LR/Photoshop efforts - you have taught me quite a bit already. Saw the original video and wondered from the comments if something had gone awry! As you say, we all make mistakes and it takes confidence and maturity to put your hands up and admit it. I was delighted to see the new video - the A7RV looks amazing - I have the R3 and was looking at the R4, but now might have to reconsider and save up a bit more!! I have more confidence listening to and taking advice from someone who is open and honest and admits a mistake rather than someong who tries to brush it under the carpet and I look forward to more of your content.

Hi, Thank you Glyn for once again another inspiring and educational video.

Great video, thanks!

Appreciate this so much. Love my A7RV, but have not tried it on wildlife yet.

Glad you were pleased and thanks for revealing your settings. Rgds Gary

very well done and informative thanks!

Glad that you got there in the end. These cameras do need a period of familiarisation to get the best out of them and that's where good youtube videos help us all out.

Thanks for the great tips! I do a ton of bird photography and have just received my new A7R v. I have set up my camera and Sony 200-600 lens as per your suggested settings. What an amazing camera. Best from Charleston, SC, USA.

nice video. do you use back button focus in photo ? in video mode, did you try the new "tracking" option we can set to AFON... ? It seems to be able now, with heavy long lens, to use high resolution EVF to track basketball players,... with a flexible spot M.

Very good video 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Good info! Thank you so much!

nice update !!!

Great tips, If I could add having the extra switch to separate still, movie, and S&Q settings make a huge difference. When I'm shooting birds in my back garden I also use two or three flashguns setup on light stands directed at the feeders

So glad you updated your video, you maybe went off a bit half-cocked on the original one. A lot of folks pay attention to what you have to say, and am pleased you cleared the air

Even better than the first one, Glyn! Saw both vids. It‘s like my personal learning curve. 😅

As one of the first people to mention that you got the settings wrong in the first video, I want to thank you for re-doing it and owning your mistake. Good job!

Hi Glyn, and a lot of respect for standing up to the situation. As for brand preferences, the only thing I can say is that it always comes down to personal experiences, emotions and comfort zones. The best product in the world is the one that fulfills your needs entirely and makes you happy (in this case the camera body). It reminds me the definition of quality. What is quality? Short answer: the product or service that fully satisfies your expectations. Keep producing your videos, they fulfill my expectations 😉Cheers!

hI GLYN very impressive, i have an A7mkii, can you recommend the best settings to use eye focus and is it possible to achieve this when using a remote shutter cntrol?

I am So tempted. Question, does the evf go black between frames in HS shutter? Does it have to finish buffering when you realise the shutter but want to shoot again almost immediately? All problems the make my A7R3 just a third angle video camera. Nobody seems to mention it in their reviews. Thanks Glyn.

Very helpful. Just bought camera, swapping from canon, and today was my first day out with it. I had same issue with a surprising amount of missed focus. Followed your advice and it helped. So many settings to adjust, and new muscle memory to form, and a strange menu system, but the pictures were great.. very pleasantly surprised by higher iso performance with less noose than I feared.

I bought it yesterday and I'm impressed with the AF, I love it.

Thanks for your update video. I was using expandable spot/continuous focus, and that was highly unsuccessful, but switched over to medium spot/continuous focus tracking and things instantly got better with the bird photography. I tend to use Aperture Priority because of the changing light outdoors, and around ISO 400, which when using the 200-600mm in normal sun daylight generally gives me speeds of around 1/1250-1/2000. I'm hesitant to go up to ISO 2000 due to grain...how are your images shooting at the high of ISO in daylight?

Great update. Mark Smith Photography is a great channel to follow for BIF settings/tips and tricks. Im excited to see what the new AI chip will do in the upcoming a9 update.

Great video. New subscriber 👍

Great Video, Glyn! So does this mean you are going to stick with the Sony Camera lineup or are you going to potentially still migrate over to an R5?

It isn't about making mistakes, but what you do once you realize you did. Good on ya to set things straight.

Is the crop mode still in Raw and 10FPS?

I have the RV with the 200-600mm sony. When you set the lens to mode 3... do you keep the cameras IBIS system on or off? Thank you. Great video.

Glen enjoyed your update. I really like my RV but struggle at times with BIF. Some many opinions on You Tube for settings. Struggled with tracking sensitivity on #4 or 5 as recommended by many have suggested. Switched to #1 as suggested by Mark Galer and seemed to be more consistent. Granted, I don't have Sony 200-600 but Tamron 150-500 which is very sharp but wonder if the misses are lens or me or both. I've also found I'll find I'm getting good results using tracking M or L. then it out of the blue, won't lock on and find myself experimenting again. Not sure if anyone else is seeing this. Thanks

Thank you for this beautiful video. I think the real magic in the settings you make is switching to crop mode. Did you shoot with the same settings without using crop mode? Since it is reduced from 61mp to 26mp, the machine works faster and can record and focus faster. In my opinion, Sony A7R is a nice machine full of V, its only drawback is that it is slow. It definitely had to be able to Shoot 20fps with A7R V AF/AE Tracking.

Nice one Glyn

Spot on Glyn....top man

Great video Glyn, this is the first camera that may convert me from Canon.

Thanks life saver. Glyn is there any reason my exposure comp in photo will go to +5 but in video will only go +2

Thanks!

nice one !

Thank you for this insights. Getting those good results from bird photography do you think the RV is also a good choice for dog (in action) photography. I would like to upgrade from my A7III and a camera like the a1 is out of my budget.

Have you tried a similar shoot with the rIv. I’d be interested to see how it compared

Great update and review as well! I’m glad you were able, with the help of others, find the perfect settings for bird photography. It does seem like an extreme number of settings to get to that point though. I know the Sony menus have improved but, for my kind of photography, I just found the menus maddening and moved away from Sony. Just setting up a Sony camera (my last was a A7r IV) was an all day affair. To each his own I guess.

Glyn----Crop mode gives you 100% sensor/AF coverage but isn't the active field of the viewfinder restricted? It is with Canon in crop mode.

Respect Glyn 👍🏼

Yes I thought that first assessment was a bit unfair. Great update. Tx

I use the same settings for stills and video recording

Been waiting on proper reviews and tests of this camera instead of the it's amazing you must buy it after a couple of hours of use ones. It's good to see there are a few genuine people out there

Yea.. this is what I notice too.. When I use cont AF, multi shot high. Af area set to wide... with Shutter Speed of 1/500 and steadyshot on although the green box falls on the human eyes.. sometimes the picture still goes out of focus.. I was so puzzled. Now I just stop using af area wide and use tracking af wide instead.. all other setting keeping the same and I get more shot in perfect focus. Now makes me wonder.. if that's the case.. why and who uses wide af when there is tracking wide af available.

Nice to find people able to make mistakes and recognise them. Only who make mistakes learns.

A gimbal head also helps you a lot when it comes to taking photos of fling birds.

A lot of settings to setup.. would it be possible to assign one of the 3 custom shooting modes with all these settings? I always tell myself would be cool to have one for long exposures.. birding and landscapes.. but can never figure out how to do it or if it’s possible?

I shot a few birds recently (which i don't normally do) using Mark Galer's specific Camset settings. The camera is fantastic, a beast.. more camera than i'll ever need as a casual hobby shooter 😅

A correction was definitely in order..nice job!!

I wonder why you'd use a mechanical shutter for that bird in flight situation? What advantage does that have over the electroic shutter in terms of getting the focus right?

Hiya, interesting video. I have watched camera technology change over the fifty years of my photography. The opportunities that modern cameras now offer could not have been dreamed about when I started. But understanding the cameras inside out takes real research and maybe training, how long before camera manufacturers start offer a series of learning modules with the camera’s I wonder. Exciting times 😎

Glyn...as usual a smartly produced video and further proof why you are good at what you do and a nice bloke. I did comment on the former video although it was mainly to point out that as a long time Canon user I would need some persuading to spend £4000 on a Sony. Frankly you would have been the only person likely to persuade me assuming of course that your review was so positive that I'd be a fool not to give it a go. To be honest, I'm still not convinced because it does seem such a huge faff to make the appropriate settings adjustments. It seems that you are required to have taken a degree in Sony Image Technology and Software Design, and eaten the User manual in order to understand how to drill through the menus and sub menus. It certainly doesn't look like its something that you could do (or remember to do) on the fly when out on location. I'm assuming that if you then went on to something else ( like photographing a landscape whilst out and about) you'd need to dial in lots of resettings. The whole idea of the in camera AI is a bit mindboggling and I wonder if its best to see how further iterations of the technology pan out (pardon the pun), especially if the clever folk at Canon plat with it for us mere mortals. Anyhoo, do you have any observations on Canon R5 versus R7 because there seems to be a school of thought that the cheaper R7 has enough going for it that means its difficult to justify the additional expense of the R5 (assuming the same decent Canon lenses of course)

How do you feel about this a year later? Switching from R IV to R V?

This is my next camera. I don't really need blazing-fast frames per sec, but I do need to crop. A lot. So the 61mp would be helpful. Thanx for the review.

nice one.

Well Glyn, I t...... so. It takes a great man to admit his mistakes. When you put the tracking sensitivity to "1" (Locked on), instead of going the other direction (responsive), it sticks even more to the bird. In the Bird Eye AF you also have a sub-menu, containing 5 (FIVE) settings, to narrow down how you want that Bird Eye AF to behave. I bet you didn't look at those. But the biggest thing, in my opinion was Sony sending you a not upgraded 200-600, which has had an upgrade especially for enabling it to work with those sub-menu's, the AI -processor and the new Full Time DMF function. This upgrade causes me now to have trouble when using it on the A1 and not missing a shot on the wife's A7R V. I sticked around and I'm glad I did, because I love your work. Keep it up.

Thank you very much Glyn for this excellent and fun review. I am going to buy myself the Sony A7R5 - in about six months when the bugs that invariably afflict a new entry in any field of tech are worked out and someone else had to go through pain of enduring them! Interestingly, I was once a falconer and had a Harris Hawk (which for those who are not raptor (fancy name for a bird of prey) aficionados is a hawk (not falcon) that is native the the United States South West - including Texas etc. It is not as fast as - as a goshawk - but close - and definitely has a wonderful disposition whereas goshawks - American or European are the proverbial handfuls - being skittish as a young girl at her first debutante dance! I also flew a Peregrine - which is the ultimate bird of prey - in my estimation as a former falconer; my brother is still into it so when I get my Sony 7AR5 I will be doing some shooting for him. The pictures you took of the Harris Hawk for your friend are beautiful, and I am sure he was very happy to "help" you with your test! Keep up the good work, because? We inquiring minds want to know! Happy New Year from NYC!

I saw that 1st video and thought.. “wait til he finds out.. 😂” I’m glad you found out.. cheers!

I want the CR because it's less weight to hold up for hours pointing up at birds and monkeys.

I’d buy it for the new flip/tilt screen

I'm on the fence ..I'm using the a7rii and I can see how these upgrades will up my game.

Can you explain why Mechanical Shutter - I'd have thought Electronic Shutter would be much better suited to shooting birds or any fast motion?

Like the before andf after mistake ! Just bought a a7Rv and the possibility are very complete.

That’s fair mate - good on you 👍🏼

I feel like this is part of Sony's fault though too. Some of these settings should be set up by default. One setting that nobody talks about is the ability to map one of your focus buttons to always track the subject regardless of where you're focus point is. This is super helpful for portrait and I could see it being helpful for animal as well. It means you could keep it on medium spot, and not need to switch to zone because it'll essentially act like zone cuz it doesn't matter where your focus point is.

I think there is a massive problem with the latest Cameras, they are so complicated, I recently got back into photography after around 30 years, bought a canon 5d mk4, and to be honest I'm struggling with what settings to use, there are so many options, try different things every time I go out, nearly 70 now so not got a lot of time lol, by the way I carried on using photoshop so have followed you from the start, you are a great photographer and teacher, thanks for your KZfaq channel.

This video raises another issue for me - cameras are extremely complicated now. There are so many combinations of settings that it is easy to not have the optimal setup. I also find that Sony are very good at leaving gaps in their software, so I would not have been surprised if there had been issues. The A6400 is still a current model for Sony, yet you cannot track focus with animal eye detect switched on - so basically Sony is saying if you have an APS-C camera from them then you can only take static animals and not moving ones.

The RIV was no where near as fast at tracking subjects or acquisition, looks like the RV is a big step ahead. Hope they push a firmware update for the A1 that can continue improving the subject tracking but it's almost foolproof now with "the right camera settings". I know I had assumed you were using focus tracking in your first review. Glad you reposted with new results

I can't count all the times I've been wrong in my 72 yrs. lol...I never got into shooting birds, but I love the idea of finding someone who trains them. What a great way to enter the genre. Now Glyn, you mentioned he was a friend but do you know how much these trainers charge to go out on a shoot with someone? About the camera, its out of my price range. I'm happy with my Pentax K3 MARK III.

That was a lot of different setting to adjust just to get the focus right. Couldn't Sony have made it simpler?

Ok the camera did a good job but all those setting/adjustments are a bit over whelming I feel ( wonder how the Canon would have managed ? ) but that's a Sony, menu after menu. Great video though Glyn. 👍

Wildlife photographer Steve Perry did a video last week on subject detection and he said in his Nikon Z9 switching to APS-C (DX) mode improved the camera's ability to detect subjects eyes, but the same was not true in his Sony A1. I thought that was odd.

I hope Sony will give as some new update for Sony A7lV. This camera stil has issues

What does that camera have that my 5d3 dont ?

Crop Mode deliveres 26mp images not 28mp. Nice video btw and thx for the tips for BIF.

Thanks for the update. I went from the A7Riv to the A7Rv mostly because of the volume of smaller improvements, the AI focusing is a bonus. Things like the articulating and flip rear screen, lossless compressed raw, option for medium raws, focus bracketing, improved IBIS, display resolution, still/video/S&Q switch, bulb timer, better menu layout, touch menus, ultrasonic cleaning of the sensor, more reliable connection with the phone app (though still room for more improvement), exposure compensation dial is more flexible, potentially better weather sealing, pixel shift motion compensation (still room for lots of improvement and I want it in camera like Olympus does), better USB C 3.2, faster WiFi, faster in camera charging, CF Express card support (would have preferred type B), and faster image processor. BTW did you test the scenario again with the person stationary and the bird on his outstretched arm. Last time you found it focused on him not the bird despite being in bird subject mode.

Has Sony explicitly stated that the A1 and A7IV will not be receiving the features?

With the latest prices here in Sweden im Starting to look more and more at this camera or the a7iv When its time for me to go to mirrorless. If Canon wont let sigma etc make lenses with af pretty soon they Will loose me as a customer

I have no doubt I would enjoy shooting Sony cameras. But as a Nikon shooter, we always here how good Sony is. But then there are all these basics Sony is only upgrading to now. I guess it doesn’t which camera ecosystem we are a part of, none of them are perfect, but all of them are pretty good.

Did you see the difference between r5 colors and menus

Buy it :-)

Was I dreaming or didn't you say you were moving to the Canon R5? If you have (even) better portrait settings, I'd love hear those too!

As they say, it takes a big person to admit they were wrong. Don't feel too bad, at least you have some smart subscribers that care enough to educate you.

Any upgrade is a question of Need vs Want. Do you Need it or do you just Want it? If you can explain why you Need the upgrade in a way that makes proper sense, then go for it. Until then, save your cash.

Big kudos to admit your mistake, that's what some youtubers sadly never ever admit, they were wrong (khmm TN Khmm)

Even though you can have different remembered setting for foto/video, zebras, apsc-mode and other settings will not change, annoying.

Hmmm,good video but nothing to convince me to stick to sony.i had all that in my canon , 5dsr,r line 6 and 5,years ago except maybe arte intelligence which I don't believe I will ever use it. Maybe interesting for Sony users.

How many of this settings are missing on the A7RIV?

Like and sub. Useful video. Thank you. I'm also an a7RV happy owner.