A7S III vs S5 AF with EF lenses

[zerocool22]

Hello,

Has anybody compared AF with EF lenses on the A7S III and the S5? Which one is the best? And how good is it? As I have no intention in buying E mount lenses or L lenses. 

Thanks,

[Stab]

For photography you will be fine with either camera. For videography the A7SIII is the only way to go. Talking about AF only here of course.

[MrSMW]

Nope, but as above, for photography AF, I doubt there would be much in it though the S5 is probably a little slower, but as accurate as CDAF tends to work that way.

My own experience of the S5 is just that, it's not lightning fast, but it is accurate. Sports or any fast moving subjects is not really any CDAF lenses forte.

Video AF is another matter and the Sony will slay the Panasonic, roast it and eat it for lunch. Every time.

I'm running tests right now between the 2 lenses I have and that is the Pan kit lens and it's 'OK' and the Sigma 56mm f1.4 and that one is so far terrible.

In fact, using myself as a subject (as no one else is home), 5 times out of 5 attempts, it remains locked on the background and will not pick me up in any mode or at any distance. Not once.

Switching to the Pan kit lens in the same lighting and the same settings, it will, but not instantaneously.

I had more success yesterday (with the Sigma) when I could lock on the subject before pressing the record button, but it still wasn't great.

Summary so far is that with native it's OK, with anything else, even from within the L Mount Alliance, it's iffy and I imagine with an adaptor and a Canon lens, ha ha ha ha good luck with that.

I have the Pan 85mm f1.8 arriving shortly so looking forward to seeing if that is a bit more tuned for video AF...

New firmware may make a difference. I am downloading that one as I type. They do sometimes sneak something in there rather than admit there is any kind of issue and there is supposed to be something in that regard for shooting log, but we'll see...

[Mark Romero 2]

Canon EF lenses on an MC-21 Adapter on Panasonic S-series cameras only provide AF-S. There is NO AF-C available using EF lenses on the MC-21, neither when shooting video nor when shooting stills. Maybe if / when metabones comes out with an EF-L mount adapter there will be AF-C available on Panasonic S-series cameras.

I only have one EF lens and that is the 16-35 f/4 and it seems to work fine when using AF-S (haven't tried it with the new Ver 1.6 firmware though). Even when shooting video in V-LOG at 24fps (where the Panasonic S1 struggles the most) the AF-S is fine. However, I normally shoot large, stationary objects, since I shoot real estate / architecture / travel. Houses and mountains don't move too quickly 🙂

As a side note, most Canon and Sigma EF-S glass will automatically set the camera to crop mode, and you can't change back to FF mode. I don't have any EF-S glass but I heard that some lenses might not, such as the Tamron 12-24 will let you shoot in FF mode. Apparently at around 16mm that Tamron 12-24mm lens will cover the full area of the FF sensor.

Hearsay: I've read on other forums from people who own both an a7 III and an S1-series of cameras that EF glass performs a lot better on their Sony cameras than on their panasonic cameras. I've actually heard people say that their EF glass performs better on their Sony a7 III than on their Canon 5D III. Again, just hearsay, so don't quote me on this.

Bottom line: as @MrSMW noted above, If AF is really important to you using Canon EF lenses, then go with the Sony.

Just one last bit of food for thought though...

While I realize and can see your reasoning for not wanting to buy L Mount glass, the Panasonic lenses are truly capable video lenses. Each lens varies, but most of them offer minimal focus breathing, are parfocal, have the ability to set the focus ring to linear, and allow you to customize the focus throw from about 90-degrees to around 270-degrees (as best as I can remember). They also have beautiful rendering, minimal flare, minimal ghosting, minimal CA, minimal LOCA. They were designed for hybrid shooters, while I think most Canon EF glass was designed for photographers.

[MrSMW]

1 minute ago, Mark Romero 2 said:

While I realize and can see your reasoning for not wanting to buy L Mount glass, the Panasonic lenses are truly capable video lenses.

I think it’s going to potentially get interesting when the full lineup of f1.8’s are available; the 24, 35, 50 and 85, the latter of which is now shipping.

Hopefully by the weekend for me and then I will know more.

A few have reported MUCH improved AF after the firmware upgrade, but they may be smoking something...

I really need to experience it to believe it as I’m pretty sure it’s marginal at best.

[Mark Romero 2]

8 hours ago, MrSMW said:

In fact, using myself as a subject (as no one else is home), 5 times out of 5 attempts, it remains locked on the background and will not pick me up in any mode or at any distance. Not once.

Well... did you try instead to focus on the BACKGROUND??? Maybe that way it would lock focus on you by mistake ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[herein2020]

On 11/24/2020 at 6:02 PM, zerocool22 said:

Hello,

Has anybody compared AF with EF lenses on the A7S III and the S5? Which one is the best? And how good is it? As I have no intention in buying E mount lenses or L lenses. 

Thanks,

As others have mentioned, continuous AF is not currently possible with EF lenses on the S5. I read somewhere that most if not all EF lenses are incompatible with the S5's DFD focus system due to the many small micro adjustments that DFD needs to lock focus vs Canon's DPAF which is able to smoothly adjust the focus; whether this is true I have no idea but if it is, then it means continuous AF with EF lenses may never be a possibility with the S5.

 

I have never used a Sony so I can't answer that part but I think it is pretty safe to say that if you rely on continuous AF for most of your work then the S5 is not going to be the best choice, in fact it probably shouldn't even be on the consideration list. Even for photography with the S5 there is no continuous AF with EF lenses so that is something else to keep in mind.