fuuu, lucky never kena before...

Some green stuff

1) i dont understand this part.

2) face detection. for all the people saying very weird and funny stuff. the face detection metering was introduced in A550 (i uses it) and YES, it will overwrite watever metering mode you are on, and replace with Face-zone metering (no written facts bout it) but thats how it behave since A550, about 4 years back. and it only works best if you did not have many stuff overwritten, eg, exposure compensation.

Face metering will set the face exposure to 15%(or up to 20%)grey... that is when human face has prefect exposure. (thats how you use spot-AEL mode available in most camera that most people dont know) but the face detection doest that automatically for you.

and i also hope sony will comeout with a new menu to OFF metering overwrite during face detection. anyway i leave it off all the time, only on it during video mode and in videomode the face-metering doesnt overwrite the selected metering.... mmmm

you mention you are not a professional photographer, but i really advise you to seek some professional teaching (a proper one, not an idiot which will mislead u even worst)

from the sample photo you posted, shows your subject are in shadow area... so the face detection will brighten the whole image to cope with the face exposure.
i) set flash mode to slowsync flash and fire it... it will turn out really really nice. (i leave my camera in slowsync mode all the time, it doesnt matter when u use daytime,coz it will work like normal flash when there too much light)
ii) activate DRO to level5, some might not like it... remember to set it back to normal.
iii) turn on to HDR mode, but control the ev stop, 2-4stop is gentle for human skin(i stick with 3eV). 5ev is a little too much.

iv) how professional ppl does it, use a reflector.

3,4) due to sensor size. its a very technical thing as many company is still working around this. due to the DOF cause by large sensor, most of the time the sensor itself cant see the faces to even 50% detectable, unlike smaller sensor camera, which can detect face from 3 meter to infinity due to the large DOF...

the best way to cope with it is to understand how(behavior) the camera face detection works and learn to cope with it.

and softskin works best when the face area is large enough, if its just a small face in the photo, the face itself its not really that sharp that requires more softskin rite? jkjk

5) i think you can define shortcut keys for that

6) i agree with you, i hope they come out with new firmware to address this and add in a new function to set this sleep timer in remote mode.

7) due to new system getting bigger and bigger and more shit is added in.. soon it will be like nikon menu . but try the '"FN'"' key, most of the used and important feature are there.

8) like what newbie mention, your comparison of photo is not fair due to backlighting. i doubt any camera in the world can fix that issue either.

i think we better no need to advice. those ppl like valentino46 & yok70 never listen us

see this below, it were believed of they never really understand how sony mirrorless camera's face detection functions works. to be honest, i doubt of all camera manufacturer will do the same thing even though is "face detection" features

This post has been edited by vincentlee90: Sep 19 2014, 09:23 PM

you on weeds or what? u suddenly jump out from no where and say ppl never "listen" to you?say how dumb we are like face detection pun tak tau? u didn't give any constructive advice,what there to "listen" to you?

i guess u also have no clue about face detection and metering,you wanna act like smart arse want ppl "listen" to you,u better have clear understanding of the situation

nice setting for me to try on my next cosplay photoshooting

i just share base on my experience, as what i post at earlier time

i not meant of act smart, but in fact, different camera manufacturer have different way to perform the face detection function

for what I see, you're damn rude

just for share. sony having promotion for A7 series, which FOC RX100. go and grab it while stock last

wow, damn nice. although its kinda clearing off old stocks

i was there just now. hand very itchy for A7S

thanks for your reply,

1) to illustrate this problem,try lock on focus (its a feature,i use it for "quick focus then recompose" technique) with sony at a moderate busy place,then try on olympus or panasonic,you'll know what i mean

2) my problem is not dealing with backlighting, my beef with this camera is it force u to use spot metering if face detect,that's what my main problem,let me re-iterate


perfect exposure


blown exposure once the camera detect the face,not because it backlighted,because it spot metered the face

perfect shot is not what i after,i can lift the shadow area with slight post editing,what i want the face detection to do is just so that i can focus off center faces easily,natural face expression doesn't wait you to manual focus or manually move focus point

but just now i try AEL before focusing,it partially solve the problems

Since you know that the camera does some sort of a spot metering on face detect then it makes sense that the pic will have a nicely exposed face but then the nicely exposed face does not mean that the other part of the pics will be nicely exposed as well. In your pic, the face takes up only a small area in the frame. The larger area in the frame is generally brighter than the face. Thus if you pull the face exposure up, it blows out the other parts of the pic. This is how all post editing on photos work. That's just the way it is. It does not mean that the face detect and exposure is not working. It is just not working optimally in your example shot.

Like edpaul has pointed out, face detect on a large sensor has its challenges due to the DOF. Small sensor makes everything in the frame sharp and in focus thus it's easier for the sensor to detect faces. I don't know about you but most people buy a bigger sensor cam so they can get better subject vs background separation, i.e. bokeh.

Why don't you try these next time:

1. When shooting portraits, try to fill up more of the frame with the face.

2. Use fill flash or a reflector to even up the lighting


If you shoot enough you learn how to anticipate shots. I don't use face detect and my A850 is generations behind the latest cam Sony is offering but it doesn't stop me from getting candid shots.





The above are shots of my son and daughter a few years back. You should know children don't wait for you. I can still get shots like the above. Manual AF point selection and no face detect feature.







I shoot weddings too and one cannot expect people to pause a wedding just for your shots, no?

I've been using face detection on my A77/A99/NEX3 (dino) with no issues in all my wedding assignments - backlit or not.

A painter doesn't blame the brush if their paintings doesn't turn out right. Neither should you.

Don't like face detection function? Just turn it off. Simple enough right? I don't get what the fuss is all about bro.

This post has been edited by lwliam: Sep 19 2014, 11:44 PM

if dun wan rx100 how much?
where is the promo?

KLPF held at mid valley. price is still the same even u dun wan RX100. looks like fotokem is meant to clear the stocks

ok thanks.

wow,what a cliche
so i quit using any features whenever i bump into any difficulties without even trying to make it works,that's genius
the fuss is about making it something work,because when it work,its wonderful,switch it off only serve as the last resort.

thanks for giving me the inspiration,i worked out a perfect setting for just my need
my A6000 is absolutely flying now,hurray!!!

You only have one shutter. It either meters the background or the face. You choose. You can't have 1/1250 for the background and 1/800 for the face so that they're both perfectly exposed right? And if those pictures are not due to backlighting then I don't know what else it is. This is when flashes come into play. Meter the background and flash the face. Let the ADI kick in. Simple solution. No camera in the world can perfectly expose both the face and the background.

This post has been edited by Newbieeeeee: Sep 20 2014, 01:23 AM