Anyone tried [Animal Detect] AF on the G9 yet?

[ooheadsoo]

Um, no. My statement was rhetorical, and so was your question. Unless it wasn't.

 

[Tool Crazy]

talk about untenable responses

 

[ooheadsoo]

Pot and kettle, my friend.

 

[chicks]

Getting dark here, just tried the kitty test. It put a square around the face, I clicked, it seems to have focussed OK.

Will try birds tomorrow.

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[ralf-11]

Thanks for an on topic post !!

 

[swifty]

Tried it on my cat with indoor lighting at night. Worked well.
Funny enough I have a sleeping grizzly bear bean bag (Google that term to see the exact bean bag) and the animal AF puts a box around that too

 

[gwydionjhr]

I tried it today....

G9, Firmware v1.3 Tracking C-AF Test. PL 100-400 @ 195mm, 1/2000, f/5, ISO200

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G9, Firmware 2.0, Animal Tracking C-AF Test. PL 100-400 @ 200mm, 1/2000, f/5.1, ISO 250

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G9, Firmware 2.0, Small Box Target C-AF Test. PL 100-400 @ 195mm, 1/2500, f/5, ISO 320

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Small Box Target actually had the best results IMO, the only real misses were when Ernie's head dipped below the target location just above the top thirds line. Animal Tracking AF was slightly better than basic tracking AF, I have found the latter to often get the focus towards the back of the dog instead of the face many times when using it in the past. Although I never saw the box get small enough to register the face or even an eye on Ernie. I'd still use Animal Tracking AF over the Small Box Target through in anything but the most controlled conditions.

Link to the full res files for all three versions for the pixel peepers. https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtXr4sSryZlT24JAfVC254BQFvFIqA?e=YV9vQu

 

[ralf-11]

Thanks!

 

[Tool Crazy]

I tried it today....

G9, Firmware v1.3 Tracking C-AF Test. PL 100-400 @ 195mm, 1/2000, f/5, ISO200
View attachment 787219

G9, Firmware 2.0, Animal Tracking C-AF Test. PL 100-400 @ 200mm, 1/2000, f/5.1, ISO 250 View attachment 787220

G9, Firmware 2.0, Small Box Target C-AF Test. PL 100-400 @ 195mm, 1/2500, f/5, ISO 320
View attachment 787221

Small Box Target actually had the best results IMO, the only real misses were when Ernie's head dipped below the target location just above the top thirds line. Animal Tracking AF was slightly better than basic tracking AF, I have found the latter to often get the focus towards the back of the dog instead of the face many times when using it in the past. Although I never saw the box get small enough to register the face or even an eye on Ernie. I'd still use Animal Tracking AF over the Small Box Target through in anything but the most controlled conditions.

Link to the full res files for all three versions for the pixel peepers. https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtXr4sSryZlT24JAfVC254BQFvFIqA?e=YV9vQu

Excellent work there. I know that must have been a lot of work compiling all the images together to make them side by side.
FW 1.3 looks excellent as expected and it looks like FW 2.0 made it a touch better.

 

[TNcasual]

https://petapixel.com/2019/11/21/testing-the-animal-detect-autofocus-on-the-panasonic-g9/

 

[Mike G]

Maybe you could try the animal detect setting yourself!

 

[ralf-11]

Thanks for your helpful comment G mikey

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I tried it briefly on some birds and a squirrel today. I haven’t seen the results on the big screen yet, but it did box the animals fairly well. There were a few occasions where some dried oak leaves also triggered a box. I guess it can’t be perfect, or where would the fun be?

Edit:
A few results after PP: Looks like decent success rate, not bad for the lighting and the twichiness of junkos.

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[ralf-11]

I am not getting an actual box - tho it works fine on the dog.

Are you guys getting a box with lines for all 4 edges?

 

[Holoholo55]

https://petapixel.com/2019/11/21/testing-the-animal-detect-autofocus-on-the-panasonic-g9/

I saw this article and was pretty impressed. I was thinking, hey Olympus, how about adding this to our EM1.2 and EM5.3?

 

[gwydionjhr]

I am not getting an actual box - tho it works fine on the dog.

Are you guys getting a box with lines for all 4 edges?

Yes. It appears to be a little counter intuitive. If the icon along the top shows a person AND a bird, then Animal AF is ON. Don't be fooled by the menu item in the bottom right that says "Animal AF (or whatever) off ?". Selecting that does the opposite of what you want.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I get a box around the animal. So far, no crosshairs appears on the eye like it does for humans. That could just be poor lightning though.

 

[CyVan]

Yes. It appears to be a little counter intuitive. If the icon along the top shows a person AND a bird, then Animal AF is ON. Don't be fooled by the menu item in the bottom right that says "Animal AF (or whatever) off ?". Selecting that does the opposite of what you want.

@ralf-11 yeah the thing to remember is that that Message is NOT the STATUS, its telling you to press the D-Pad UP button to turn it OFF. They should really rename it to "Turn Animal AF Off".

 

[mcgillro]

https://petapixel.com/2019/11/21/testing-the-animal-detect-autofocus-on-the-panasonic-g9/

Thanks for that. Doing the firmware upgrade when battery is fully charged Then hopefully will see some birds tomorrorw on my walk.

 

[Tool Crazy]

I get a box around the animal. So far, no crosshairs appears on the eye like it does for humans. That could just be poor lightning though.

I get a box too. I got eye detect cross hairs on the eyes on one dog for split second. Haven't seen it again since.