Sony’s Most Popular Alpha Cameras Are Getting Major Autofocus Upgrades

Sony Software Updates

The big news for Sony shooters is the added support for "Real-time Recognition AF+ (Plus)", which promises to offer Sony a1 II and a9 III owners improved person recognition performance and recording of authenticity information for videos. Some features of this software update are planned for deployment to other models in the future.

Here are the key updates for both the Alpha 1 II and Alpha 9 III models:

• Support for Real-time Recognition AF+ with improved person recognition performance: Enhanced human pose estimation technology allows the camera to continuously track initially captured subjects with high accuracy, even in challenging sports scenes where athletes cross paths.
• Support for recording authenticity information in videos: Authenticity data, once available only for still images, can now be attached to video recordings as digital signatures, enhancing content verification. For details, please refer here.
• Enable preset focus function for zoom lenses without power zoom: The preset focus function can now be used with zoom lenses that do not have power zoom.

Additionally, Sony has announced that the Alpha 9 III has received the following updates:

• The Addition of [Auto] mode to Recognition Target: When Auto is selected in the Recognition Target subject setting, the camera automatically selects and recognizes a subject from among the recognition targets to which check marks were added on the [Auto Recog. Target] screeniii
• Vertical orientation support for shooting information layout: The shooting information layout displayed on screen now supports both horizontal and vertical orientations.

For compatible models and details of each function, please visit the support page for each camera here.