Sony A6100 Cannot Get a6100/GM 70-200 to Focus

[Embeeous]

I use a Sony a6100 with a G Master 70-200 lens, for kids and sports but primarily to shoot wildlife, mostly stationary and moving birds in natural settings like lakes and refuges. I have tried every possible combination of auto focus modes and areas available but just cannot get this camera/lens combo to consistently produce focused images. It just doesn’t seem to lock on to what I focus on, whether I use center, wide, zone, expandable spot, etc. I think that I have back button focus set up correctly, whatever zone I choose will light up to show in focus and it looks good on the viewfinder but the end result is blurry or focused on anything and everything but the intended subject. I’m bringing the camera and lens into the retailer this week, to double check that there isn’t a hardware or firmware issue, or one or more of my settings are off. Barring user error, I’m kind of at my wit’s end after tons of reading, prep, setup and practice in the field. I just finished up back to back shoots of about 1000 pictures using every possible setting, and maybe 5% are in focus and/or focused on the intended subject. Is it possible that the G Master lens just doesn’t play well with an a6100 and I should be looking into a a7 or the like? Either I get this all sorted out and soon or I am seriously considering going back to a Nikon (thinking about D500), never had auto focus issues with Nikon. Help. Any input is welcome.

 

[Embeeous]

1) How does the camera focus using other lenses?
2) Have you done any weird settings, like Microfocus adjust (not needed for mirrorless cameras with E mount lenses)
3) Have you tried a factory reset?
4) Do you have any friends that can try the lens on their camera?

Thank you for the quick and detailed response.

1) How does the camera focus using other lenses?

Hard to say because I haven't tested other lenses out thoroughly yet. I did switch off the GM 70-200 with a GM 24-70 at the end of the shoot and it focused fast and perfectly. And when I put the 70-200 back on, it seemed to perform better, albeit I was shooting trees and objects in close proximity to test, not static or moving birds. I might have an opportunity to shoot again on Thursday in which case I will bring both lenses and test thoroughly out in the field.

2) Have you done any weird settings, like Microfocus adjust (not needed for mirrorless cameras with E mount lenses)

I have not. That's not to say that I didn't accidently turn on a setting, or that it got turned on in the process of setting up something else. But Microfocus, no. There are a number of AF settings that I have tried turning on and off to see if it would alleviate the issue, but I always turned back whatever I turned on.

3) Have you tried a factory reset?

I have not. I am waiting until after I visit the retailer tomorrow to do that. I want them to see the camera lens and setup exactly as I used them yesterday first, then I'm assuming that they will do a reset as part of their standard process, or I can do it after I get home with the camera.

4) Do you have any friends that can try the lens on their camera?

I am surrounded by friends who use Nikons and Canons I am the only one that I know that uses a Sony, and proud of it! I want to get this all to work, I love my a6100 and I'd hate to join the masses just because I can't get the camera to focus but for the money spent, the low bar on camera performance for me is that it focuses, that's a minimum criteria.

 

[MrFotoFool]

If you have a camera repair shop I would have them take a look at it. I have a good one near me, but if you don't have one in your city you can mail it to one.

 

[Embeeous]

I spent a solid hour at the Sony kiosk at this retailer's flagship store today, with a pair of very knowledgeable technical resources. We went through everything - the camera, the lens, the combination of the camera and the lens, all of my focus settings, firmware version, focus mode and area settings that I was using for specific conditions especially groups of small moving birds, and we looked through a ton of pictures that I had taken and uploaded. And we could not come up with a thing. Everything is working fine, everything is set up fine, I am doing everything correctly. There really is no explanation so we had to take an educated guess and came to the conclusion that I have simply outgrown the a6100 for this kind of photography. Someone recently said to me "you date your camera bodies but you marry your lenses", I thought that that was pretty clever and poignant. I like the Sony ecosystem, I actually like the menus and I really like their glass, especially the pair of GM 24-70 and GM 70-200 lenses that I paid a small fortune for. And despite being the third big name in the industry with limited base at least where I am located, the support that I have received on Sony products has been terrific. The last thing that I want to do is leave Sony and start all over again with Nikon or Canon. So knowing that this was all a possibility, I did my research ahead of time, had some very serious upfront discussions with my better half, and purchased a Sony a7IV today. I am optimistic and somewhat confident that based upon my research, the combo of the a7IV and those GM lenses will provide a solution that should offer better autofocusing capabilities compared to the a6100. There are some newer AF technology features on the a7IV that the a6100 simply doesn't have. Moreover, because it's the holiday season, this particular retailer offers returns on items purchased now until February. So I have a lot of time to test things out thoroughly, obviously if it's not an improvement, it gets returned, but I suspect that it will be a dramatic improvement. Again, I want to thank everyone who posted responses to my initial request, looks like I'm all set for now. I will post another update when I have something more to share

Thank you.