Over the summer, while collecting historical references for Adorama, I stumbled across an old article from Popular Photography Magazine. It was titled something like “Do We Need Autofocus?” As you may or may not have guessed, this article was a bit old. These days, I doubt there are many who would question the utility of this ubiquitous feature. However, I can remember a few years back some wondering if “eye focus” and “pet eye focus” modes were a bit much. I’m not sure how long it took for “regular autofocus” to become the standard, but it seems these AI autofocus modes are everywhere and just getting better. A great new example of this is the Sony A7 V.
Of course, the Sony A7 V is not the first Sony, or camera in general, to have what I am calling AI autofocus. It represents a refinement of the technology as we look at it here at the end of 2025
Not Gone or Forgotten
As someone who regularly shoots with rangefinder cameras as well as vintage medium format, I’m well aware that not every camera has autofocus. I’m also a fan of switching to manual focus for some still life and macro work. That being said, the advantages of autofocus for portrait, wedding, and so many other genres are clear. Did I just defend autofocus? Are we going back in time? Nope, let’s talk AI autofocus and the Sony A7V.
Interestingly, the A7V has insect recognition, which should be awesome for Macro shooters!
BTW, if you want an overview of the camera that touches on many of the upgrades, check out Sal’s video here:
AI Autofocus for Dummies Like Me
I’ve been a pro shooter for a very long time, but I’m not an engineer, so I won’t talk about sensors and the like. Let’s talk about the practical use of these technologies.
I’ve used a few cameras with this type of technology and had a chance to do a quick portrait shoot with the Sony A7 V. The images in this article are from that shoot with eye detection autofocus.
Subject Detection, the Core of AI Autofocus
A bit of history (as I lived through it) of autofocus. In the early days, cameras had a single point in the center of the viewfinder that the autofocus would focus on. We often used a technique called “focus and recompose” when the subject was not in the center. Though sometimes we just lived with the center as the focus when there wasn’t much time. Many experienced sports shooters of the day still practiced manual focus in certain situations.
Next, we moved on to multipoint autofocus, where you could choose from maybe 6 or 8 points. Further, with cameras becoming more sophisticated, they could do it for you. Whatever magic those old autofuc systems used was not super precise, but we worked with what we had.
The first “detection” I became aware of was face detection in the Nikon COOLPIX 7900 and 5900 back in 2005. At that point, being in a consumer-based camera, I don’t remember it making much of a splash. It was when “eye detection” hit the scene about 10 years later that we started really paying attention. Now your super-fast F1.4 lenses could nail a sharp eye in a portrait every time.
Not All Eyes are the Same
Early eye detection worked well on humans who mostly faced the cameras, great for portraits. Quickly, though, it got better at capturing eyes from various angles, and then animal eyes.
That started a mini-revolution. New subjects could be detected, and, importantly to this essay, AI autofocus came to life. AI autofocus is when the autofocus system is trained to detect and predict subject movement. This allows cameras like the Sony A7 V to continue to track a subject even when their face is temporarily blocked. This ability is a huge advancement for sports and action, as well as wedding shooters.
So Here We Are
Like so many technologies, AI autofocus in cameras like the Sony A7 V might seem a bit “extra” to those who have been content shooting without it. But to those who can fully put to use the power of this option, this could help them elevate their work. More sharp images, fewer files in the trash can. Happier photographers. Happier clients.
