• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Alpha Shooters Logo

AlphaShooters.com

News & Community for Sony Alpha Shooters

  • Blog
  • Forums
  • InstaView
  • Cameras
  • Lenses
  • Accessories
  • Compare
  • Marketplace

Sony A6400 Animal Eye AF Setup Guide and Demo

You are here: Home / Sony Alpha Mirrorless Cameras / Sony a6400 / Sony A6400 Animal Eye AF Setup Guide and Demo

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases made through links on this site. I may also earn from links to other online retailers at no extra cost to you.

Last updated: December 23, 2020 by Timothy Mayo - 2 Comments

With firmware v2.00 the Sony a6400 now supports Animal Eye AF. In this guide I will explain how to setup Animal Eye AF with the a6400.

sony a6400 animal eye af setup

Sony a6400 Forum & Facebook Group

If you are looking for further help and advice on the a6400 or would simply like to share your photos and videos, then please head over to our friendly Sony a6400 Forum. If you prefer Facebook then I also run the Sony a6400 Shooters Group.

Sony a6400 v2.00 Firmware Update

For Animal Eye AF to work with the Sony a6400 you will need firmware v2.00 or later installed on the a6400. You can download firmware v2.00 from the following Sony support sites or simply navigate to your local Sony support site.

US: (#afflinks) Sony a6400 Support Site
UK: (#afflinks) Sony a6400 Support Site

Please make sure you follow the install guide tips on the firmware download page carefully, especially for Mac computers as it’s not so simple. If you are struggling with installing it on your Mac then Jason Vong’s YouTube Video is also helpful.

Sony A6400 Animal Eye AF Setup

If you prefer to watch videos then the following video will take you through the steps of setting up Animal Eye AF on the Sony a6400 and I also give a demo of it in use with my dog Frank. If you prefer to read or don’t like my face/voice then keep on scrolling down.

https://youtu.be/0E_OPGJeTII

Setup Step 1. Check Firmware Version

First lets check the firmware version on your Sony a6400 to make sure it’s version 2.00 or higher. Hit the [Menu] button on the back of the a6400 and navigate to the [Setup7] menu page as shown below:

sony a6400 check firmware version

From here select [Version] and check that it says Ver. 2.00 for the body or higher. If it says Ver. 1.00 than you will need to update to Ver. 2.00 before you can enable Animal Eye AF (see firmware update above). If it says Ver. 2.00 that’s great!

sony a6400 firmware version

Setup Step 2. Select AF-C Mode

Animal Eye AF will work in both AF-S (Single Shot) and AF-C (Continuous Shooting) focus modes. However for moving subjects I would strongly recommend using AF-C so that the camera automatically adjusts the focus as your subject moves. All you need to do is keep your finger half-pressed on the shutter button.

To change from AF-S to AF-C simply press the [Fn] button on the back on the camera then select the Focus Mode option which is normally the second option on the top row. In the below example it’s currently set to AF-S on my camera.

sony a6400 focus mode fn menu
sony a6400 focus mode af-c

Simply change this to AF-C like shown below:

Setup Step 3. Enable Animal Eye AF

Now it’s time to enable Animal Eye AF. Because the a6400 is not able to simultaneously detect both human and animal eyes, you need to tell it whether you are shooting humans or animals.

The first step is to navigate in the menu to [Camera Settings 1] which is the top left menu. From here you need to move down and scroll across to page 6/14 which is titled [AF2]. On this page select the option [Face/Eye AF Set] as shown below:

sony a6400 animal eye af setup face eye af set

On the Face/Eye AF Set page check that the first menu option [Face/Eye Priority in AF] is set to [On]. It should be by default. If not, turn it on like shown below:

sony a6400 animal eye af setup face priority in af

The next option in this menu is [Subject Detection]. By default this will be set to [Human]. When you want to shoot animals and make use of Eye AF then you will want to change this to [Animal] as shown below. If you select this now then you will be kicked out of the menu, but that’s fine as you are almost set to go!

sony a6400 animal eye af setup human or animal

Before I show you how to assign Human/Animal Eye AF selection to a custom button so that you don’t need to enter the menu every-time you want to change between human and animal subject, I’m just going to mention a couple of other options here. The first is [Right/Left Eye Select]. This works for humans and you can select which eye you would like to focus on or leave it as Auto. However, with Animal Eye AF the only option now is [Auto] so this is greyed out.

sony a6400 animal eye af setup right and left eye

With Animal Eye AF enabled you will see a grey box as soon as the a6400 detects an eye, even before you focus. If you don’t wish to see this grey box then you can turn it off in the menu option as shown below. Personally I just leave it on.

sony a6400 animal eye af setup display

Setup Step 4. Assign Subject Detection to a Custom Button

Now you most likely don’t want to drill down into the menu and go through the above steps each time you want to select between humans or animals. Therefore I’m going to show you how you can assign subject detection (human/animal) to a custom button that requires just a single click.

Hit the menu button on the back of the a6400 again and from the [Camera Settings 2] menu navigate to page 8/9 which is titled [Custom Operation1]. From here select the first menu option [Custom Key] for images as shown below:

sony a6400 animal eye af custom key images

The a6400 has a number of programmable custom keys/buttons. So you can choose whichever one makes the most sense for you.

For this example I’m going to show you how to assign [Subject Detection] to the C1 button which is the one next to the shutter button.

In the custom key menu scroll across to page 3/4. You’ll see that Custom Button 1 is currently assigned to [Focus Mode] as shown below (unless you have changed it):

sony a6400 animal eye af custom button c1

Simply click on Focus Mode which is what C1 is assigned to and on the next menu page you need to scroll to page 6/25 which is titled [AF3]. From here select the [Subject Detection] option as shown below:

sony a6400 animal eye af custom button af3

Now the C1 button should be programmed to [Subject Detection] as shown below:

sony a6400 animal eye af custom button c1 subject detection

If this has worked correctly then now when you press the C1 button the screen to select between Human and Animal should be displayed, making it a lot quicker to switch between the two.

sony a6400 animal eye af custom button animal / human

Animal Eye AF Tips

When your subject has a cat or dog like face and both eyes are clearly visible, the a6400 should easily detect the eyes. However, if the eyes are very dark and the surround area is also very dark then it may struggle. It also works best when both eyes are visible.

If your subject is moving very fast then eye af may also struggle to lock on. It certainly will not work very well with birds in flight at this early stage, however hopefully as the technology improves it will also be able to track the eyes of birds in flight which would be amazing.

Sony has provided some example of the types of animals that animal eye af works well on, along with those that it doesn’t, you can view these here.

Any Questions?

Just drop a comment below and I’ll do my best to help.

Check Price & Buyer Reviews for Sony a6400

At: Amazon | B&H Photo

Sony a6400 Resources

Sony a6400 Accessories

Sony A6400 Accessories Guide

sony a6400 lenses

Best Sony a6400 Lenses

sony-a6400-animal-eye-firmware-update-400px

Sony A6400 Firmware v2.00 Released

sony a6400 manual

Sony a6400 Manual + Online Help Guide

sony a6400 time-lapse setup-guide

Sony A6400 Time-lapse Setup, Recording and Editing Guide

Sony Alpha Forum

About Timothy Mayo

I love shooting wildlife the most but will happily point my camera at pretty much anything. I started Alpha Shooters in 2017 to share my own photographic journey and experiences shooting with Sony Alpha. The site has since evolved into a popular community and resource. You can also find out more about my story here or follow me on Instagram if you wish. I also have a YouTube Channel but haven't published much content over the past year due to spending more time changing smelly nappies and also launching our community forums. However, I do plan to get back to creating content for YouTube in 2021!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rodger Coots

    June 17, 2019 at 12:44 pm

    Timothy
    Thank you for an excellent video of the animal eye focus firmware upgrade. I’m not currently a Sony user but I’m intrigued with this feature. I currently use fujifilm / olympus and photograph dogs part time for the local rescue. In your video when your dog was running toward you I noticed the in-focus indicator (green focus box) was only occasionally on. If you were shooting continuously during that portion or a similar portion, what would your keeper rate be? I’m assuming your using release priority and not focus priority shutter actuation.
    Keep up the good work.
    Rodger Coots
    Ukiah California

    Reply
    • Timothy Mayo

      June 18, 2019 at 9:40 am

      Hi Rodger. It certainly is an interesting feature. I’d say right now this works best with slow moving animals (with cat/dog like faces). The keeper rate will vary greatly depending on the contrast between eyes and surrounding area. For Frank and the slow moving shots the keeper rate (with eye in focus) was around 90%, it really doesn’t miss too many. However for the fast action shots when he is running towards the camera it struggles more to lock on to the eyes, my keeper rate (with eyes in focus) was something like 20% here, although it would always hit the focus somewhere. Again this will vary greatly depending on the animal and the clarity of their eyes. I normally have the priority set to balanced. It’s still early days for animal eye af, but I expect Sony will be improving on this tech with firmware updates and new cameras. All the best, Tim

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Sidebar

Pro Membership

If you’d like to support this site you can easily do so by becoming a Pro Member in our Community Forums and unlocking the following benefits:

✓ No Adverts in the Forums
✓ Pro Member Competitions
✓ Sell Items in the Marketplace
✓ Unlimited Gallery Uploads
✓ Higher Resolution Gallery Uploads
✓ Forum Profile Signature
✓ Custom Profile Cover Photo
✓ Advertise Your Photography Workshops

Join today!

Latest Articles

Sony A1 Accessories Guide

Sony A1 Accessories Guide

Sony A7S III Firmware Update

Sony A7S III Firmware Update v2.00

Sigma 28-70mm F2.8 DG DN Lens

Sigma 28-70mm F2.8 DG DN Contemporary Lens Announced

Sony FX3 Front

Sony Officially Announces the FX3 Cinema Camera

Featured Articles

Sony Alpha Deals

Sony Alpha USA Promo Deals – $1000 off the A9

Sony A7III Memory Cards

Best Sony A7III Memory Cards Tested

Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G vs FE 100-400 F4.5-5.6 GM Comparison

Sony 200-600 G vs 100-400 GM Review & Comparison

Pro Membership Upgrade

If you’d like to support this site you can easily do so by becoming a Pro Member in our Community Forums and unlocking the following benefits:

✓ No Adverts in the Forums
✓ Pro Member Competitions
✓ Sell Items in the Marketplace
✓ Unlimited Gallery Uploads
✓ Higher Resolution Gallery Uploads
✓ Forum Profile Signature
✓ Custom Profile Cover Photo
✓ Advertise Your Photography Workshops

Join today!

Facebook Groups

Alpha Shooters
Wildlife
Landscape
Portraits
Macro
Sports
Street
Weddings
Video

a1
a7 III
a7 IV
a7R IV
a9 / a9II
a7S III
a7C
a6100
a6400
a6600

Accessory Guides

Sony a1 Accessories
Sony a7R IV Accessories
Sony a7III Accessories
Sony a7R III Accessories
Sony a9II Accessories
Sony a9 Accessories
Sony a6600 Accessories
Sony a6400 Accessories
Sony a6100 Accessories
Sony a6000 Accessories

Lens Guides

Sony FE Lenses
Sony APS-C Lenses
Sony Macro Lenses
Sony Telephoto Lenses
Sony a7III Lenses
Sony a7R IV Lenses
Sony a7R III Lenses
Sony a6600 Lenses
Sony a6400 Lenses
Sony a6000 Lenses

Alpha Shooters Text Logo

Return To Top

Copyright © 2021 Alpha Shooters. All Rights Reserved. Content and images may not be used without permission.
Disclaimer: Alpha Shooters is an independently run website and is not affiliated with Sony.com
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Terms · Privacy · Cookies · Contact · About · Affiliate Links