Autofocus
Tracking AF
An autofocus mode that locks onto a subject and continuously adjusts focus to keep it sharp as it moves across the frame. Essential for wildlife, sports, and any subject that changes position or distance during shooting.
Tracking autofocus combines subject detection with predictive focus adjustment to maintain sharp focus on a moving subject. The camera identifies the subject — either by the photographer tapping it on screen, placing a focus point on it, or through automatic subject recognition — and then continuously updates focus as the subject moves. When a subject is moving toward or away from the camera, tracking AF must predict where the subject will be at the moment the shutter fires, not just where it is at the moment of the AF calculation.
Phase detection autofocus is essential for effective tracking because it provides directional information — it can tell which way the lens needs to move and by approximately how much, without hunting. Contrast detection can track subjects moving laterally across the frame, but struggles with subjects moving toward or away from the camera, where accurate depth prediction is required. This is why the introduction of phase detection in Panasonic's M43 cameras with the G9 II significantly improved their tracking performance over earlier contrast-detect bodies.
In M43, the most capable tracking AF systems are in OM System bodies. The OM-1 Mark II's AI Subject Detection tracks birds and animals through partial obstructions — branches, reeds, cage bars — by maintaining a prediction of subject position when it is briefly hidden. At 120fps burst in Pro Capture mode, the camera can maintain lock through extremely brief interruptions. For wildlife and bird photographers, the combination of tracking AF, Pro Capture, and the telephoto reach advantage of the 2x crop factor makes OM System M43 bodies the most practical choice within the format.