DSLR video focus
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- antagonista
I bought a D800, my 4th DSLR and I love it. I've always, and only, focused on shooting stills. I'm not so interested in video and have barely explored it.
That said, I've been trying a few things lately for fun, mainly with my 2yr old, and had a few questions.
Is there a reliable way to continuously autofocus for movement? On the D800 there is an autofocus button that works, but you have to re-press it each time and it's not smooth. It doesn't track the subject (though maybe I'm using it wrong). I know I can use a follow focus, but I shoot stills and don't want that huge form factor when I'm walking around.
I've seen people put a camera on a monopod (for video) and move it all around the subject while being nowhere near the shooter's eye. Are they just shooting at a very love Fstop to have a huge depth of field?
I saw this car kit where you can suction the camera on your hood and drive. Do they just focus on infinity, with f8 or f11) and go?
Lots of questions, but I'm so new to this video stuff.
- albums0
Autofocus doesn't work like that in video mode. You'll need to shoot and pull focus manually
- antagonista0
That kind fo sucks. I thought there was all this talk about some sort of autofocus tracking on the Nikon cameras. Arg. I've gotten ok at manually focusing, but far from perfect.
- chossy0
Nikon does have an autofocus but it's shan as fuck.
DSLR's are like film cameras homey treat them like so. You can buy a follow focus kit but you will still need to be a skilled operator.
Take your time and explore it. become skilled and enjoy the cool stuff you get :D
- chossy0
Also don't think of autofocus as a good thing.
When recording video smooth is always best, auto focus jumps in and out erratically. IF you have it on manual a smooth drift in and out of focus is 100 times more pleasing than a very mechanical autofocus.
- antagonista0
Yeah, i know that, but sometimes I'm recording my kid and can't look through the viewfinder without laying on the ground.
I know follow focus is the way to go, but I'm a still shooter, i don't want all that crap on my camera all the time. Besides the fact that a good cost as much as a new piece of glass.
- chossy0
I think you may have to revisit the manual... on my wee nikon D3100 I had autofocus without the need to continually press the shutter button.... I think it is something like continuous servo focus... af-c or somthing?... have a deek at that likesey.
- ArmandoEstrada0
Sounds like you need a consumer video camera.
- vaxorcist0
a consumer video camera is great for tracking a kid running around... a DSLR is great for shooting a music video where you have tripods and musicians who are willing to lip sync the song 400 times over and over again while you keep tweeking stuff slightly differently...
- vaxorcist0
the monopod method you mention above is somewhat usable at a predictable distance, using a smaller aperture like F11 and where you use hyperfocal distance to shoot with a wide lens, so say at F11, everything from 4 feet to infinity is in pretty good focus if you set focus at 9 feet say, then you can use the monopod method and pan around....
Note that kids and pets tend to move directly towards whatever camera the parent is holding, quickly becoming closer than say 5 feet or whatever calculation you've figured out for your hyperfocal minimum sharp distance.....
There's a reason Grouch Marx (I believe it was him) said something like "I never perform with kids or dogs.... to unpredictable"
Also note that the D800 is MORE UNFORGIVING than say a D3100 at the same distance/field-of-view/aperture combination, as that beautiful out of focus background is a double edged sword that causes you to get razor-thin zone of sharp focus with a telephoto lens at a close distance and wide aperture, so say you're F2.8 at 7 feet with a 200mm lens on a D800, that's unforgiving if you're slightly out of focus, much more so than being F4.5 at 7 feet on a D3100 at 135mm.... which is easier to maintain some focus, but less glam beautiful out of focus backround....
both combinations above have a similar field of view.. but a crop-frame consumer body/lens combination is more forgiving here, rather than a full-frame, pro-lens combination..... less forgiving of minor focus error....
good luck!
- maikel0
a better focusing screen is an easy (and cheap) way to get better manual focus...
- HAYZ1LLLA0
My canon 550 drives me crazy with video fucus!