Please guide me on this
- Thread starter riz
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It depends on what project you're working on.
Home video? Then autofocus is fine.
Narrative/documentary film? I wouldn't suggest using autofocus, unless its your first time making a short film.
Home video? Then autofocus is fine.
Narrative/documentary film? I wouldn't suggest using autofocus, unless its your first time making a short film.
Riz,
Here's what happens when you buy a T2i, mistakenly thinking that autofocus works in video mode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl0Kgm7UGlU&feature=plcp
I got rid of it soon after this video was shot.
Yes, it was my own fault for not researching the camera throughly before I bought it in June 2010 - but I still can't believe that a manufacturer would sell a "video" camera in the 21st century without autofocus. My cellphone has it, for crying out loud. So do Panasonic, Sony and Nikon DSL cams. With the rollout of the T4i, Canon is catching up - but it has taken them a couple of years (!)
I won't buy a camera that doesn't autofocus unless it's for my antique collection
Bill
Here's what happens when you buy a T2i, mistakenly thinking that autofocus works in video mode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl0Kgm7UGlU&feature=plcp
I got rid of it soon after this video was shot.
Yes, it was my own fault for not researching the camera throughly before I bought it in June 2010 - but I still can't believe that a manufacturer would sell a "video" camera in the 21st century without autofocus. My cellphone has it, for crying out loud. So do Panasonic, Sony and Nikon DSL cams. With the rollout of the T4i, Canon is catching up - but it has taken them a couple of years (!)
I won't buy a camera that doesn't autofocus unless it's for my antique collection
Bill
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Riz,
Here's what happens when you buy a T2i, mistakenly thinking that autofocus works in video mode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl0Kgm7UGlU&feature=plcp
I got rid of it soon after this video was shot. EDIT: That sounded a bit harsh on my part, my bad. But yes, I highly advise at least a little bit of research, before making such a sizable purchase. Live and learn.
Yes, it was my own fault for not researching the camera throughly before I bought it in June 2010 - but I still can't believe that a manufacturer would sell a "video" camera in the 21st century without autofocus. My cellphone has it, for crying out loud. So do Panasonic, Sony and Nikon DSL cams. With the rollout of the T4i, Canon is catching up - but it has taken them a couple of years (!)
I won't buy a camera that doesn't autofocus unless it's for my antique collection
Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution
The T2i is NOT a video camera. And yes, it was your own fault for not doing the research.
As Dima mentioned, I can't think of many occasion in which I would want auto-focus, anyway. Even when I had a video camera, with auto-focus capabilities, I still turned it on manual (in fact, I've always specifically searched for video cameras that have manual-focus capability).
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This.
You want as much of the circumstances and options under your own control. You want to be using manual focus anyway for filmmaking so you're good.
Here's what Academy Award nominated cinematographer Andrew Young has to say about autofocus in his review of the new Sony NEX-FS700: "...and when I reviewed my footage back home, I realized I had more botched shots with the manual focus lens than with the autofocus Alpha..." (10:32 in the video below)
https://vimeo.com/40369782
In my view, this is the future of digital cinema. No more focus pullers, no more expensive follow focus contraptions. Some people will insist on doing it the old way - but 10 years from now, only a few die-hards will pull focus by hand.
Cheers,
Bill
https://vimeo.com/40369782
In my view, this is the future of digital cinema. No more focus pullers, no more expensive follow focus contraptions. Some people will insist on doing it the old way - but 10 years from now, only a few die-hards will pull focus by hand.
Cheers,
Bill
The issue with autofocus is it's all just a computer's best guess. What happens in a frame when two objects take up equal amount of space, but are 10' away from each other at T2.0 on an 85mm lens? What does the computer focus on? Do we let it focus on whatever and then scald the camera manufacturer for having such a 'crappy' autofocus?
Bottom line: A computer will never be as good as a human at making focus decisions, predicting movement, instantly judging distances, and holding focus through an entire camera move until you build complete intelligence system into every lens and every camera. Even a camera that allows you to select focus points is still going to take extra time to select those points, much more so than a focus puller takes to get marks. Time = money. Then you still have the issue of camera movement and how certain things focus as the camera and they move. Auto focus on a 1/3" sensor at f/5.6 is much easier to achieve than auto focus on a S35mm+ sensor at T2.0 on a 100mm lens.
Not to mention the fact that cinema lenses start at $5k ea and venture upwards very quickly, with lens sets getting upwards of $100k+. If you built all the electronics into them as well, you'd be looking at even more expensive lenses.
If anything, it will be the new 'focus in post' technology that may take off, but even that will take at least 10 years to not only adapt for a video camera and fix the issues, but also make it affordable for the average filmmaker and even hollywood films.
You may argue that technology progresses fast, but the 5Dmkii has been out for 3 and a half years, and people are still using it daily without a second thought as to how 'outdated' it may or may not be. And the difference between it and the mark 3 is not what I'd call three years of technology progression.
Not to mention that the Focus Puller/1st AC does much much more than just pull focus, but that's a different discussion.
Anyway, I've had people tell me 'what the hell do you need so many people on set for? In 5 years it will just be a Director with a camera and actors and that's it'.
When you don't understand how the cinema industry works, it's really easy to jump to certain conclusions.
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At the moment, manual focus is the best solution. Maybe in the future you won't need to focus pullers, but I can only imagine that would bring more complications than solutions. That's my opinion anyway.
In response to the OP, if you're shooting home movies it would be good to have autofocus, but if it's narrative/documentary films you're looking to make, manual focus is the way forward.
jax_rox's detailed response nails it. Perhaps, we might someday prefer focusing in post, but I can't imagine we'll ever choose auto-focus. As jax pointed out, the computer can't possibly always know what it is that you want to focus on.
I watched just a little bit of the video you linked, and that was all I needed. At one point, the narrator says something to the effect of "the camera sometimes did make a mistake". That's unacceptable to me. Just a split-second of a shot being out of focus is enough to take the audience out of the movie. Nobody is perfect, but we should definitely strive for the best possible scenario, and a well-trained focus-puller will ALWAYS beat a computer.
I haven't used auto focus in the past decade... on any camera I've used, I've always been disappointed anytime I've worked with it at all... I also don't use auto exposure, auto white balance or anything that can change my image without my say so.
Auto anything ends up changing the setting when you don't want it to... and ruins shots making more work in the long run. Yes, there was a quote above from Andrew Young... but that cat is in the minority. Auto focus has been available in the motion film world for years, and has been avoided there by the target audience of these cameras.
The problems with focus solve with tons of practice focusing. It's such a big deal, that on big sets, there's a single person with just that job (The Focus Puller)... on every camera they're using to shoot. The reason they use a person to do it is that they can make decisions about the scene in front of them per director instructions (keep the focus on the actor's ears rather than their eyes).
As a painter, I wouldn't use an auto brush, as a sculptor I wouldn't use an auto chisel. These are artistic decisions that need to be made by the creative professional rather than the computer they're using to realize their creation.
Auto anything ends up changing the setting when you don't want it to... and ruins shots making more work in the long run. Yes, there was a quote above from Andrew Young... but that cat is in the minority. Auto focus has been available in the motion film world for years, and has been avoided there by the target audience of these cameras.
The problems with focus solve with tons of practice focusing. It's such a big deal, that on big sets, there's a single person with just that job (The Focus Puller)... on every camera they're using to shoot. The reason they use a person to do it is that they can make decisions about the scene in front of them per director instructions (keep the focus on the actor's ears rather than their eyes).
As a painter, I wouldn't use an auto brush, as a sculptor I wouldn't use an auto chisel. These are artistic decisions that need to be made by the creative professional rather than the computer they're using to realize their creation.
Exactly.
A computer's logic might dictate that the thing that should be in focus is a person's face, but what if the creative decision is made to have everything but the person's face in focus? Or as I say you have a two shot and either want to rack focus as each person talks, or just stay focussed on the person furthest away? What about a focus pull from a person talking about something to the thing they're talking about..? What about when someone leans forward 6 inches in an interview - a good focus puller knows the depth of field, knows the average distance they've leant forward and generally can predict the movement before it happens so that when they lean forward, the focus has already been adjusted. No auto focus can do that.
Not to mention that the 1st AC/focus puller is the guy who makes sure the camera's running right, that settings haven't changed, that exposure levels stay the same as lenses are swapped in and out, who cleans the lenses, and in general has expert knowledge on most camera systems and can troubleshoot anything that doesn't need to be sent back to be fixed, amongst their other duties. Even if in the distant future we can employ cheap computer components with AI to be able to work as good as a focus puller at pulling focus, there'll still be a job for the camera assistant.
Weddings are similar, and usually quite low light... I still prefer to focus the camera myself in those situations... I just don't trust the camera to focus on the bits I want it too... and if it guesses wrong, it's a PITA to get it to guess right, sacrificing your framing choices to adjust to the camera's will rather than just turning the focus ring a bit... it also requires that you have a lens with a decently smooth focus ring -- just used a lens the other day that was stubbornly choppy... I ended keeping pressure on the ring the whole time to be able to overcome the static friction of the thing.