I'm new to cinematography, would be great if some experts here can shed some lights on the matter of auto focus vs manual focus in feature film. I believe most broadcasting features like news report requires fast movement thus camera with auto focus is very important, would it be important to have auto focus in feature film? I found that it's so hard to do follow focus for shooting with lots of actions and movement ( I guess it could all be done with careful planning but that's usually not the case as some scenes requires some sort of run-n-gun style). Any opinions are more than welcomed. Thanks
auto focus vs manual focus
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David W. Jones
Veteran
In most cases professional environments such as news reporting and feature film making use manual focus lenses.
If you are having trouble focusing when shooting action and movement then I believe your options are as follows... A: Practice Practice Practice if you are doing this on your own. B: write scenes with less action and movement. C: Involve others in your film making, Like a 1st AC to do the focusing while you do the shooting. D: use an auto focus camera.
Good Luck!
Dave
If you are having trouble focusing when shooting action and movement then I believe your options are as follows... A: Practice Practice Practice if you are doing this on your own. B: write scenes with less action and movement. C: Involve others in your film making, Like a 1st AC to do the focusing while you do the shooting. D: use an auto focus camera.
Good Luck!
Dave
Moseph
Veteran
Keep in mind how much less useful auto focus generally is in 24FPS than 60i. I wouldn't go with it.
By the way, I used to shoot basketball games and we used manual focus cameras, so quick movements don't mandate auto focus.
What you can do is try to close down the iris as much as possible and shoot at wider focal lengths. Depending on what camera you're using, you can often times just do that and set the focus to somewhere in the middle, and the near and far will cover the whole range that you need. If you're on a DSLR this might not work, but on a 1/3" camera, you could probably get away with it.
By the way, I used to shoot basketball games and we used manual focus cameras, so quick movements don't mandate auto focus.
What you can do is try to close down the iris as much as possible and shoot at wider focal lengths. Depending on what camera you're using, you can often times just do that and set the focus to somewhere in the middle, and the near and far will cover the whole range that you need. If you're on a DSLR this might not work, but on a 1/3" camera, you could probably get away with it.