I am attempting to move from the still image wildlife capture world to video wildlife capture. I chose the Sony FS700 because of it's ability to easily accept other lenses, as well as the beautiful slow motion.
Recently for use with the FS700 I rented the Sony 70-400mm f/4-5.6 G lens and the LE-A2 adapter which allows for phase detection autofocus (even in slow motion). I have seen numerous video clips of the FS-700 in autofocus mode with objects moving directly towards the lens, a difficult situation for manual focus if the subject is fast moving. Although noone states that the camera works perfectly, it seems to capture focus correctly better than 50% of the time (my estimation only). My 2 dogs were willing subjects but required payment in the form of treats to run up and down the yard toward me as I tried autofocus.
Here is my question (I also called Sony with this question and they said they did not know the answer!). With the LE-A2 adapter (and similarly with the LE-A4 for full frame) the specs say, "15-point AF system with 3 cross sensors". These 15 points indeed DO show up in the viewfinder and one of them is bolded showing which one is active or selected. How do you select which of the 15 points or 3 cross sensors to use for autofocus? In other words, if I have 2 dogs running at me and one is further behind the other, and I want to focus on ONE or the OTHER and both are within the 15 points of autofocus region, how do I select which one of the 15 points is to be active? What if I were in Africa and the lion was chasing the wilderbeast and I'd like to focus on the lion and NOT the wilderbeast, how do I choose what the camera is focusing on during autofocus. It's important to note that I'm talking about autofocus mode with the LE-A2, not manual pulled focus. It's difficlut to see the benefit of the 15 points if I have no control over them whatsoever if more than one item is in the focus area, with one subject behind the other! I'm assuming that the benefit of 15 points is to better track ONE subject, but if you have more than one and they are not co-planer then the camera chooses based on, uh....uh....what exactly?
I'm aware that "real" videographers don't use autofocus and old-school says pull the focus manually. We use to do that in still cameras too, and most (not all) successfully use autofocus today in still cameras and the AF technology has come a long, long way. There must be a way to do this in video or else this is a great technical opportunity because there are many, many instances where autofocus captures the bird in flight (on still cameras) and trying to capture that same bird in manual focus would be extremely difficult if the bird was flying erratically. Ditto video.
Any thoughts on how to select focus points on the LE-A2 using FS700 in autofocus mode?
Recently for use with the FS700 I rented the Sony 70-400mm f/4-5.6 G lens and the LE-A2 adapter which allows for phase detection autofocus (even in slow motion). I have seen numerous video clips of the FS-700 in autofocus mode with objects moving directly towards the lens, a difficult situation for manual focus if the subject is fast moving. Although noone states that the camera works perfectly, it seems to capture focus correctly better than 50% of the time (my estimation only). My 2 dogs were willing subjects but required payment in the form of treats to run up and down the yard toward me as I tried autofocus.
Here is my question (I also called Sony with this question and they said they did not know the answer!). With the LE-A2 adapter (and similarly with the LE-A4 for full frame) the specs say, "15-point AF system with 3 cross sensors". These 15 points indeed DO show up in the viewfinder and one of them is bolded showing which one is active or selected. How do you select which of the 15 points or 3 cross sensors to use for autofocus? In other words, if I have 2 dogs running at me and one is further behind the other, and I want to focus on ONE or the OTHER and both are within the 15 points of autofocus region, how do I select which one of the 15 points is to be active? What if I were in Africa and the lion was chasing the wilderbeast and I'd like to focus on the lion and NOT the wilderbeast, how do I choose what the camera is focusing on during autofocus. It's important to note that I'm talking about autofocus mode with the LE-A2, not manual pulled focus. It's difficlut to see the benefit of the 15 points if I have no control over them whatsoever if more than one item is in the focus area, with one subject behind the other! I'm assuming that the benefit of 15 points is to better track ONE subject, but if you have more than one and they are not co-planer then the camera chooses based on, uh....uh....what exactly?
I'm aware that "real" videographers don't use autofocus and old-school says pull the focus manually. We use to do that in still cameras too, and most (not all) successfully use autofocus today in still cameras and the AF technology has come a long, long way. There must be a way to do this in video or else this is a great technical opportunity because there are many, many instances where autofocus captures the bird in flight (on still cameras) and trying to capture that same bird in manual focus would be extremely difficult if the bird was flying erratically. Ditto video.
Any thoughts on how to select focus points on the LE-A2 using FS700 in autofocus mode?