Does anyone use autofocus on GH1?

Z

zm15

Well-known member
Curious if anyone here uses the autofocus video feature while shooting, and how well it works?

Looks like the GH2 and point and focus on the screen, not sure if it's gimmicky or not, but it looks like it could be really useful.
 
zm15 said:
Curious if anyone here uses the autofocus video feature while shooting, and how well it works?

Looks like the GH2 and point and focus on the screen, not sure if it's gimmicky or not, but it looks like it could be really useful.
Click to expand...

I use 'auto focus single'(AFS), and dynamically switch between AFS, and "Manual Focus" (MF), because in 'movie mode' the AFS does not 'stick' to the setting that was
acquired just as the shutter relase button was first depressed.

Otherwise, AF seems to be 'ok' for most of the shots I have done. And like many things low light, near 'flat/low contrast' scenes present a problem for most AF systems,
and one learns what works and what doesn't for the particular system.

Don't know of the GH-2 has 'improved' movie mode AFS... or not...
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
I use 'auto focus single'(AFS), and dynamically switch between AFS, and "Manual Focus" (MF), because in 'movie mode' the AFS does not 'stick' to the setting that was
acquired just as the shutter relase button was first depressed.

Otherwise, AF seems to be 'ok' for most of the shots I have done. And like many things low light, near 'flat/low contrast' scenes present a problem for most AF systems,
and one learns what works and what doesn't for the particular system.

Don't know of the GH-2 has 'improved' movie mode AFS... or not...
Click to expand...
Apparently, AFS-style focus mode works on GH1 when Olympus 14-54 Mark II lens is used. I assume that with GH2's expanded compatibility many more "legacy" FT lenses will function the same way.

On GH1, most native mFT lenses focus continuously on a subject roughly in the center of the frame. So this mode is useful when on the go and/or filming fast moving subjects kept in the center portion. Personally, I used to think that touch-screen focus is a gimicky feature, but having some experience with GH1's AFC-style autofocus I am now of opinion that properly implemented it should be quite useful. Proper implementation (for me) is : in AFC mode camera continuously focuses on the area selected by touch not just center; in AFS mode camera properly locks focus on selected portion (or center if none), but changes focus to a different area when selected.
 
svecher said:
Apparently, AFS-style focus mode works on GH1 when Olympus 14-54 Mark II lens is used. I assume that with GH2's expanded compatibility many more "legacy" FT lenses will function the same way.

On GH1, most native mFT lenses focus continuously on a subject roughly in the center of the frame. So this mode is useful when on the go and/or filming fast moving subjects kept in the center portion. Personally, I used to think that touch-screen focus is a gimicky feature, but having some experience with GH1's AFC-style autofocus I am now of opinion that properly implemented it should be quite useful. Proper implementation (for me) is : in AFC mode camera continuously focuses on the area selected by touch not just center; in AFS mode camera properly locks focus on selected portion (or center if none), but changes focus to a different area when selected.
Click to expand...

So does autofocus work with the panasonic 14-140mm lens?

If i'm reading you right, the current autofocus only works at the center of the screen, where as the new touch focus will work wherever you point it to on the screen, correct?
 
Currently, AFS and AFC work for "ALL" m4/3s lenses with any Panasonic m4/3s camera while recording movies. I have heard many people say that the 20mm pancake cannot auto focus continuously because the AFC button is greyed out. That is true for still shooting. However, there is a separate option for allowing it with any m4/3s lens while shooting video.

You can also pick from a few different AFC focusing methods. You can do center weighted focus, Area Focus, and Face Detection. All of them work well for the situations they are intended for.

The benefit of the GH2 is that it now allows you to manually select the subject of the focus while recording video. They could be a remarkable leap forward in video(The G2 already has this though). Now you can essentially manually choose the focal point but still have the precision of the cameras auto focus.

I can’t wait to try the GH2 out.
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
I use 'auto focus single'(AFS), and dynamically switch between AFS, and "Manual Focus" (MF), because in 'movie mode' the AFS does not 'stick' to the setting that was
acquired just as the shutter relase button was first depressed.

Otherwise, AF seems to be 'ok' for most of the shots I have done. And like many things low light, near 'flat/low contrast' scenes present a problem for most AF systems,
and one learns what works and what doesn't for the particular system.

Don't know of the GH-2 has 'improved' movie mode AFS... or not...
Click to expand...

Agree. And that's how I use it too...use AF to get focus on a subject (usually once I've started rolling and don't want to stop or am switching subjects in a run-and-gun environment) and then switch to MF.

zm15 said:
So does autofocus work with the panasonic 14-140mm lens?

If i'm reading you right, the current autofocus only works at the center of the screen, where as the new touch focus will work wherever you point it to on the screen, correct?
Click to expand...

Yes it works.

Yes and no. Before recording you can position an AF point anywhere on the screen, or you can use face-tracking or just general foreground detecting autofocus (think point and shoot camera.) There's also track point AF where you set a point on any object that is then tracked around the frame, but I don't think it works in video.
 
mpgxsvcd said:
Currently, AFS and AFC work for "ALL" m4/3s lenses with any Panasonic m4/3s camera while recording movies. I have heard many people say that the 20mm pancake cannot auto focus continuously because the AFC button is greyed out. That is true for still shooting. However, there is a separate option for allowing it with any m4/3s lens while shooting video.

You can also pick from a few different AFC focusing methods. You can do center weighted focus, Area Focus, and Face Detection. All of them work well for the situations they are intended for.

The benefit of the GH2 is that it now allows you to manually select the subject of the focus while recording video. They could be a remarkable leap forward in video(The G2 already has this though). Now you can essentially manually choose the focal point but still have the precision of the cameras auto focus.

I can’t wait to try the GH2 out.
Click to expand...


With the camera on a tripod, I'd see the point of some sort of 'touch' focusing, perhaps for event coverage, etc... but somehow with the camera in hand shooting, having to 'touch' the screen, that is with the LCD panel flipped out... sounds 'awkward' at best...

Perhaps with the camera mounted on a shoulder mount frame, or something like that... but just with the camera body... perhaps my 'age' is showing... I use the eye-level view finder for composition and focus...
and the 'lcd' for confirmation that I got the shot...
 
mpgxsvcd said:
Currently, AFS and AFC work for "ALL" m4/3s lenses with any Panasonic m4/3s camera while recording movies. I have heard many people say that the 20mm pancake cannot auto focus continuously because the AFC button is greyed out. That is true for still shooting. However, there is a separate option for allowing it with any m4/3s lens while shooting video.

You can also pick from a few different AFC focusing methods. You can do center weighted focus, Area Focus, and Face Detection. All of them work well for the situations they are intended for.
Click to expand...
None of the MFT lenses I own: 20mm, 7-14, 14-140 support AFS on GH1 in Creative Movie mode. Pancake and 7-14 work weird. If you select AFC on the dial camera orders to switch to AFS. However, in AFS mode it will continually focus on the center part of the frame (all the fancy AFC options only work in photo mode). With kit lens focus mode dial can be in either position but focus is always continuous.
 
zm15 said:
So does autofocus work with the panasonic 14-140mm lens?
If i'm reading you right, the current autofocus only works at the center of the screen, where as the new touch focus will work wherever you point it to on the screen, correct?
Click to expand...
Yes for GH1. How things work on GH2 is a speculation, as I have yet to try it out.
 
svecher said:
None of the MFT lenses I own: 20mm, 7-14, 14-140 support AFS on GH1 in Creative Movie mode. Pancake and 7-14 work weird. If you select AFC on the dial camera orders to switch to AFS. However, in AFS mode it will continually focus on the center part of the frame (all the fancy AFC options only work in photo mode). With kit lens focus mode dial can be in either position but focus is always continuous.
Click to expand...

That is because you did not set the secondary AFC setting in the menu's movie setting section. There are two distinct AFC settings. One for stills and one for video.
 
mpgxsvcd said:
That is because you did not set the secondary AFC setting in the menu's movie setting section. There are two distinct AFC settings. One for stills and one for video.
Click to expand...

I don't think I understand.. can you explain further what you mean? Are you saying that you can AFS with the kit lens or were you talking about the Pancake lens?
 
zm15 said:
So on the GH1 you can say where to set the focus to, and while you are moving the camera will stay focused on that point?
Click to expand...

It will focus on a specific area of the screen but not a specific object that is moving (that needs track point auto focus which doesnt work in video.)


svecher said:
Well, that has been my experience anyway. If it is not center, how do you select a different portion of the frame to continuously maintain focus on?
Click to expand...

Set camera to AF, hit left on D-pad to bring up focus modes, highlight the center focus mode, hit down on D-pad, lets you move it anywhere.
 
mojo43 said:
I don't think I understand.. can you explain further what you mean? Are you saying that you can AFS with the kit lens or were you talking about the Pancake lens?
Click to expand...

Any m4/3s lens including the pancake lenses. If you set the Movie setting for "Continuous AF" to "On" then it will continuous autofocus while filming for any lens that supports any type of m4/3s AF at all. I will try to post a demo video of this since it seems to be something that a lot of people are confused about.
 
One of the reasons that I bought the GH1 was that it seemed that it would lock on to a face and keep that person in focus. I have done it for photos, but have not figured out how to do it for video. But if that works, it would be a nice feature.
 
I use the autofocus to set, then switch back to manual focus, I also use the face tracking focus a lot and it works great, better than having a focus puller sometimes!
 
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