Focus Assist

E

EditorDZ

Member
Hi guys,

I've been trying to find the answer to this for a few days now, both here and in the manual, but can't seem to get anywhere. Is there a way to manually invoke the focus assist? I've put on a Minolta 50mm lens via an adapter, and it would be very helpful if I could map the fn button to invoke focus assist. Is this possible?

Thx,
Dan
 
With a regular M43 lens, you set the focus mode dial to "MF" , push the "left" button next to the round "menu set" button to bring up the MF assist, use the arrow buttons to adjust the position of the focus assist area, and then push "menu set" to go into focus assist magnified view. I don't know if that will work with your Minolta lens, but its worth a try.
 
noirist said:
With a regular M43 lens, you set the focus mode dial to "MF" , push the "left" button next to the round "menu set" button to bring up the MF assist, use the arrow buttons to adjust the position of the focus assist area, and then push "menu set" to go into focus assist magnified view. I don't know if that will work with your Minolta lens, but its worth a try.
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Oh the GH1 this will work with any manual lens attached to the camera, Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Ultra Prime, Super Speed, Cooke 5/i..etc. When using Auto / m4/3 lenses, you need just turn the focus dial to MF.
 
Illya - As soon as I press record, the focus assist mode turns off. Is there a way to keep the focus assist mode on while filming?
 
Without focus assist during recording, how can you handle the following tricky situation? I'm trying to film a moving subject in the distance with people in the foreground moving around in front of them and occassionally occluding them. With AF, then the camera will refocus on the people in the foreground when the subjects are occluded regardless of focusing mode. With MF without focus assist, then I have trouble keeping the focus on the subject because they are moving as well and neither the lcd nor evf provides enough resolution for me to achieve focus. If I could keep focus assist up all the time, I think I could keep the focus on the moving subject. But without focus assist, its difficult. The only other thing I've tried is AF and hitting the AF lock whenever the subject is occluded. That's also not perfect because my reaction time is not instantaneous. How do you handle this tricky situation?
 
What I'm going to be doing on my more major shoots where I'm using my full setup is shooting the best I can and if the shot has tricky focus quickly reviewing it on an HDMI production monitor to see if I got the shot, and then moving on. Yeah it burns some time...wish we had live-out while recording (HDMI or composite...whatever man) but this is the next best thing...and it ensures I've gotten the shot I need.
 
noirist said:
Without focus assist during recording, how can you handle the following tricky situation? I'm trying to film a moving subject in the distance with people in the foreground moving around in front of them and occassionally occluding them. With AF, then the camera will refocus on the people in the foreground when the subjects are occluded regardless of focusing mode. With MF without focus assist, then I have trouble keeping the focus on the subject because they are moving as well and neither the lcd nor evf provides enough resolution for me to achieve focus. If I could keep focus assist up all the time, I think I could keep the focus on the moving subject. But without focus assist, its difficult. The only other thing I've tried is AF and hitting the AF lock whenever the subject is occluded. That's also not perfect because my reaction time is not instantaneous. How do you handle this tricky situation?
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Well for starters I don't see how you could frame a shot with FA on all the time especially if the camera is moving. That wouldn't be recommended practice. The technique you are asking about is called racking focus and is a skill to be learned. I suggest practice, practice, practice. Some people would have a follow focus and mark the focus with tape on the follow focus. Then you would just eyeball the marks however this can be done by hand. It will depend how far the subjects are from each other though. If they are too far away then by hand is going to be difficult to do in a smooth motion because you may have to move your hand completely around the lens in an awkward position.

Of course this is a great example where the Face Recognition could be put to use on the GH1. Try playing with that and see if that works. You will have to use the stock lens of course. If it is too dark just use lights.

I also suggest getting some cinematography books to have for reference. One book I highly recommend to new filmmakers is Film Directing Shot by Shot by Steve Katz. Hope this helps.
 
That is a tricky shot I would use a folow focus and a second person to pull focus for you. If you dont have a FF I would use time tape on the lense and pre mark out the distances and do a couple practice runs then have your assitant pull focus for you. In general I never use autofocus it always ends up getting you burned. Take your time and plan it all out.
 
Thanks for the tips!

Regarding face recognition, it doesn't work very well for this purpose because even if it worked perfectly it only puts priority on the recognized faces. So if you have a scene with no recognized faces then it will focus on something else instead (eg., another face, or whatever is closest to the camera). It's very easy for the camera not to identify a face that's turned to the side a bit, or to mistakenly recognize one person's face as someone else's.
 
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