Manual Focus Question

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Derrick_SA

Veteran
Good day,

I might not be an award winning film maker (YET). But one thing I am good at is asking stupid questions. so here goes:

If I use manual focus, and my subject is moving away from the camera. Is it just a question of learning how sensitive your focus ring is, so that you just turn it enough so that the focus distance changes at the same speed as the subject, or
is there some cool formula or something I need to understand better ?

Thanks,
Derrick van Niekerk
 
Re: Manual Focus Question

unless you have the ground marked out so the subject goes from point a to point b, and a follow focus, or memorized the focus nubers to follow them from focus point a to focus point b.. theres no real formula.

a little practise, and youll be able to follow right with them just by looking at the monitor or LCD, and having a steady smooth control finger or two on the focus ring.
 
Re: Manual Focus Question

Derrick,
it very much depends on the depth of field your setting allows.
If you shoot zoomed out and with a closed iris you don't need to
change the focus, because you have so much depth of field.
On the other hand, if you are zoomed in and wide open even small
movements of your subject may lead to it being out of focus.
In a real film shoot the director and DP would predetermine the path
of the actor as well as the camera movement and actually measure
distance with a tape measure. These measurements would then be
transferred to the marker ring of a follow focus unit on the camera
and the 2nd camera assistant would pull focus during the shoot.
 
Re: Manual Focus Question

thanks very much for the replies.
Man things can get fun !!!

the 11 September 2004 is my first time I'll be using the DVX100a, I can't wait, I have it the whole of the 10th to "Get-to-know" the camera a little bit better, but thanks to this forum, I have a lot of theory and a lot of "what works adn what doesn't" learnt allready. I know a day is not enough to get use to everything, but it's US$120 a day to rent the DVX in South Africa!

I think for this shoot, I must keep it basic, I'll be setting up a jib, and probably using a stabilizer, and I'm might have a dolly there, but for my shallow Depth-of-Field shots, I'll stick to a constant distance from the actor!

Thanks again!
- Derrick
 
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