No Autofocus when shooting video with Canon 550D / Rebel?

N

novicemonk

Member
Hi, I hope someone can help. I have searched on google and these forums, but no luck. I had a Canon 400D and was very happy with its stlls. I owned the kit lens and a Sigma 28-300mm zoom ( http://www.sigmaphoto.com/shop/28-300mm-f35-63-dg-macro-sigma ). The zoom mightn't be best lens optically, but is affordable, and versatile for trips where you can only bring one lens, or environments where you don't want to be changing lenses. I bought a Canon 550D as an upgrade in 2010 due to the HD video. I got the body only, and instead bought a Sigma DC 18-50mm F2:8 Ex Macro ( http://www.sigmaphoto.com/shop/18-50mm-f28-ex-dc-macro-sigma ). For stills I'm quite happy with these two lenses. Of course if I wanted to spend more money there are other lenses I could buy!

My problem is this. I know that the 550D is supposed to offer some kind of autofocus when shooting video. I'm aware that it is noisy, and may erequire the shooter to prompt the camera to refocus. I'm also aware (and broadly agree) that it's better to manually focus with these large-sensor cameras. However, I would like the option, but can't get my camera to autofocus when shooting video. I can confirm AF is enabled both in-camera and on lenses, and that for stills these Canon mount lenses autofocus without issue. Some tutorials say to get the camera to engage AF during shooting, you should half press the shutter button. I just end up taking a still!

Am I missing something? Are my lenses not compatible with AF in video (but the cheap kit lens would be)? Thanks.
 
you got it wrong: there's no AF during video recording with any current Canon DSLR
you could try with magic lantern, I know at some point they tried to implement some kind of contrast-detect AF; as I'm not interested n that, I have no idea how good it could be
 
Thanks for replying Norman. The thing is, I thought that unlike 5d, 7d etc,the Rebel/550D/T2i did offer some kind of AF. Here's a review http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/T2I/T2IA.HTM and I quote

"The second movie feature specific to the T2i -- and rare among its DSLR brethren from any manufacturer -- is the ability to use autofocus during moving recording. Continuous autofocus isn't available, so you have to manually trigger single AF operations as needed with a half-press of the shutter button. The feature is something of a tradeoff, because the AF operation is clearly visible in the video, even if Canon's contrast detection AF implementation doesn't hunt around the point of focus as much as some we've seen. AF noise is also very clearly captured on the movie's audio track, at least when using the internal microphone and 18-55mm kit lens -- using quieter USM lenses can mitigate this somewhat, and AF noise can be avoided altogether by using a good directional mic on a shock mount. Pros will certainly want to stick with focusing manually (and can choose to disable AF during movie capture to prevent accidental operation), but in the consumer market at which Canon's Rebel cameras are aimed, it makes sense to give customers the choice as to whether they feel the convenience of AF is worth putting up with the drawbacks."

Anyway...the "half press of shutter button" isn't working for me.
 
that's the camera I have, and I think it doesn't have AF while recording video - but maybe I'm wrong: most of my lenses are manual, and even for the ones that aren't I have no interest in AF while recording, so perhaps I just never paid attention
 
Thanks. I have in the past, but no joy. I downloaded the latest Magic Lantern yesterday in order to get peaking (among other features). Now the camera will auto focus in video mode. It's slow, noisy and awkward, but it is the AF described. Have no idea why I couldn't before...
 
It's available on the 600D/T3i without Magic Lantern but is off by default. You need to change the setting to 'AF w/ shutter button during (icon for movie)>Enable It's actually very accurate & reasonably quick (just a second or two). The video while re-focusing won't be useable but then neither would it be if you were manually hunting for focus. It's a trade off but I would happily use it if I knew that I had another camera running that I could use for a cutaway.
 
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