When to manual focus?

I use both, AF and manual...

In a lot situations the AF on the HMC does a good joob for me...

But in low light you have to be careful about the AF... i mainly use MF in lowlight because the AF gets confused...
 
I agree...manual focus is great when you have the time. Love the focus assist! But for run-n-gun...better to use AF than have unusable footage.
 
And heres the thing. Auto focus is only generally available in smaller format cameras like the HMC, HPX170 other similar sized cams from other manufacturers.

The guys shooting larger format for news, doco, interviews etc dont have it. The guys shooting narrative, TVCM, MV dont have it.

Im not saying nooooooo, never use auto focus - thats your own personal choice.

But Id recommend turning it off and learning to live without and becoming good at run n gun without. And when you are, youll come to this dark side of autofocus? what? :P
 
My understanding is that to manually focus, you zoom in all the way on the subject you want to film, focus, and then zoom back out to your framed shot. So...what if the subject moves, or you move the camera on the fly to capture something outside your initial subject. Logically, would not that new subject, or new placement of the subject throw off your focus? And if so, and I am understanding this correctly, the answer is yes and you need to re-focus in every new scenario.
 
I'm with Noel. I learned on large format in news and sports. Nothing is more run and gun than trying to follow a Pac-10 running back down the field. It can be done, it just takes practice.

Ramkuma... all I can say is practice practice practice. After a while, you'll get a feel for it. But you have to ride the focus for objects that have lots of motion. And honestly, that is easier on the larger shoulder mount cameras than an HMC type camera from an ergonomics point of view. But it can be done... and honestly, learning to do it that way frees you immensely from be a slave to the cameras internal algorithms. It's like taking training wheels off you never knew were there.
 
Noel Evans said:
And heres the thing. Auto focus is only generally available in smaller format cameras like the HMC, HPX170 other similar sized cams from other manufacturers.

The guys shooting larger format for news, doco, interviews etc dont have it. The guys shooting narrative, TVCM, MV dont have it.

Im not saying nooooooo, never use auto focus - thats your own personal choice.

But Id recommend turning it off and learning to live without and becoming good at run n gun without. And when you are, youll come to this dark side of autofocus? what? :P
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I am totally agreeing with you that MF is the way to go almost all the time - BUT realise that the big boys have much better tools for getting the manual focus as well. The viewfinders are generally much sharper and easier to view than the HMC - which is why so many people struggle to learn/use the HMCs in MF mode.

The LCD & Focus assist tools on the HMC are 'good' (not 'great'), but they are far from being the best in the world.
 
ramkuma said:
...or once your initial focus is established you can adjust it by just turning the focus zoom ring. Thanks for your help.
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That one. If you're shooting sports, or a wedding, or something like that where the distance to the object is constantly changing, zooming in and setting focus every time the shot changed is not practical as that is all you be doing the entire time. The depth of field on this camera is generally deep enough that once your focus is set, you can kinda eyeball it if the shot changes a little.

Like I said, it really is a matter of practice practice practice. And the less than stellar LCD doesn't help. But with time you get the hang of it, and the payoff in what it frees you up to be able to do is worth it.
 
my subjects were always slightly soft until i learned to shoot manual, without AF. i don't understand how anyone can get a good shot with the AF, it always wants to focus on infinity or the background.

with the hmc, i found that my shots are better even if i'm just in the general ballpark than if i let AF focus on infinity. you can zoom in the first time and set focus, then just adjust visually if the subject moves a lot. you don't have to be exact for it to look a lot better than the AF. and you can watch the distance reading to stay close to in-focus.

and the wider zoomed out you are, the more you can get away with not having focus perfect.

personally, i'd recommend shooting with manual focus, and if and when you need, push the quick little AF button. eventually, you'll get used to using the focus wheel and trust your own judgement more than the camera.
 
To anyone reading this that does not use manual focus, Can you see a pattern? Most pros use manual almost all the time. That can also be applied to any feature that has a auto option Iris, White Balance, Audio Gain and Zoom.
 
Hold on a second. my HMC-150 has AUTO focus?

Heh.. kidding.. I've never used it myself.. my AF switch might as well be rusted in place to 'Manual' ...

If it's you, a green screen and this week's 9/11 theory, go with auto, no one's going to know/care.

Composition is the ultimate achievement when shooting. All the elements need to be just right. Iris, zoom, focus, colour, framing... how could any form of 'automatic' know what I'm trying to achieve?

I don't even like automatic transmission !!

Auto is a bad, bad habit to get in to... you'll use it one too many times and ruin the ultimate shot.
 
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