I just bought a nikon d5100. I went thru the manual and I'm having a hard time understand how to work the settings while recording video. Is there a way to set it so the focus is not changing the entire time. I am concerned about the noise that the lense will prproduce while I'm filming. Is there any good tutorials out there on this?
D5100 focus help
- Thread starter shanne1020
- Start date
D5100 auto focus sucks. Plain and simple. Learn to pull it manually.
Most autofocus systems use a contrast detection algorithm, which means they change focus to find the maximum contrast change between two spots in the area of interest (ie, as little blur as possible). The issue with this is two fold: 1) they have to scan _past_ the focus point to realize they're losing contrast, and then pull back a little bit and 2) they have to lose focus before they realize they need to refocus. And all this is happening slightly slower than your eye is seeing it. Phase detection can be faster and more accurate (and able to determine front/behind focus), but I'm not sure what cameras use it for focusing in the video world.
I don't think there are any reliable autofocus systems available for serious filmmaking, and I would not expect any to show up. Focus is such an important part of the artistic side of filmmaking, and no one serious about it is going to leave it up to the camera to decide.
Your best bet it to shoot with as much light as possible, and use as small an aperture as possible, the smaller the aperture (the higher the f/XX number or f-stop) the more will be in focus. Balancing that to achieve your artistic look and the practical requirements of the scene is your best bet until you can get a follow focus or some other focus assistance tools to help manually pull focus where you want it, when you want it.
Hopefully, this explains the various other comments a bit better.
CraigL