Welcome back DP Review TV viewers it is Jordan Drake here to talk about video Autofocus now it used to be something That just consumers and amateurs used When they were recording video okay kids Pretend you like each other Yeah I'd like that But now video autofocus is starting to Get so good that we're seeing Professionals adopt it for their work But there's a real problem with the Interface in most hybrid cameras I've Got a solution for it but before I talk About the solution let's start with the Problem now with autofocus and Photography we always want the fastest Possible focus and that's why we're Seeing so many different lens Manufacturers adding these super fast Like linear Motors that can immediately Snap from close Focus all the way to Infinity because in photography there's No downside to having the fastest Possible autofocus but video is another Story in video the speed that the focus Transitions from one subject to another Can actually have a big emotional impact So watch movies or big budget television And you'll find most of the time the Focus is very slowly and smoothly Shifting from one subject to another Much the same way that Focus shifts in Our own eyes so when you're doing these Slow smooth Focus transitions it implies
Calm and normalcy on the other hand Snapping Focus really quickly from one Subject to another has a completely Different subconscious effect it's Really often used to convey fear or Paranoia or alarm and think about your Eyes darting around a room when you're Panicking that's the kind of look that We're going for here and this technique Has been used by horror and action Filmmakers for almost 100 years now the Problem is the mirrorless camera Manufacturers took these autofocus Systems initially designed for Stills And applied them to video where it's Just trying to shift Focus as fast as Possible and I don't want every shot in My entire video to look like it's from a Horror movie and that's why for so long Filmmakers have been relying on manual Focus not just to accurately focus on The subject that they want but also so They can control the focus speed for the Emotional intent they're trying to get Across now recently camera manufacturers Have recognized this and most will give You the option to adjust the speed that The camera will transition from one Object to another but there's a real Problem here this setting is always Buried in the men use and if I'm doing Like documentary Run and Gun filmmaking I might want to adjust that setting on The Fly and the current interface is too
Slow and clunky to make that possible so Here's my solution there's one control Point on the camera that is never in use When you have autofocus enabled and That's the manual focus ring and now With all of these mirrorless lenses We're finding that the manual focus ring Isn't actually mechanically coupled to The lens at all it's just another Control Point Nikon actually recognized This and they let you use the manual Focus ring to adjust different camera Settings like exposure aperture things Like that but what if that manual focus Ring when you're in autofocus would Adjust the speed of transitions so with Just this one small change I would be Able to adjust my focus transition speed On the fly with a very intuitive Interface I mean we could just have on Screen the current setting for your Speed transition from very slow to very Fast and everywhere in between I've Already mentioned Nikon could do this by Just adding it to the options that Manual focus ring could be used for but Any other camera manufacturer could take The same idea and run with it so this is My suggestion for one way we could get Rid of a real pain point when we're Shooting video with hybrid mirrorless Cameras but I want to know would any of You out there actually take advantage of This feature would you find it useful
And also can you think of any other ways That we could get more creative with our Video autofocus systems leave those in The comments below thank you so much for Watching make sure you subscribe to the Channel and check out our socials which Are down below we'll see you again with Another episode of DP Review TV [Music] Foreign [Music] [Music]
