How To Master Sony’s Video Autofocus - Part 2 

Thanks :)

Thank you! :)

Don’t need to tell me! That’s why they have their own successful channel! 🙂 @onemanfivecats

Thank you for the kind words, much appreciated. That you’ve benefitted from this is why I made them, it took me so long to understand why things happened and once I finally figured it out it was such a relief! Sony themselves didn’t know because there are so many variables and filming situations that they couldn’t foresee.

Welcome!

Thank you 😊

Thank you.

Thank you. Yes it was.

Thank you. The problem you have is what I show at the timecode. The A7III uses the old system for AF and there’s no way round it. Are you zooming during a shot though?

No I don't. So I only have to focusing it manually? Without follow focus, which I don't have, will it be damn difficult? @@philipbloom

@@VankillaVanil depends on the lens, the subject and distance. AF still works well. It’s just not that fast. Set it to honest sensitivity and play around with the speed.

@@philipbloom So what speed and sensitivity do you suggest for the beginning set in A7III, to record in focus subject like for example yoda from yours first video about focusing? The scenario and subject in my video will be similar

@@VankillaVanil you’ve got very few choices. Experiment! Depends on the lens. You won’t be able to get the same results as the more modern AF cameras.

Which camera and what lens?

@@philipbloom A1 w Tamron 35-150

@@AnthonyMichaelSneed I with the A1 had autofocus assist as that would help a lot. You aren’t going to be super close with that lens but I would go with face/ eye priority and be prepared to turn it off easily if needed and the same with AF. Keep the speed at 1 and have the sensitivity at 5. This way it will think about switching subjects if someone goes in front but the slow speed will stop it changing hopefully! Avoid having the speed faster than 1 as it good jump to the background. I personally would be using the AF/ MF selector hold button, probably in manual focus so when you hold that button down AF will be on. It will be fiddly!

@@philipbloom thank you for much for taking the time to answer this question for me. I shot prior to your answer and undoubtedly had people passing in front of the focused subject which, at times, grabbed focus, but it wasn’t too bad and I got good practice with overriding AF to Manual. Luckily, it was just a practice, so I’m going to take your notes and give that a go again in a few days. Thank you so much for everything. Your videos are like mini-movies and raise the bar for what’s possible in so many ways.

i don't have one.

I don't understand why they haven't borrowed you one for a month or two so you can test it if you wanted. The only reason I can think of is that Lumix isn't confident about their Autofocus on Cats lol. I was recently watching your EVA1 review (from 5years ago?) and you said it's hard to work with a camera that doesn't have continuous autofocus after being used to work with it! Panasonic should have send you the S5 ii the day they had one available!

the a7siii is still an amazing camera. Never use the AF/MF on the lens, do it on the body via a custom key!

@@philipbloom ok thank you for the answer, Phillip🙂

If it was a simple as that I wouldn’t have a 2 part masterclass!

@@philipbloom I really liked the 2 part focus video's they are really awesome and I really learned a lot! Don't know how I didn't find you a lot earlier.. but I subbed now! 🔥👏🏻

@@SianCKB welcome! Have fun with the zv-e1. It’s very powerful. If I get a chance I will make a settings file for that too.

@@philipbloom would love that! 🔥

Yes I do. Head to my website for info.

@@philipbloom Did that already. It said noting about online one on one training. Considering we are in different countries.

It’s something they added with the a7siii. It’s also something DESPERATELY needed to be added to Canon and Fuji cameras!

@@philipbloom Guess I'm in luck because I own the a7sIII!

Thank you. No, there are no plans to update it. To be honest it’s much the same as the a7iv just with more subject recognition. Everything else is the same.

You don’t need it on but you won’t get any negative impact from leaving it turns on

@@philipbloom ok thank you

That's why you should use the method i show, where you hold down the button for AF to work and let go for it to stop or vice versa. If you are already holding the camera then this helps. It happens on all cameras like this...a bit of warp stabilise helps! :)

@@philipbloom oh yeah if you going for hand held - 100%. I just think of the edge case - I am an edge case 🙈

@@CINENIMUS even tripod!

That’s a REALLY complicated question. Not the A7RV. What I use, the a7s iii and alpha 1. Many complex reasons.

@@philipbloom Thank you for replying.

@@junglisttt how are you setting it to MF?

A bit farther down the video you spoke of "wide tracking." I think that's the word I missed and I didn't know that feature. (Haven't bought the camera yet.)

Did you try turning on the captions? :)

You couldn't understand me saying the word "touch"?

@@philipbloom Thank you for the quick response. By the way are any of the Sony cameras that have come after the A7S III have comparability low light capability?

@@philipbloom Didn't think of that. Will next time. Peace, Rob:-]

Yes. Assign it to a custom button or the fn menu

I just tried that on my A7SIII but it doesn't allow me to disable/enable it while recording!@@philipbloom

I will need to check mine and get back to you.

I’ve just checked and no you can’t. Another tiny little thing they need to give it that all the cameras after it have. 🤷🏻

Thank you so much for your response! I'm a huge fan of your work. Really appreciate you getting back to me on this. Wish it was possible to turn it off/on while recording! @@philipbloom

The FX6 is a superior camera. The internal variable ND alone is a huge bonus. This is Philip by the way from my other channel. You need to watch the review of the FX6 V2 firmware I made a year ago

@@OneManFiveCats hello Phillip, this is Peter Suwara, my other channel also. Thanks, I will check out your V2 review.

I did talk about this in the manual focus section

hi, nope

There’s loads of space in the fn menu for it, especially on the older cameras that don’t let you put in frame rates etc. I wouldn’t call it a bug. It’s a quirk, one of many that the AF system has. You can always use the AF/MF toggle to engage/ re-engage during a shot :)

@@philipbloom Call it a quirk if you like, but the behaviour of AF/MF Selector Hold on top of AF/MF Selector Toggle is illogical, non-deterministic and a breach of the Principle of Least Astonishment. I can't think of any reason why you would want AF/MF Selector Hold to behave differently and in the way it does if you switched between AF-C and MF via AF/MF Selector Toggle compared to the entirely logical behaviour of Hold if the focus mode was selected via an Fn menu slot or the Focus Mode menu. I would far rather the behaviour is the same following AF/MF Selector Toggle as it is following selection via the Fn menu or Focus Mode menu. That way, if I need to change focus mode quickly before a shot, I can press my Toggle custom button and still have my Hold button working as expected. My primary body now is an A7IV, and I'm always fighting over what to put in the Fn menu. Wasting a slot on Focus Mode as a workaround for Sony's bug (my view)/quirk (your view) is an unnecessary limitation. A7IV is much more nimble than my A7III in a hybrid run and gun shoot with the hard still/movie/S+Q switch and three memory slots per mode, but full agility requires careful choice of custom buttons and Fn menu slots. I realise that all you can do is explain the current behaviour. Thank you so much for this and the Part 1 video, which together are an excellent explanation of how to get the best of Sony's video autofocus. I'm just frustrated at the non-deterministic behaviour of the AF/MF Selector Hold button.

@@DavidWood2 Agree completely. Trying to get my mind around this took far more brain energy than it should, and that's because it's illogical.