PDMovie Live Air 3 Smart: Perfect Autofocus for SIGMA fp? 

I feel like some one needs to create a phone app that gives an overhead distance meter. Then one could walk to a point near the camera, and if they tapped on the distance shown on the app's lidar distance feed back they could lock a distance range to give higher priority to. That way if a hand came forward out of the defined focus zone it will remain focused on the face. Likely-wise they could expand on this idea and let one prioritize up to say 5 focus zone points in the lidar's scan area.and it would evaluate those distances from 1 to 5 and focus on the highest priority zone that had something in it first moving down the priority list if nothing is found.. This could also be useful from a focus pulling perspective because then one could set up two zones and simply shift their focus priority. Anyhow Lidar has a lot more powerful potential than PD movie's are making use of with this unit, and that doesn't require any type of face tracking algorithm to achieve. It would be sweet if someone like PD movie eventually decide to take advantage of.

@@billyoung9538 I think they are working on more complex focus options but I am not sure where they are in the process

An absolutely working tool - when you understand the logic of its operation and use it correctly. There are no ergonomic problems that they cause, such as awkward removal of wooden elements. Everything is convenient when understanding comes) Works as it should. The original fastening is rubbish, point it away and victorize the block and stable fastening yourself. I've been working with it for several months for a couple of frames, now the tracking and on-screen joke on the monitor does not raise any questions in the video. Sometimes I shoot photographers with Laowa without autofocus, including options with f 1.2.

I think learning its quirks is absolutely what helps. If I understand where it will focus and how it focuses, that is extremely helpful for execution

​@@Ansonandco, Yes, it's not difficult. Control tool. You can see from me that it performs well in challenging environments for other types of lidar. This includes macro mode and overlapping frames. We have plenty of tools on the fp camera to control the operation of this lidar. The speed of starting and moving from camera to camera or changing lenses is a unique achievement. I find it easy to work with him. The only negative for me is that it refused to work in the cold, at temperatures below -15 degrees Celsius. The camera is working, the Gudsen Moza tools are working, and PDMovie is resting....

Love you too! See you Sunday!

Thanks dude!

Absolutely! This camera is my gem

It’s definitely one of the more simple set up processes out there

When calibrated properly it does a really good job

Thanks dude!

Thanks dude!!

Thanks! Yeah it’s definitely the best option for the price

Thanks!

It changes it to back focus. It will focus on the second layer of subjects in the frame. I was not able to get it to focus on my face while my hands were in frame

Good point!

@@Ansonandco, This is not a point of view, but an almost everyday practice!) A very convenient lidar, I began to use it often in product photography with lenses without autofocus.

@@ReelMovieNetwork it’s handy for sure

Hi! Thanks - this was a handheld shot. If you have watched my Komodo inspired rig for the fp, that is the rig set up I was using.

Yes, that is available. But I never got it to work to where it can do the complex focusing they mention

But yeah, as noted in the comments below, the batteries are fidgety and hard to remove. I find this to be preferrable to ones that fall out too easy though. :)

I do agree that lidar is in its infancy. I feel like PDmovie is open to exploring updates and how to make it better. I saw in my notes that they are trying to figure out how to deal with more complex shots and that excited me

Oh for sure!

But it has to be at least slightly better than the camera internal AF for it to make sense?

@@itacatv2146 it depends, I would still use it with my lumix s5iix when I want to use my cine/manual lenses.

I will say the calibration, while simple, can be a pain to get it right. I had to calibrate my lenses a few times before it picked up

@@Ansonandco hehe yeah, after a few trial and error I got it working nicely (even on the SL2 hehe)

@@ArminHirmer I’m glad I’m not the only one lol

@@Ansonandco :D

You’re welcome!

While I do love the self contained battery. It is definitely not the best. Thankfully it last for a really long time

You have to press the power button on the motor itself. So while it’s easy, it may be kinda awkward

Appreciate your response! That is definitely a bit awkward and not convenient. Is the response immediate? Or does it take a second?

@@JayandMack it is immediate

@@Ansonandco thanks for the info!

It depends, sometimes it will go to infinity and sometimes it will go as far as it can. It’s a little un predictable

@@jeremymote238 there is a cage from a new company that has a bunch of 1/4 20s on the front right side of the cage, that would be a good option. And then use a threaded 15mm rod to screw into the cage to mount the live air 3 smart. The brand is XLCS designs

There is definitely a couple shots in there that it did not hit infinity focus, that drove me nuts. Definitely an issue

@@Ansonandco yeah. seems like it should be an easy firmware fix though

It does seem a little finicky to switch between AF/MF

Just buy a second one and leave one channel empty. This will give 9 lenses in memory and stable operation at short distances in manual mode.

If you can, AF lens for sure

There should be a link in the description directly to PDmovies set up process. That is what I used to set up

I THINK it has an IR cut, if I remember correctly when I moved over from blackmagic, I could stop using my IRcut filters. OLPF is only in the fp L

@@Ansonandco Got it, thanks. Thats valuable information. I pre ordered a Pyxis 6k, and wondering if I just got lucky with the fp have IR cut, which, it seems like it does. I know BM is known for having IR pollution, but I couldn't resist the new box style, I/O, full frame, preview LUTS etc lol.

I think they are working on allowing for more complex focus options, but that may come with time

I asked… they said no. But I’m persistent lol

Dude hell yeah! It definitely helps when you don’t have lenses that use AF

@@Ansonandco just thinking of my Blackmagic cams. I don’t have Instagram anymore by the way.

@@JaredBritt I mean absolutely!

🫶🏻

Thanks Ajay!

@@Ansonandco You are welcome sir

Yes

Perfect timing? Hahaha

May have to do a follow up, but I did set it up to replicate one of the scenes from a recent short film and it did not perform as well. It suffers from focusing on the closest object in the frame

Nice! I’ll Check it out