Originally posted by TomGarn Don't forget that a 5D with full frame has a sensor double as big as a 35mm camera for movies.
In low light these cameras hardly ever get the right focus - but APS-C is easier - and MFT is quite easy.
Movies out of focus ... this happened mostly only in old movies because they had no video-out, so some
unsharp scenes were taken because it was to late now - and the story needed that. Today all this is controlled
and done again ... or you take No. 7 even though in No. 5 the actor was a little better ... but not sharp.
Pride ? Yes, artists are proud of what they do themselves, they even don't use automatic sound, they want
to do it manually ... These people think it is creative do it themselfes ... hahaha ... Isn't it ?
Today they have to shoot their soap-operas faster and faster, so some controle and quality gets lost ... and
they may try different ways to save some money with cheap cameras or what ever trick they can think of, yes.
AF is for consumers - in video ... You need good lenses for manual focus ... because you must zoom in to get
it sharp ... only with a parfocal lense that is possible. So consumers with their cheep kit-lenses need AF of
course ... they are dependant .,... and so on ... and on
Inception: 20:42, the focus is on Leonardo DiCaprios hair, not his eyes.
51:13: Ellen Page's hair is in focus... her eyes aren't.
Star Trek: Into Darkness: 10:20: Focus sits on the shoulder of the guy that was in Doctor Who, rather than his eyes/face. Only slightly, because they already stopped down quite a bit, but still noticeable... towards the end of that shot it gets really noticeable.
12:26: Same problem, this time they really screwed up. Next shot they pull in on Benedict Cumberbatch, and again, his eyes move out of focus. Clearly not intended, we are supposed to see the intensity in his eyes.
13:39: Again, shoulders, not eyes, and this time it is a very static shot.
Throughout the movie - which is visually one of the best made ones of the year, and which is as sharp as anything I've seen - this is a common problem. Never are the eyes/face in focus. I'm not trying to put down the people who worked on the films, it's a very hard job, and I've seen way worse than these two movies.
The AF system I suggested would easily fix this problem... and since it'd be a tool for pros they could give adjustments like size of the focus area, behaviour, speed, ... they could even add face detection so that camera looks for the eyes in the area the focus puller is touching, and focuses on exactly that spot. I'm not talking about the massive AF sensors that our cameras have, where it is impossible to get the right spot. The new sensor has an PDAF sensor on every single pixel it seems. It can be extremely precise and localized.
Zoom in to get it sharp? How are you going to get sharp shots when there is movement? Don't they take measurements of the distances that are needed, and mark that down on the lens to have the right spots to turn the focus ring to?
Automatic audio level adjustments don't work properly, of course they'll do it by hand. But when there is something that good equipment can do better than manual labour...
Btw.:
Pulling Focus is as Easy as Riding a Bike with the SnapFocus Follow Focus
Oh, and... as for zooming in... I may do so for stills, or before I start shooting, but once I shoot I need to get the focus right without constantly zooming in and out to focus.
And since I like to shoot moving subjects or while I'm on the move myself, that means being able to guess the distance between lens and subject, and to know which place on the focusing ring is the right one. Also, I find it _relatively_ easy to focus properly using the 50 1.8... at least wide open. But again, when I shoot something, it doesn't have to be 100% sharp, it doesn't have to be exactly the right point that is in focus. But on a movie set? If tech can help improve the quality I doubt they will say no.
One more thing: Zooming while shooting seems a big no-no with the K-5. Do it with a modern lens with all the contacts and the SR system will jump for a few seconds... you can actually hear it. "tak tak tak tak". No clue why that happens... regardless of zooming in or out. Do it with an old lens... well, you need to tell the SR system the focal length for it to correct properly, otherwise it will look pretty bad.