From the course: Video Foundations: Cameras and Shooting
Unlock the full course today
Join today to access over 22,400 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.
Knowing when to use auto focus
From the course: Video Foundations: Cameras and Shooting
Knowing when to use auto focus
So let's talk about autofocus for a minute. If you're only used to shooting video with Consumer cameras or your iPhone, you may be used to relying on autofocus. It's a habit that I recommend you break as soon as possible if you want to shoot professional-looking video. The reason I recommend avoiding it most of the time is because autofocus is simply not reliable under many shooting situations. Specifically, autofocus is all but useless in low light situations. Also, if you have other people or objects that cross in the foreground of your subject or that are positioned as part of your shot, the camera's autofocus may choose to focus on those people or objects in the foreground, instead of the actual person or thing you want it to focus on. The autofocus may also hunt for different subjects to focus on as people in the frame shift slightly. Understand this, the people that made your camera are very smart. The camera itself, however, is as dumb as a brick. It only does what we tell it…
Practice while you learn with exercise files
Download the files the instructor uses to teach the course. Follow along and learn by watching, listening and practicing.
Contents
-
-
-
-
Learning camera anatomy9m 27s
-
Exploring important camera settings5m 52s
-
Understanding how to focus3m 17s
-
Using tools to achieve better focus6m 10s
-
Knowing when to use auto focus2m 52s
-
Shooting with shallow depth of field4m 46s
-
Understanding exposure5m 5s
-
Using neutral density (ND) filters to correct overexposure5m
-
Using zebra stripes to accurately judge exposure3m 26s
-
Using gain to artificially brighten an underexposed shot3m 3s
-
Choosing the right shutter speed4m 13s
-
Understanding color temperature3m 6s
-
White balancing a shot5m 2s
-
-
-
-
-