Focusing and avoiding blurred videos

Ian in London · May 26, 2019

Well, some may know I lost a couple of clips a few months ago to poor focusing, so I've spent a bit of time looking at the various focus modes and the best setting that no one's talking about: Focus Peaking Threshold.
So hopefully everyone can pick up a few tips form this and avoid losing another video or picture to poor focus, and only finding out when they're back home looking on a big screen...

cheers,
Ian

Thomas B · May 26, 2019

Good info.

Not A Speck Of Cereal · May 26, 2019

Focus peaking is a useful tool.

One of the things I did when I first got the M2P was to just sit down outside and play with the focus, the various MF / AF modes (I haven't played with AFC yet and not sure I will). But almost right away (as soon as I saw the peaking feature was there), I turned it on.

It seems to have different setting names in Litchi vs. Go. I'm not sure yet if changing one affects the other.

Chris

Ian in London · May 27, 2019

Not A Speck Of Cereal said:
Focus peaking is a useful tool.

One of the things I did when I first got the M2P was to just sit down outside and play with the focus, the various MF / AF modes (I haven't played with AFC yet and not sure I will). But almost right away (as soon as I saw the peaking feature was there), I turned it on.

It seems to have different setting names in Litchi vs. Go. I'm not sure yet if changing one affects the other.

Chris

I can see why Focus Peaking is defaulted to off as it's quite 'in your face' for the display, but it's so useful and really gives you a sense of 'yep, everything is in focus for me' whilst you're filming.
CHeers
Ian

FormerMember07122019_2 · May 27, 2019

Not to be a heretic, or a contrarian, or cause unnecessary debate, but I use AFC (auto-focus-continuous) exclusively and am constantly amazed at how well it works. No blurry videos, ever! I do understand the limitations like focus hunting and less than perfect focus under all conditions but it is one less thing to worry about when trying to get that great shot. It’s a great alternative for all of us casual videographers.

Not A Speck Of Cereal · May 27, 2019

Wellsi said:
I can see why Focus Peaking is defaulted to off as it's quite 'in your face' for the display, but it's so useful and really gives you a sense of 'yep, everything is in focus for me' whilst you're filming.

As it turns out, it's especially nice for changing focus scenarios, such as when you're starting off a shot by focusing on closer-in foreground objects, then want to change focus off in the distance (and yes, everything else) once you're above the close foreground.

You can't really see fine focus on a small video screen feed while moving, like you can though an optical viewfinder, so peaking gives you that indication at a glance.

Ian in London · May 27, 2019

Camino Ken said:
Not to be a heretic, or a contrarian, or cause unnecessary debate, but I use AFC (auto-focus-continuous) exclusively and am constantly amazed at how well it works. No blurry videos, ever! I do understand the limitations like focus hunting and less than perfect focus under all conditions but it is one less thing to worry about when trying to get that great shot. It’s a great alternative for all of us casual videographers.

That's good to hear... As I mention, no one setting is a true all-round solution, so whatever works best is the best solution for you. And if you're mostly shooting subjects at some distance (ie no close ups) then there should be very little hunting and refocusing.... Cheers, Ian

wendyc · May 27, 2019

I am having major focus problems, changed to MF and set the white bar to second line from top as in a YouTube tutorial, was even worse. Thanks for this info, will check out focus peaking. I am a photographer and do not do blurred! Arghh

runeOfRune · May 27, 2019

Unless you're planning on shooting things 3m and closer, you may as well just focus at infinity.

Ian in London · May 28, 2019

wendyc said:
I am having major focus problems, changed to MF and set the white bar to second line from top as in a YouTube tutorial, was even worse. Thanks for this info, will check out focus peaking. I am a photographer and do not do blurred! Arghh

I was a JAFA

for a year then moved to CHC for 3 years... Wish I had my drones back then........

Focus Peaking is a real eye opener on a tiny screen

Cheers,
Ian

Ian in London · May 28, 2019

runeOfRune said:
Unless you're planning on shooting things 3m and closer, you may as well just focus at infinity.

You can, but you can't assume the infinity symbol is infinity, so you still need to establish what is you're infinity setting.....
Cheers
Ian

wendyc · May 28, 2019

Wellsi said:
I was a JAFA for a year then moved to CHC for 3 years... Wish I had my drones back then........
Focus Peaking is a real eye opener on a tiny screen

Cheers,
Ian

Focus peaking at normal worked perfectly yesterday, as did my focus, so all good thanks