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I’ll start trying manual focus more often and see how that goes.
On the A1, I assign AF/MF toggle to the AEL button -- one quick tap is all it takes to go from AF to MF and back again. Even when set to MF, the BBF will still function as AF-S. When shooting MF, selecting single point works well when "picking" subjects in bushes/branches -- place the focus point on the birds head/eye, tap AF-ON and the camera will AF (works as AF-S only) to the spot then stop focusing. As long as the subject doesn't move outside the DOF you should be fine and you don't need to worry about the AF hunting.
Hi, Steven, Garfield, thank you so much sharing the tips. WRT AF， do you guys use DMF ? On low contrast or busy backgrounds, I frequently turn to DMF for quick adjustment, also I would assign one button for quick recall.
I did run stabilization because I was unfortunately using a monopod when shooting this. Most of the time I try to use my tripod with this lens because of the weight.
My A7RV has full time dmf on all lenses but the A1 will only work with certain lenses. I have ael assigned the same as Garfield on the a1 for af/mf hold. It seems like in my experience that the 200-600 seems to do better with video but it could just be that it’s simply smaller and easier to manage.
Id bet what you are seeing is the blur from the quick jerks. Stabilization can steady the image but the intra-frame blur is still there.
Yes, I use DMF with focus peaking for the majority of my shooting.
You’re referring to video?
So in your opinion, would you recommend turning off the image stabilization whenever I’m on a tripod with video? I never turn it off or stills, no matter what even if I’m on a tripod, but maybe that’s causing issues as well
Steven, some generalized thoughts that might be completely useless...
This was shot 4K60 with no cropping whatsoever. I do agree it’s best to not have a teleconverter on there. I am going to start experimenting more with manual. Focus and I can also shoot 8K 30 and crop in as well. Being on a mono pod with that heavy lens wasn’t the best endeavor for video shooting, but I really hadn’t planned on shooting video yesterday. It was just sort of a spur of the moment thing. Would you leave image stabilization on while on a tripod or turn it off when doing video? I have normally left it on in the past for pretty much everything other than like Macro Focus stacking or something along those lines.
I don't know. I don't have this lens/body combo. In general, I keep mine on when it's on a tripod, although I don't recall shooting vid at greater than 200mm.
Yes it is. It’s very nice to have that luxury. I just need to get better at using it. most of my video shooting has been with drones which are completely forgiving with Camera shake, focus in the likes of that because of a gimbal when you go hand held the whole dynamic changes lol. The video settings on drones are much more straightforward. You don’t have tons of options like you do in the Mirrorless cameras so it’s just going to take a while to get used to things.
Not for this lens, probably, but a gimbal makes a big difference. DJI actually makes a cinema camera now (4D) with built-in gimbal.
I was just referring to the gimbal on my drone camera. I have a small dji gimbal I can use much smaller lenses on and it works great
We might be talking 2 different stabilizations. Im referring to stabilizing done in editing and you might be talking about lens stabilization. Id definitely keep it on while filming unless youre locked down and trying for clean audio.
No I was referring to both honestly. I do run stabilization in FCP as well as leaving it enabled in camera.
I did some 8k30 this morning with manual focus less the tc but haven’t had a chance to look at any of it. I hope that took care of most or all of it.
The stabilization in FCP is likely responsible for most of what you are seeing. Some of it may be focus related but in my experience youll get that odd defocused look from motion blur in the stabilized video frames.
