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Are there any gimbals that use manual focus when follow focusing?
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[ryan elder] “Is that electronic focus more or less reliable then the wireless follow focus?”
You shouldn’t purchase a wireless follow focus. They are both unreliable for your situation.
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[Mark Suszko]
Realistically how often would the camera in such situations need to be zoomed or have the focus changed in the first place, from being fully wide and focused at infinity?For me, I HATE seeing everything in focus for infinity for most situations. I think most things look more cinematic if your layers of depth get blurrier the further things get from your subject. I just had a situation last week. I wanted to film a guy riding his bike our the back of the car. The distance from the camera to the bike rider changed every second. If I had the depth of field that I liked and filmed with the guy on the bike would constantly go in and out of focus without the ability to change the focus.
In this situation. If you could keep the talent the same distance from the camera during the whole move they would stay in focus. Which to me would be the easiest solution.
[Ryan Elder]
Okay thanks, but why not use a gimbal for some shots, what’s the big deal?I think the point Gary is making is if your gear can’t do the move you want then don’t do it. As a storyteller, if you feel there is only one way to do something and a long gimbal shot is the only way to tell your story then you lack a lot out the box thinking. How many amazing movies have been created the can tell a story without a gimbal. It is crazy to think this is the only way to film this scene.
[Ryan Elder]
So for the price of the follow focus, is it actually worth betting compared to the electronic focus of the crane?I haven’t used either so don’t take my word for it. But from what I remember the electronic focus isn’t smooth at all. It looks like the focus changes in clicks. Whereas the attachment seems to be as smooth as you would think a controller on a handle could do.
As for price, if you purchase it on B&H the follow focus is free: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1359107-REG/zhiyun_tech_crane_2_3_axis_handheld_stabilizer.html
Stephen Smith
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Well we were shooting at night which called for the aperture to be opened up more and have a more shallow DOF compared to say, outside in the daylight. So that is what I would be pulling focus for is situations like that, where I need to open the aperture more, for light.
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I also like to not have everything in focus as I too feel it looks more cinematic.
The most trouble I have is when I want to do a push in to the face on an actor. I want to shoot those on 85mm lenses so the faces don’t have barrel distortion during the push in. The 85mm looks best for close ups anyway. But when the gimbal operator does the push in, the autofocus, cannot pull focus in time, and is late in responding.
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As for the recommendation to keep people the same distance from the camera all the time, I can’t do that in every type of scene shoot though. Some shots actually call for an actor to change distance, and it would actually complicate some shots more, if I were to keep them at the same distance the whole time.
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[Ryan Elder]
As for the recommendation to keep people the same distance from the camera all the time, I can’t do that in every type of scene shoot though.
Of course. I don’t think anyone here is saying otherwise.[Ryan Elder]
Some shots actually call for an actor to change distance, and it would actually complicate some shots more, if I were to keep them at the same distance the whole time.If your tools can’t do it and you can’t afford better tools then this is where you think outside the box. There are tons of amazing films that don’t use any gimbal shots whatsoever. Are you really telling me that this story is so revolutionary that you could not have told this story cinematically 10 years ago when no one had motorized gimbals? Motorized gimbals are still very new to the industry and not having them didn’t stop people from telling stories. It feels like you are dead set on the camera move and not the story. I know you find this reply frustrating but seriously, think of alternative ways to show the same message. Best of luck.
Stephen Smith
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Oh I was just asking what the best type of focusing system would be for a gimbal, I am not dead set on it, I would say. I actually think that a gimbal would make the shoots easier, because it requires less shot set ups and less shoot time, if I can move from one point to another, rather than having to cut, and do a new set up.
Like let’s say I have a seen of two people walking down the street and talking for like say… three minutes. With a gimbal you can nail it all in one shot, and do a few takes cause I am moving with them.
If the camera was static, then the two people would walk in out of frame for several shots, and I would have to keep cutting to new shots, and that could be like five more shot set ups compared to a gimbal.
So things like a gimbal can actually make a shoot easier and more efficient and that is what I am aiming for.
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The last shoot for a short film I did, went so much better in my opinion, cause the gimbal was able to move along with the actor for longer amounts of time, and I didn’t have to do a lot more shot sets up in comparison, if I went with static shots.
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[Ryan Elder]
Like let’s say I have a seen of two people walking down the street and talking for like say… three minutes.Why do the actors HAVE to walk down the street?
Stephen Smith
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Here is the commercial with the bike I was talking about. There are 2 shots where you can tell I’m in a car in front of the guy on the bike. The 1DX mark ii kept him in focus with the tracking feature. We drove for about 10 minutes and I had to keep him in focus for most of the time which was a challenge since he was constantly closer or further away from the camera. I think the end result was cool:
Bike Ride Down Canyon: TJ Eisenhart
Stephen Smith
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