Is the End of Manual Focus Lenses Near?

[Marc Wielage]

Even if autofocus is perfect (very unlikely, but let's be hypothetical) - who's going to make the decision as to which actor it focuses on during the scene, and at what point during the dialogue? What about a slow vs fast rack? Who's going to make all the creative focus decisions? A good 1st AC is usually very good at this...

I think this is a very good argument. The other one is that autofocus can get "confused" when an actor misses their mark and steps in front of another character, or you're doing a moving shot where lots of foreground people are walking by. How does the autofocus lens know you want to stay on the people 40' away and not the ones that are just 10' away from the camera?

No, I think manual focus is needed for a lot of reasons in narrative filmmaking and TV. I can see maybe it being used for fast-moving documentaries or perhaps static cameras in an interview where people don't move too much. But it's not a replacement for a human. Not yet.

Turning the knob is the easy part - knowing when, why & adding the creativity is the hard part...

James is very wise. I agree completely. There's a real art to whst an AC does with focus, and I have enormous respect for the ones that do their jobs well.

 

[Patrick Tresch]

And what if autofocus would be used by humans?

It could assist you. You have a focus wheel in your hand, and it tells you (peaking or even more advanced focus system 3D spaciality overlapping the image...) what is in focus and makes the pin point ajustment if needed (on eyes if it sees 2 eyes, face or moving object if selection is tracked, ... let's get crative on the algorithm ;-) ).

Speed and selected object still would be your decision.


Pat

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

I agree that for reportage or documentary work, AF is, at worst, better than nothing. Here's a look at the Sony A9 with the 400/2.8 G Master. Sony has unbeatable AF, and they have been working on it for years. The photographer here describes the A9's focus acquisition as "violent". DSLRs were 100% dead as soon as the A9 was announced.

(56:45)

James is very wise. I agree completely. There's a real art to whst an AC does with focus, and I have enormous respect for the ones that do their jobs well.

When I was a teenager I found out, while reading the credits of a movie, that there was a job called 'focus puller'. I laughed. I told my friend how stupid it was to pay someone just to turn a fucking lens barrel. Oh, how little did I know!