Focusing from one point to another

[Tbamed]

Hi,

I would like to take a panoramique view of some object on a wall of a room named A B C D E F G H J, how toget the camera (a7rii) focus in video mode to automatically focus from one to other



I can focus on A but the de or f mybe blurty

 

[Off The Mark]

Two ways:

1) Stop down the lens so that you get a deeper depth of field (giving you more in focus), and / or

2) Use AF-C which should focus at the appropriate distance as you pan the camera around the room.

In days of old, they used manual focus to do this. I don't know if you are familiar with American football, but in the old days, the camera operators used manual focus to follow the ball as it flew through the air from the quareterback's hand to the receiver's hands. Look up the old school NFL films to see their manual focusing skills in action.

Now those were real cameramen.

 

[sludge21017]

Put center focus, A72 might have some setting to slowly adjust focus or make it prone to not jump around? Nope, not seeing it:

The Sony A7 II was announced on 20 November 2014... you don't have all the latest options. nevermind.

At least there's center focus:

Help Guide | Focus Area

 

[leobatte]

The lens has a ring around the barrel that turns. As you turn the ring, the focus of the shot changes. On a bigger show, it’s the camera assistant’s job to keep the shot in focus. This can be done with a device called a follow focus, or by remote control with a motor.

snaptube vidmate​

 

[Sean Nelson]

...Stop down the lens so that you get a deeper depth of field (giving you more in focus)...

Note that when you're trying to get both far and near objects in focus, you use a small aperture and you focus in between the near and far objects. Trying to focus on the near objects and getting the far objects in focus at the same time may not be possible.

 

[NickZ2016]

With cameras that support touch focus. You touch A. Wait. Touch B. etc about the only way to automatically do this.

Problem is C D E are in the same plane. The camera won't really isolate them.

Instead if you have a video head on your tripod use a longish lens so you can isolate the subjects and just pan.

 

[BobKo]

FWIW, some Panasonic cameras have a feature called Focus Transitions that lets you set up to 3 focus points. You can then change focus smoothly between them by touching the display on the camera. I made a video explaining how to do this on the GH5 -- it's a similar but slightly different process on the GH6 GH7, G9m2, S1 and S5. (Yes, the G9m2 does Focus Transitions.) I have used this feature a few times, mostly with shots of things like flowers and landscapes. It will also do a smooth rack-focus from out of focus to sharp focus (or vice-versa). You have to use the camera with a Panasonic lens to get this feature -- it doesn't work with most (all?) non-Panasonic lenses.

Here's the video I did explaining and demonstrating Focus Transitions in the Panasonic GH5: