Canon S3 Manual Focus

Focus

There are times when the fast continuous auto-focus is a positive blessing, but there are times also when you will want to over-ride it.

Example: Max's approach shot to John's chair at the Castle. We locked the focus at the back of the chair so that when he reaches his destination he pops into focus. During the approach he is slightly out of focus, highlighting his stealthy approach.

To achieve this, position your actor where you want him to come into sharp focus. Then lock the focus by pressing the MF (manual focus) button on the Lens barrel of the Camera.

Using Manual Focus:

It is possible to shift the focus while filming e.g. shifting focus between two actors during a dialogue. This is quite tricky to achieve with the S3, (It's quite tricky to achieve with any camera - big budget productions have "focus pullers" this is what they do) and requires a lot of practice to get good at it - but it is possible. Have a look at the clip below. The Camera is on a medium zoom, the blue bottle is about 5 feet away, the dark bottle about a foot behind that, and Harvey is about 4 feet beyond that. In one continuous shot I've shifted the focus from in front to the blue bottle, to the dark bottle, to Harvey, and back again.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• focus1