Newbie to DSLR (Not Photo or Video Creation): How to Have AutoFocus on In (All?) Mode

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Soniclight

Senior Member
SOME TIME LATER, THIS TIME NOT OT-ING...

Finally called Nikon support and made some headway with this auto-focus thing. If anyone has a 5000 series, the menus may be similar. He went and got a D5500 and walked me through the following settings as sent by email after.

As we were getting there, the auto-focus was still slow to kick in as I slowly swept from close up of my kitchen counter to things further away, so it's not perfect, but as suggested below, fiddling with other settings can at least cut down on on the lag.
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As we discussed, I am going to list some of the things we went over below:

- Changed Live View Focus Mode using the lower case "i" button on the camera back - changed to AF-F, which is full time auto focus

- Set ISO sensitivity range - Menu, then Shooting Menu, then ISO Sensitivity

- Setting camera to Aperture Priority Mode (A option on top dial) - a more open aperture will allow more light into the lens, which can help focus faster. More open apertures have lower "F" numbers (f/5.6, f/6.2, etc.)
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I also talked to some local camera shops and while mid-range consumer camcorders are faster on auto-focus, they do not have the slew of settings a DSLR has. And so I'll keep experimenting until I get it as close to ideal as possible.

In short, there are pros and cons in any decision or trade-off.

If it all ends up in frustration, I may have to sell it and get a camcorder that also does 1920x1080 60p, if not 4K (though editing 4K files in an NLE really slows preview workflow and editing down - and I don't really, really need 4K really).

But I like my D5500, feels solid too.

I've taught myself digital photo editing, video editing, special effects creation (Particleillusion) and music composition/arrangement and production, so I should be able to get a hang of this new DSLR world. As they say in Italy, gotta have... "pazienza, pazienza" (patience, patience).

I'm pretty good in post-production. I.e. the pic below was taken with a very basic Alcatel smartphone (front lens only takes 1280x720 rez pics or videos as I recall) at a fave spot in a local State Park, and I managed to give it some spunk and presence. The original was far more washed out if not dull.

With a DSLR, I'll already be starting with better quality.

phone_hilltop_valley-adj.jpg
 
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Blade Canyon

Senior Member
I didn't know there were different auto-focus options for Live View. Sure enough, set it to AF-F and it tries to keep the shot in focus without touching any buttons.

Doesn't work great, like a dedicated video camera, but it does work on my D600.
 
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RobV

Senior Member
Blade Canyon said:
I didn't know there were different auto-focus options for Live View. Sure enough, set it to AF-F and it tries to keep the shot in focus without touching any buttons.

Doesn't work great, like a dedicated video camera, but it does work on my D600.
Click to expand...

Hence, probably Soniclight's initial confusion. A DSLr will NEVER (?) be able to match the dedicated video camera for focus speed?

I wonder if the advantages of a DSLR are found on semi-pro and pro video cameras?
 
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Soniclight

Senior Member
Yes, compared to a camcorder, autofocus is slow - which may or may not become a major problem for me. Depends on how I shoot the video (do it in segments after it's hit its mark then fuse the segments -- and this would only work when using a tripod). For still photos, not really and issue. As stated before, most of my video shooting is just for the video part, I nuke the audio track(s) anyway in my NLE, so the motor noise isn't an issue.
 
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Soniclight

Senior Member
@RobV - On my budget, I just have deal with what-is-is. Compromise. And some creative post-production tweaking at which I'm pretty good or sneaky. The visual arts are in great part the craft of taking something A and turning it into A+Enhanced (applying some magic). Which to me is the most fun part.

It's fulfilling having been able to do so with dull, at most 1920 or 1440 60i interlaced frames resulting into pretty crisp artsy to stylish "ethereal" photo-art. Before-after example below is not one of my more extreme transformations, but its definitely an improvement on the frame.

I went to design college in the 70s and besides shutter-bugging on the side as hobby, my core medium was acrylic paint. incl. airbrush.

Digital editing (still and video) is SO much easier and versatile. And did I say, fun? :)

HILLTOP-PLANTS-BEFORE-AFTER.jpg
 
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SirenWilliams

Senior Member
Well now I'm worried. I shot a fair bit of video with my Nikon D3200 and was hoping the D5500 would a be bit better. I shoot a lot of surfing, which is possibly one of the hardest things to track. I did a pretty decent job with the old camera, but haven't tried my new D5500 yet for video. Should be better tracking right???
 
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