Chris Cronin wrote:I think you might misunderstand me. It's not a one size fits all solution, it's completely situational, and it's helpful to have in that context.
Chris, I understand it can be incredibly useful in certain situations for the lone operator, which most of us are here. But it is used too much because it can be used now. Some of the rushes I mentioned even have AF on sit down interviews, which as soon as they moved their heads, voila, background in sharp focus. I know you're not that kind of person.
But for me automatic anything and the professional craft of filmmaking are somewhat mutually exclusive. Most of the people you refer to, outside of high end filmmaking are trying to ape that level, even if they are only making YT videos. These gadgets are ultimately about selling them that bill of goods.
Perhaps I am that dinosaur you allude to but I make sure I never film anything that I can't focus manually and I have done a lot of hand held, run and gun over many years - Documentary and mostly smaller sensors but a mantra I have repeated here often - the right tools for the job! if I had an AF button I perhaps wouldn't bother so much and use it too much, because it's there. If I was making drama, I wouldn't do it guerrilla style, but that is just a subjective thing that I can't and shouldn't judge. But if I had to I would still want to mostly manually focus, to have absolute repeatable control. If you can sing only with auto-tune, you perhaps should feel a sense of slight imposter syndrome, even if you have hit records, I feel.