Using Touchscreen Focusing with Video

Combining your camera’s touchscreen capabilities with Area AF mode is a great way to work when shooting video. Let’s see how it’s done.

There are a few ways to approach focusing when you’re shooting video. The simplest is to set the camera to Continuous AF and its Movie AF mode to Multi – that way, the camera picks out what to focus on by itself, based on what it considers to be the main subject. But if you want to have a little more input into where your camera is focusing, try switching the Movie AF mode to Area instead for more control.

To do this:

• Press MENU OK and scroll to the MOVIE SETTING menu tab.
• Scroll down to the MOVIE AF MODE option and choose AREA.

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In Area mode, your camera only focuses on objects under the AF rectangle, just like when you’re shooting stills in Single Point AF or Zone AF mode. You can move this around the frame to the right place using the camera’s Focus Lever, if it has one, or its touchscreen. This latter approach is very convenient and gives you some creative options, too.

To make sure you can use touchscreen focusing, ensure the right touchscreen mode is active. This is indicated by a small icon in the top right of the screen, which you can touch to cycle through the touchscreen modes: OFF > SHOT > AF. Tap this icon until AF is selected.

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Now, when you’re filming and want to change the point of focus, all you need to do is tap the screen and the camera will follow. Do this as gently as possible to avoid physically wobbling the camera, which can be distracting. If you’re creating a video with one or more people in the frame, we’d suggest switching on Face/Eye Detection focusing, so the camera automatically picks out faces in the frame.

© Dan Westergren

The visual effect caused by the camera refocusing during a shot is often called ‘pull focusing’ or ‘rack focusing’, and it’s an excellent way of shifting a viewer’s attention from one place to another. Some X Series cameras let you adjust the speed with which this refocusing happens via another option in the Movie Setting menu.

• Press MENU OK and scroll to the MOVIE SETTING menu.
• Scroll down to the AF-C CUSTOM SETTING option.
• Adjust the AF SPEED to between -2 and -5, depending on how slow you want your focus pull to look.

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Tapping on the screen while filming is an excellent way of telling the camera exactly where to focus without having to divert too much attention away from your subject. Try making it your standard way of working and you’ll see your movies get better as a result.

Your Next Steps

• CHALLENGE Film two people interacting – they could be dancing, talking, playing… anything you like. Use your camera’s touchscreen AF to shift focus between them, directing the viewer’s attention to where it needs to be. Post your clip to social media with the hashtags #MyFujifilmLegacy and #touchfocus. You can also submit your work here for a chance to be featured on our social media channels.