Canon EOS 70D Movie Recording Automatic Refocusing Issues

[burlesonj]

Hello,

I recently purchased a brand new Canon EOS 70D 20.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with the EF-S 18-135mm lens.  I've noticed several times with the camera focused while recording in movie mode, the picture for a split second will go blurry and back into focus again.

It looks as though the lens is constantly refocusing in AF and it's causing incremental blurs during playback.  

It happens in random segments while recording.  I have the lens set in AF. I am recording at 24fps in 1080p (1920x1080)

Can anyone help me to resolve this or to the reasoning as to why this is happening?  

Thanks.

James Burleson

www.IMDb.me/jamesburleson

[MikeSowsun]

That sounds to me like the camera has lost focus and is just re-focussing.  This may be normal for the conditions.  The 70D Auto Focus is good but it can't handle every situation. You may have to use manual focus if the conditions call for it. 

What conditions are you are you shooting in? Is the camera on a tripod? Moving subjects? Low-light? 

[burlesonj]

Yes...it does sound like it's refocusing.  When I playback the recording, I can physically see the actual camera adjusting focus automatically, and it causes a major distraction since spur of the moment blurring is involved and in each case, it's about 1 second long.  I'm unsure what to do.  It seems like it occurs during low-light conditions more (especially if the low-light is in the background).

I shoot using a Manfrotto 504HD,546BK Video Tripod Kit with 504HD Head and 546 Tripod - Black.  Some of the subjects are moving (camera is panning while I am reporting or not moving as a stand-up reporter from a fixed location).  I shoot both inside and outside.

I've tried using a Manual Focus before but I suffer the consequences when shooting outside as I don't get the best focus when trying to manually adjust the focus.  Perhaps I should switch between MF, then AF and back to MF again to have the best possible picture, as switching it back to MF again would carry over exactly from the AF I would imagine without any needed adjustments if I'm already ready to shoot the target I setup for. I work in both high, medium and low light and the problem persists.