Help - my Canon 60D isn't focusing at all? (15-135mm lens)

[carliebim]

My boss wants me to go shoot a small promotional video for a client tomorrow - I normally work with a camera guy (I do editing/post-production) but he's off sick with a bad flu, so my boss has asked me to do it instead.

The company camera is a Canon 60D, and comes with a 18-135mm lens. I'm familiar with Canon, so I know the basic buttons and such, but I don't have much experience filming.

I'm testing the video inside the office, as the promotion video (it's for a store) will be indoors as well with relatively similar lighting conditions. However I can't seem to get the camera to focus properly.

I know that a good way to see if a video is truly focused is to zoom in with the buttons on the camera, but it just doesn't seem to want to focus. I have tried in both Automatic Focus and Manual Focus. With the Manual Focus, when I turn the focus ring on the lens, it just gets fuzzier. 

When I have on the Automatic Focus, the lens racks back and forth, but never actually focuses (the little white box on the monitor never turns green).

I'm watching a few videos online to help, but I'm scared of going to shoot tomorrow, and everything is out of focus.

I'm thinking that something is wrong with the lens, but I'm not sure. I have access to a Canon T3 (my father's old camera) that I was thinking of taking the kit lens from and testing on this one. Is that a good idea?

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 

[kvbarkley]

Tryit with more light.

Does what you are trying to focus on have a lot of contrast?

[carliebim]

I haven't tried it outside yet admittedly, but I've been trying it indoors as the location tomorrow will also be indoors with incandescent lighting. 
Yes, I've tried it with objects with different colours and contrasts, but it still doesn't focus very well. 

What I find really strange is that the lens keeps making the focus sound and opens and closes, but doesn't stop. I think it can't focus. 

If I try my lens on it which is an 18-55 one, should the camera still work?

[kvbarkley]

Should work fine.

Try to focus through the viewfinder to make sure the lens is working.

[TCampbell]

The 60D does not have "continuous" auto-focus in video mode.

There's a button with an asterisk on the back of the camera which is usually mapped to focus when in video mode.  It should force the camera to attempt to focus ... but it will "focus hunt".  So ideally, you avoid needing to re-focus (avoid distance changes) when shooting video.

Newer cameras that have Canon's Dual-Pixel CMOS AF can do continuous focus during video and they do it well.

[carliebim]

Would it be better to use the camera on Automatic movie mode, and switch it to Manual Focus and do it myself? 

Thanks in advance

[Waddizzle]

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@carliebim wrote:

Would it be better to use the camera on Automatic movie mode, and switch it to Manual Focus and do it myself? 

Thanks in advance

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What is best to do depends upon what you are trying to do.  The best way to use the 60D to record video is similar to what most YouTubers do.  Setup a stationary camera, and a relatively stationary subject. 

You can focus the camera by taking a still photo of your subject, and then switching the lens to manual focus.  Once focusing is done, you adjust exposure almost however you please.  Your exposure settings will be limited by the fact that you are recording video at fixed frame rates, and your desired Depth of Field.

[jrhoffman75]

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=shooting+video+with+canon+60d&view=detail&mid=A41C5A9D5D2B6780E...

[carliebim]

Hi John, I tried clicking on the video, but it said that it's no longer available. 

[jrhoffman75]

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@carliebim wrote:

Hi John, I tried clicking on the video, but it said that it's no longer available. 

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https://vimeo.com/88694434