Newb help! Canon Eos 700 D with 50 mm lens

[NicholasObscure]

Hello ladies and gentlemen!

I have just joined and I would like to ask a simple (hopefully) questions.

I am using my Canon Eos 700 D with 50 mm lens to shoot youtube videos. it is working quite well but sometimes it does something that drives me crazy: if I move too much the camera for a fraction of a second loses focus.

This is especially true if I move my hands, the camera focuses on the hand and makes me blurry.

https://youtu.be/k-v4T24GQ2Q

This is a simple video that shows the situation. (see at the beginning and at 0.12/0.13)

The camera is all in auto as I am not very knowledgeble of what I am doing.

Any advice?

Thanks

[kvbarkley]

Use manual focus mode. Or make sure the little focusing square is on whatever it is that you want in focus.

[NicholasObscure]

eh the problem with manual focus is that the camera is sitting like 2 metres away from as I am the one speaking in front of the camera...

[kvbarkley]

Flip the screen out and turn it towards you so you can evaluate focus from where you are.

[NicholasObscure]

Hi KV, my screen is flipped but from the small screen all seems fine to me.

The loss of focus is minimal and fixes itself in less than half a second, but it is visible in the video. I am sure it is a matter of settings, not sure which ones are optimal though...

Thanks again

[kvbarkley]

You can get an HDMI monitor and see yourself as large as you want.

Read page 159+ in your manual. You probably want either face detection or flexizone where you set the place where you want focus to be. I suspect that you have face tracking on and when you move your hands you turn your face and the camera changes the focus point.

[Waddizzle]

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@NicholasObscure wrote:

eh the problem with manual focus is that the camera is sitting like 2 metres away from as I am the one speaking in front of the camera...

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Learn about DOF, depth of field.  Two, if you are not moving around, or significantly changing your distance to the camera, then you can probably get better results putting the lens into MF mode as already suggested.  

I would do it like this.  I would put the lens into AF mode, and snap a picture of myself, or a test target, at the distance and location I would expect to be from the camera.  If the picture looks sharp to your, and has sufficient DOF, then you are ready to go.  Without touching the focus ring, carefully put the lens into MF mode, and you're ready to shoot video.  Just be mindful of moving out of the DOF of the lens' focus.

I think the 50mm focal length is probably a bit long with an APS-C sensor, and a subject distance of 2 meters, because it creates a rather shallow DOF.  I would suggest using 24mm, or less.

[NicholasObscure]

Thank you guys, I will make some tests and report back 🙂