Will not let me focus while recording

[ratkingcole]

I am shooting video on an EOS rebel t3 body with a canon telephoto lens and it will not let me manual focus while sooting video. Is there anything i can do about that? UPDATE: i just recently tried the same body with a different lens (ultrasonic 50mm) and the manual focus while reording video works fine. Is it just the lens that does not have that function? because the employee at the camera store said it would work well for shooting video.

[jrhoffman75]

Which lens?

[RobertTheFat]

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@jrhoffman75 wrote:

Which lens?

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It would have to be one of the STM all-electric lenses, wouldn't it? What other lens would even have a way of stopping you from focusing manually?

[jrhoffman75]

An STM lens will allow manual focus override with lens set to AF if you hold the shutter button down. In MF mode you can manually focus w/o holding shutter button down. (At least with the 18-135 version.)

[RobertTheFat]

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@jrhoffman75 wrote:

An STM lens will allow manual focus override with lens set to AF if you hold the shutter button down. In MF mode you can manually focus w/o holding shutter button down. (At least with the 18-135 version.)

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I guess the question at issue is whether it still works that way when shooting video. One (rather far-fetched) possibility that occurred to me is that focusing an all-electric lens while shooting video might exceed the current capacity of the battery or of some part of the camera's circuitry.

[jrhoffman75]

It does work in video. I verified that this AM. But I can only report about the 18-135. We need OP to provide more info. 

[Waddizzle]

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

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@jrhoffman75 wrote:

An STM lens will allow manual focus override with lens set to AF if you hold the shutter button down. In MF mode you can manually focus w/o holding shutter button down. (At least with the 18-135 version.)

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I guess the question at issue is whether it still works that way when shooting video. One (rather far-fetched) possibility that occurred to me is that focusing an all-electric lens while shooting video might exceed the current capacity of the battery or of some part of the camera's circuitry.

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I don't see how focusing the lens at real time when shooting video is all that different from AI Serrvo mode when shooting stills.  There is a problem in most DSLRs on the market today with heat buiding up on the image sensor from it being contnuously active. 

[Waddizzle]

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@ratkingcole wrote:

I am shooting video on an EOS rebel t3 body with a canon telephoto lens and it will not let me manual focus while sooting video. Is there anything i can do about that? UPDATE: i just recently tried the same body with a different lens (ultrasonic 50mm) and the manual focus while reording video works fine. Is it just the lens that does not have that function? because the employee at the camera store said it would work well for shooting video.

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The Rebel T3 camera body is not capable of auto focusing while recording video.  However, you should be able to manual focus to your heart's content by simply switching the lens to manual focus, by changing AF/MF to MF on Canon lenses.

[EDIT]  Some of Canon's lenses allow for what is called "Manual Focus Override."  With most older lens designs, when the AF/MF switch is set for AF, then a set of focusing motors are connected to the focusing elements in the lens housing.  When the motors are connected to the focusing elements, then the focusing ring is usually inoperable, and doesn't turn.  Actually, if you turn it forcefully enough, it will turn and misalign the focusing motors.

Some newer lens designs allow the focus ring to turn under certain conditions while the AF/MF switch is set to AF.  What is the full model number of the lens you're referring to.  If the model number ends with STM or USM, then the lens has the ability to allow for "Manual Focus Override" under certain conditions.