Canon 5D Mark II Video Jellyfish Lake, Palau & Focus Gear Question

[Roshi]

Hi Everybody,
I made my first video with the Canon 5D Mkii at Jellyfish lake in Palau

see here:JELLYFISH LAKE PALAU on Vimeo

I'm using the Aquatica Housing but I have a question about the manual focus gear. Do any of you use it? The 5D mkii does not have autofocus while filming but I can't see how I can keep the camera steady and work a manual focus gear at the same time. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!

-Rosh

 

[darook]

Cool video! I don't have any great insight on the focus question as I am still figuring it out on my t2i.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Roshi]

Thanks for checking out the video. I've been searching on the web to find out how the manual focus gear works but I can't find too much info.

 

[c0r3yz]

Very cool video! I watched a few of your other videos, too. Very good stuff! How do you like your housing? I am looking at getting a housing in the near future and would love to hear what you think! I am especially interested in it's buoyancy.

As for no autofocus with the 5d mkII, you actually can autofocus while shooting in live mode, although it has it's downsides. While in Live Mode, if you push and hold the "AF-ON" button, it will autofocus on the box on your screen, turning green when it focuses, red if it's unable to. The downsides to doing this, though, include hearing the AF motors in the lens in the on-board mic, camera vibration when the camera is mounted on a tripod, and depending on the focus mode you are using and what your subject is doing, it might throw your subject way out of focus before it is able to lock in.

For what you're doing underwater, I doubt those are big problems, especially since it's one less thing to worry about while diving and shooting at the same time. I hope that helps!

 

[swee sin]

very nice video ... 5D MKII rulez ...

 

[txdano]

You can't autofocus while actually recording though right? I just tried and while your suggestion works in live mode, the AF-ON button appears to have no effect during recording. Thanks for the info, this will help out anyway.

Very cool video! I watched a few of your other videos, too. Very good stuff! How do you like your housing? I am looking at getting a housing in the near future and would love to hear what you think! I am especially interested in it's buoyancy.

As for no autofocus with the 5d mkII, you actually can autofocus while shooting in live mode, although it has it's downsides. While in Live Mode, if you push and hold the "AF-ON" button, it will autofocus on the box on your screen, turning green when it focuses, red if it's unable to. The downsides to doing this, though, include hearing the AF motors in the lens in the on-board mic, camera vibration when the camera is mounted on a tripod, and depending on the focus mode you are using and what your subject is doing, it might throw your subject way out of focus before it is able to lock in.

For what you're doing underwater, I doubt those are big problems, especially since it's one less thing to worry about while diving and shooting at the same time. I hope that helps!

 

[c0r3yz]

You can't autofocus while actually recording though right? I just tried and while your suggestion works in live mode, the AF-ON button appears to have no effect during recording. Thanks for the info, this will help out anyway.

I just took a look and I'm betting it's because your AF Mode is set to Quick mode. You have to set it to Live mode by going to your Menu > Live View/Movie func. set > AF Mode.

 

[c0r3yz]

very nice video ... 5D MKII rulez ...

I couldn't agree more. We have two of them and are looking to get them housed so we can dive with them. Amazing cameras!

 

[Viz'art]

Hi Everybody,
I made my first video with the Canon 5D Mkii at Jellyfish lake in Palau

see here:JELLYFISH LAKE PALAU on Vimeo

I'm using the Aquatica Housing but I have a question about the manual focus gear. Do any of you use it? The 5D mkii does not have autofocus while filming but I can't see how I can keep the camera steady and work a manual focus gear at the same time. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!

-Rosh

Rosh, what lens are you using, there are two ways to access the manual focus (depending of the lens used) on prime wide angle lens, you use the knob on the housing, for the Canon 16-35mm and 17-40mm there are special extension rings with a knob for focusing on their side, this meshes with a gear mounted on the focus ring of the lens, the 100 macro can be manually focused using the AF/MF macro port and the proper gear.

Let me know what lens you want to focus manually and I will direct you in the right direction.

The 5D Mk II does rule... and that comes painfully out of a Nikon user!!!

Cheers

 

[Viz'art]

Duh!!! , its says 15mm Sigma on the Vimeo site (nice footage bTW), the focus gear is # 18715 and it is accessed via the left hand knob on the housing. manual focus takes some using too. with the Sigma, a lot of shooter will focus on their fins (sort of Hyperfocaling the lens) and then will only refocus if the subject is really closer. a smaaller aperture will also help considerably.