If you want to manually focus your camera while it’s on a gimbal and not have to reply on follow focus, you need to watch this video.
We can all agree that automatic camera focusing has greatly improved, though it still lacks the personal touch of manual focusing a shot. Chrystopher Rhodes of YCImaging — and the talent behind “How to Focus While Using A Gimbal (NO FOLLOW FOCUS)” — hates the “hunting look” you get when using autofocus or follow focus. “I’d rather have my shot gradually come out of focus than to have it perfectly in focus then have it hunting for the focus spot, go out of focus, then come back. It just doesn’t look professional,” says Rhodes. So he shared a few tips of how he is able to get smooth shots with a camera on a gimbal without relying on autofocus or follow focus.
Some of this tips include: staying the same distance away from the subject, increasing your aperture (note though this will make your image darker and hurt your shallow depth of field), focus in the middle of your path, and cut out anything out of focus in post. It can be hard to keep things in focus using a gimbal since your position can change more fluidly than with a tripod. However, these tips should be able to help you keep your shots in focus without forcing you to rely on follow focus or autofocus.
