Possible to control depth of field in movie mode?

[mlevin77]

I'm trying to shoot a video of myself in front of a background. I am in focus but the background is blurred. Is it possible to ask the A6000 to have everything in the same focus?

[Pieter]

1 hour ago, mlevin77 said:

... everything in the same focus?

I'm assuming you understand the concept of depth of field related to aperture and background-to-subject-to-camera distance. So no, assuming you're close to the camera you won't be able to have both in the same focus (unless you manually focus between yourself and the background).

You can however make the background more in focus by moving closer to the background.

If you enable Aperture-priority mode instead of Movie mode, you can manually pick a smaller aperture. Make sure to set your menu such that the record-button works in all modes (not just movie mode). A small aperture (like F/8) will also make the background less blurred.

A combination of these suggestions might yield the desired result.

[mlevin77]

Aha!  Where does one set the record button to work in all modes? thank you!

[Pieter]

Menu 2 (cog wheel) -> page 6 -> MOVIE Button -> Always

[mlevin77]

Excellent. Is there a way to keep it from continuously adjusting the focus - I've got it on Aperture mode and recording video but it keeps changing focus which is distracting in the video.

[Pieter]

Set it to manual focus and pre-focus it where you want it to before starting the video. You can also adjust the speed of focus racking during video. Put it to slow to make it much less distracting when the camera refocusses

[Thad E Ginathom]

Move Exposure modes PASM

I don't do video, but I remember seeing this, and dug out my a6000 to check that it is true for this model...

In Video mode (video-film symbol on the mode dial) you can change P-A-S-M:

Menu: Camera-symbol -> p6 -> item "Movie"

Function Menu set: Assign one place to item "Shoot Mode." This would be the easiest regular-access method

Either of these bring up an on-screen display from which you chose your desired exposure mode.

It is not, as far as I could see, assignable to a customisable button. It isn't on my a6500 either.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2020 by Thad E Ginathom