alt Hacker NewsThis is only true for photography.
For some reason, cinema lenses are still - for the most part - purely mechanical. For film and TV, most camera operators still focus manually - often via gears attached externally to the lens.
Coming from modern photography, manual focusing is inconvenient and difficult to learn. But there's something very old-school cool about cine lenses. They feel great.
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I think in cine it’s a lot more important to have smooth focus and to be able to control the focus speed, hence the MF lenses
I think people in cinema have (and want) more control over the take. For a photographer, autofocus is quality of life, for a cinematographer it can get in the way very fast in everything that's not following subjects.
When telling a story through film, changing what depth is in focus is a great way to move the viewer’s attention, without the need for cutting to a different angle or camera movement.
Indeed! I've had the privilege and honor of collimating a Cooke s4i. It's a thing of beauty, joy forever.
Because typically we use (usually wireless) whips to control lens elements. The 1st AC ideally is on a dedicated monitor with the setup in hand to pull as needed while the cam op handles the physical camera and focuses on framing and any movement.
Autofocus is very nice for photos, especially when it works.
Autofocus in moving pictures isn't so great. It might be nice when you're not filming, but while filming, a focus change should really be intentional; auto focus isn't that. Might depend on what you're filming though.