In collaboration with No Film School.
The Sony Cinema Line features autofocus technology from their popular Alpha mirrorless cameras. Here's advice to get the most out of it in the field.
When it comes to autofocus, one of the most significant advancements in the technology was the ability to perform phase detection on the image sensor itself.
Before then, phase detection required a separate sensor, and it would run into all sorts of issues like lagging or simply bad performance. Now that phase detection and contrast detection can be performed on the sensor level, autofocus has become much faster, reliable, and precise. Autofocus even touts AI technology to track faces, eyes, and animals in real-time.
What makes phase detection unique from contrast detection is that it's depth aware. It's able to easily track objects in the foreground, mid-ground, or background. Contrast detection simply cannot do that.
But what contrast detection offers is precision. By combining both phase detection and contrast detection, Sony shooters get the best of both worlds with its Hybrid AF technology.
Sony's Cinema Line, which includes VENICE, FX9, FX6, and FX3, all share (except VENICE) similar autofocus technology from the company's famed Alpha cameras. It's a big leap but a natural progression for Sony to start offering autofocus on higher-end cinema cameras where operators have traditionally relied on manual focus. With high-resolution video being readily available at fast frame rates, from a focusing perspective, it's not that easy to keep talent in focus shooting 4K 120p. Sony's Hybrid AF makes it possible, even in low-light situations, for single shooters to record tack-sharp images.
Let's take a look at some of Sony's AF technology features and how you can get the most out of them in the field.