Video Focus cutting in and out on my Lumia Camera, what could the cause likely be?

[GWBlack]

Video Focus Cutting In and Out in Lumia Camera

Hi Folks,

Newbie Question here. I just shot a few songs from my first concert since I got my Lumia 930 running the latest version of 8.1 & Denim. It was an indoor rock concert at a 11,000 seat arena. For some reason, the focus cut in and out (from very grainy to crystal clear) during the songs, even though the lighting levels hadn't changed much. All Lumia Camera settings were set to "Auto" with "0.0" brightness.

Does anybody know what the cause likely was? I'm not sure if the auto focus setting caused the problem, although the inconsistent focus did seem to be the result of that problem.

Thanks!
Gary

 

[gpobernardo]

Re: Video Focus Cutting In and Out in Lumia Camera

Lumia phones (with variable focus) seem to have trouble with auto-focusing on objects that have bright lights and a dark background, such as city lights and cars at night, a Christmas tree in a dark room. If the concert you're trying to record is similar to these environments, then that's most likely the cause.

You may try to fix the auto-focus setting at infinity before starting to record videos (if the one you're recording is greater than 20 meters away).

 

[GWBlack]

Re: Video Focus Cutting In and Out in Lumia Camera

Thank you!

I forgot to ask: Do I need to "tap to focus" when focus is set to auto, or after I zoom in/out? I wasn't sure if tap to focus should be used in conjunction with auto focus. Thank you again.

 

[gpobernardo]

Re: Video Focus Cutting In and Out in Lumia Camera

The Lumia 930 has a dedicated camera button found at the right side of the phone. Hence, with auto-focus enabled, you may either first half-press that camera button while aiming at the subject, or simply tap on the screen where you want your camera to focus.

Focusing is usually easier when the camera is zoomed in, but most of the time you don't need to re-focus anymore after zooming in or zooming out.

You're welcome. Hope to see some of your photos in the forums one of these days.

 

[GWBlack]

Re: Video Focus Cutting In and Out in Lumia Camera

Thank you again. I should have been more clear, but I was referring to videos, not photos. I was zooming in/out during songs, and sometimes I noticed the focus in the display got very blurry. I wasn't sure if it would improve upon playback, or if that meant that I needed to tap to focus (even though I was using autofocus). You can see the problem begin near the start of the song in the link below, but then the focus improves around Time 3:04. Any focusing suggestions to prevent this from happening again would be appreciated.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xkjgv_eXYeM

There are more videos from this concert below on my YouTube site:

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC2HfzxvcUetIvjnglJIXjug

 

[gpobernardo]

Re: Video Focus Cutting In and Out in Lumia Camera

Set your focus to infinity before you start recording the video. Keep it manually set to infinity.