Help! Our Samung S10+ keeps trying to refocus and affects footage!

[Randomlifestylevlog]

Help! Our footage keeps trying to refocus! We use a currently a Samsung Galaxy S10+ and have 2 lamps and a ring light for our lighting setup. So for us, lighting isn't too much of a problem. But one of the biggest problems we have is that our camera keeps constantly refocusing all the time and on the latest video we filmed its noticeable.
1. Anyone knows how I can adjust the phones camera settings to stop this.
2. I use Final Cut Pro X to edit videos. Is there any plugins or built-in features to smooth out the refocus problem? I am going to test out the image stabilization option.
3. Any other recommendations

Thank you!

 

[SILTHW]

Help! Our footage keeps trying to refocus! We use a currently a Samsung Galaxy S10+ and have 2 lamps and a ring light for our lighting setup. So for us, lighting isn't too much of a problem. But one of the biggest problems we have is that our camera keeps constantly refocusing all the time and on the latest video we filmed its noticeable.
1. Anyone knows how I can adjust the phones camera settings to stop this.
2. I use Final Cut Pro X to edit videos. Is there any plugins or built-in features to smooth out the refocus problem? I am going to test out the image stabilization option.
3. Any other recommendations

Thank you!

Given some questions you've had previous about white balance shifts, you may want to look at a 3rd party app with more granular controls. I personally like Filmic Pro. It is a paid app, but it gives you complete control over all aspects of the camera, including manual control of focus and white balance.

If the captured image is out of focus, it is pretty much impossible to fix in post. However, if the the focal effect is applied (many camera with portrait mode do this) you can often refocus the shot but it has to be done in the camera using its software and not in post.

Note - I am recommending FIlmic because I know it solves the problems you have mentioned, not because it is the only app that does that. It's simply the one I know that works on Android. Others may have different app recommendations.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

Hi there ma'am. I also use an S10+ and am happy to lend any assistance that I can, although I have not had that particular problem.

I will say that I have used Filmic Pro with some success and the ability to manually adjust white balance and focal range makes a diffference with stuff like that (plus it's a much easier way to learn that stuff IMO).

The biggest problem that I have with 3rd party aps is the lack of ability to quickly start the camera with button hard-press as well as the need to switch settings for slow motion, time-lapse and super slow mo. I don't know if these will present issues for you, but I also wonder if switching between these settings may affect the issue as well. Another thing to look into would be adjusting some of the settings. I know 'BIXBY vision' causes some unwanted issues, as well as some of the 'Advanced Recording Options' in your camera's settings menu.

Keep me up to date on this, I am happy to see this issue through with you.

 

[Randomlifestylevlog]

This is Rob from the channel, not Paulina I deal with all the techie stuff! We usually have the camera set up not too far with the 2 people option selected. This is usually set to 1.1 distance zoom. When she shows items to the camera that's when it readjusts the focus. But its been doing it on its own essentially. That's the issue. I will explore the bixby thing and see if I can turn that off for one. Its all been since we had the update too. We cleared cache and that also helped a bit with some issues.

 

[Beanie Draws]

I'd recommend doing a test with "Open camera" to see if it's not an issue with the app you're using. If you still have issues with autofocus, try a differant lighting setup, if you still have issues, then there's a potential that it's the camera lens themselves. Generally is software issues, and "Open camera" is a great manual camera app, takes some time to learn but gives you far more advanced features than the typical stock camera app that comes with phones.