Hello everyone, I just picked up a 5D Mark II, mainly to shoot video with but also to do some photography with. For some reason, I can't seem to get the face tracking to work. I've got an older 50MM F1.8 II lens that I'm using with it, and no matter what I do, I can't get the camera body to track a face. I can click and hold the autofocus button and it'll lock onto a face or an object, but it wont track. Any advice on where to look? I'm mainly using TV/Shutter Priority mode to keep it at 1/50 or 1/60. If I need to buy a remote to use this I will, but I really bought this camera for video (selfie video/talking head at that) so this is kind of a loss for me if I can't get it to work.
So, while taking video the 5D MK II does not have live face tracking/focus, and it also does not respond to the "half press" while in "video mode". The only button that effects focus is the AF-ON button on the back of the camera. This is challenging. There are work arounds for other cameras, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet.
This was the first camera to really change the video production game 13-14 years ago, I am sure there are some tips from old youtube videos and some of the video guys here, but yeah this was before modern live tracking in DSLRs. Sadly I am a stills guy and not much help. I would probably manual focus video i was producing.
I mean, absolutely, if I was behind the camera this would make sense. Most of the time, I do manual focus my videos when I'm filming something else. But being a single person, if I'm in front of the camera, with a camera that doesn't have a screen that flips out, this complicates things. I think the only thing I've found I can do is get a remote, use the "half press" function to pull focus, take a photo, make sure it's in focus, and then go back around and start the video process, and hope for the best, for now.
Well, I decided to bypass my issue for now by getting a 19-35mm lens lol. It allows the camera to be close enough to my face that I can get the autofocus button and hit record and still record in front. I'm brainstorming a way to build a "button presser" that works off of 5V, but I'll get there eventually. Thanks everyone!
