As a cinema guy I always prefer to focus manually but the M2P has me stumped.  
Can't see enough on the phone to judge and the tools are clunky.

After a couple of days of testing I've found the best results are to stay on auto-focus and just update it a lot by tapping the screen whenever anything changes.

Would love to know how others have gone with this and any advice would be much appreciated!

I assign the focus control to C1or C2.  Then I can easily reset the focus to wherever the focus reticle is, without having to move my hands from the sticks.   Makes is MUCH quicker to set the focus as needed.

Mabou2 Posted at 2018-9-22 21:45
I assign the focus control to C1or C2.  Then I can easily reset the focus to wherever the focus reticle is, without having to move my hands from the sticks.   Makes is MUCH quicker to set the focus as needed.

Great idea.  So do you move the rectangle around or does it always focus on the center of the frame?

i put it into manual focus and tap the infinity icon that puts everything in perfect focus, without having to use tap to focus or auto focus ;)

Turn off afc, leave af on then bind c2 to center focus. It'll focus on center of screen

There is no need to waste the C2 button with a focussing option.
Tapping the shutter button will focus.

Yes, I also prefer to half press the photo shutter button.

Yep, Mavic 2 Pro can half-press the shutter button to focus. So save those C1 & C2 buttons for something else. The only difference here is that it’ll focus wherever the box was last positioned on-screen versus always resetting to center focus (C1 for example).

Also try enabling AFC mode (continuous auto focus). It’ll focus when the object or drone stops momentarily. And with this new Mavic 2 Pro, it focuses about 4 or 5 times quicker than Mavic Pro 1 and is much less noticeable. It definitely doesn’t seem to ruin shots and is “smart.”  My shots are always in focus, unlike some questionable YouTube videos demonstrating the camera on this thing.

you can also use the half press function of the right foto button, works with foto and video :-)

jimhare Posted at 2018-9-22 22:48
Great idea.  So do you move the rectangle around or does it always focus on the center of the frame?

Hi Jim,

About 95% of the time I leave the rectangle dead center.  I will move it to a specific location if I am trying to shoot close to the ground and need to track something that is off center.  

I don't know what your photography knowledge is, so sorry if this is a waste of time:   The other thing you can do to help a bit in a difficult focus situation (like needing to focus on something that you are flying close to) is to close down your lens a bit with the Aperture.  The more you close the lens (going to a higher aperture number) the deeper the field of focus is.  For example, (just an example using the extreme aperture options) at ten feet from an object, F2.8 might have everything in focus from 7 feet to 16 feet in front of the camera.  On the other extreme,  f22, everything from 7 feet to infinity could be in focus.  Obviously you would need to adjust the ISO and shutter speed to get your exposure if you close down the lens., but the rule is that your F-stop directly relates to the depth of focus.

Hope that helps, and sorry if I wasted your time writing something you already know.

Matt

HEH....I just learned in this thread that I don't need to waste my C1 button.  I had no idea that the photo shutter button on the RC works with a half press.  We are all winners here!  (Forums are awesome)

I set focus peaking to low and use the half press function to focus. At any time it will re-focus, even while shooting video.

A am still debating between the Pro and Zoom.  I prefer the pro for stills and sunset photography.  However I wonder if the hybrid autofocus on the zoom would enable me to not worry about focus during daytime photography.  Especially when recording moving objects like children running around.  Or cars.


Any thoughts?

Aeromirage Posted at 2018-9-23 07:57
I set focus peaking to low and use the half press function to focus. At any time it will re-focus, even while shooting video.

What you can do to avoid that is:
Focus on the desired area and then switch to manual focus.
It will hold your focus setting from now on.
The only thing that bugs me about manual focus is that the display gets another overlay...

Thanks guys for the information. I think the most important issue for focusing at night is to use a bigger screen 7 inches or more NOT the phones to see the focus better. At least two important settings should be ready within your fingers, "center focus" and "infinity", therefore, make sure to have them either with C1, C2 or D5 buttons and D5 button can do them all where you can set D5 for all kind of focusing also zoom in and zoom out.

Those using the shutter and C1 to focus while shooting: does the camera not hunt momentarily before focusing?

I can’t stand seeing everything go way out of focus for a second in my shots. Especially considering the focus breaths a lot on the M2P.

Set the focus to Auto (AF) and then tap the screen using a subject far on the horizon to focus to infinity. Then immediately switch to MF (tap on icon) to avoid that the drone camera refocuses randomly.

Your all set

Dirty Bird Posted at 7-19 04:54
For daytime I just half-press the shutter on liftoff.  I've never had focus issues in daylight.   For night flights I take note of a large, distinct, well lit sign that the auto focus can easily lock & I can see well enough on the device to know it is clear.

For the flight below I first flew to & focused on a large neon sign on the building behind my launch point, then recorded the display.

That M2P is a beast! Awesome colors and details!