Does this exist, if not , someone invent it.

[churchie04]

Ok, so I was watching the news tonight and there wsa some B-roll footage being shown and it had a man walking down the street.

He was pretty out of focus.

I got the idea, how cool would it be if there was some sort of tracking device used so that you can put one part on the subject and a tracking system on the camera, so the camera can constantly monitor how far the subject is from the camera and adjust the zoom.

The applications could be limitless.

If it already exists, then I admit my ignorance. If not, someone invent it.

[thecoalman]

It's called Auto focus. (that was joke) Cams with AF, focus on whatever is in the middle of the lens. AF reliability depends on the cam and shooting conditions.

[lordsmurf]

Focus tracking, an advanced form of autofocus.
I have it on my pro still cameras.

Although, it's not as great as it sounds.
AI is never as smart as human mind.

[churchie04]

LS, seems that Focus tracking on still camera's just alters the focus control right before the shutter is opened, if the subject is moving.

Anyone ever hear of it for video?

[guns1inger]

My DV camera does it

[lordsmurf]

LS, seems that Focus tracking on still camera's just alters the focus control right before the shutter is opened, if the subject is moving.

Not true. It re-tracks actively.
It can be useful, but it can also piss you off.
I turn it off and on however I need it, can be custom controlled.

[churchie04]

What DV camera do you have?

Let me try to clarify.

I don't mean a system that arbitrarily picks either the object closest to the lens or the most dominate image on the screen to automatically focus to.

I mean a system where you can tell it specifically what object, reguardless of where it is , to always keep it in focus, whether it is 5 inches from the lens and to the left or 20 from the lens and on the right.

[vitualis]

There was video camera released (must be 10 years ago now) that tracked your eye looking through the viewfinder and automatically autofocused on the part of the image you were looking at.

That sounds like a better solution...

Regards.

[takeshi]

...assuming your eye never strays... I'm pretty busy evaluating the overall image on a constant basis and eye tracking would be useless to me.

[disturbed1]

My old canon hi 8 camera did this.

You centered the target in a little square, and the camera would auto focus, and adjust lighting to maintain that image. Great for sporting events. I thought this was just a simple feature built into all video and still cameras