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CDA Tek’s LiDAR module lets you get fast autofocus on any camera – even in the dark

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It’s taken a while for this one to come to market, having first been teased in July 2019, and it’s still not quite there, but it’s close. Originally shown off as an early prototype alongside the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, the CDA-Tek AFX, as it’s now known, works with the Pocket 6K as well, communicating with either camera over Bluetooth, requiring no external cables.

But the AFX also has an extra trick up its sleeve. It now also allows you to add LiDAR autofocus support to any lens, including manual focus ones, thanks to new communication protocols added for the Tilta Nucleus-M and Nucleus-Nano focus motors. It’s being launched via Indiegogo, already having hammered its goal with 30 days left.

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DJI’s LiDAR module gives you autofocus even with f/0.95 manual focus lenses

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One of the biggest problems I hear people talking about when it comes to gimbals it the lack of autofocus. In an ideal world, we’d either be able to hold the gimbal with one hand and easily move the focus wheel manually with the other or we’d just have a separate focus puller to deal with it for us so we can concentrate on the composition. But it’s rarely that easy for most of us.

It would be great if camera autofocus was perfect, but it isn’t. DJI’s is about to release a LiDAR sensor module to go with their new RS2 gimbal, which sits on top of your camera and talks to the RS2’s focus motor to let you get autofocus on your gimbal with just about anything. MAKE.ART.NOW’s Josh Yeo took it for a spin with the Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 III.

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Apple to bring Time-of-Flight cameras to two iPhone models next year

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Time-of-Flight (TOF) has started popping up more and more lately. It feels like a bit of a buzzword, but it’s actually pretty cool tech. Essentially, it sends out some kind of light (typically a laser) into the environment and then times how long it takes for it to bounce off those objects, creating a pretty accurate 3D map of its surroundings.

It can then use this data for various functions. In the case of phones, that means things like the fake bokeh everybody seems to love these days, but also for faster and more accurate autofocus. And according to a report on MacRumors, it’s coming to two 2020 iPhone models.

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This new gadget gives fast, accurate continuous autofocus to the Blackmagic Pocket 4K

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The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K has been a massive hit ever since its initial announcement. Such a big hit that if you order one today, you still might not actually get it for at least a couple of months. But one of the biggest complaints I hear about it is that it doesn’t have continuous autofocus. Well, Ian at CDA-TEK seems to have figured out a way to give Time of Flight (ToF) continuous autofocus to the Pocket 4K.

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