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No raw video here, but a lowly T3i and an el cheapo 50mm 1.8

It is amazing to me how good of video these cameras can do when everything is setup perfectly, the shallow DOF quality on this camera is amazing to me even without raw, I wish I could get things this sharp on wider views and deep DOF stuff.

Magic Zoom and focus peaks were used on it, first time playing around with my slider.

I've played around with magic lantern for about a year now and have had awesome success recording up close, shallow depth of field stuff using it on my T3i, imagery that just makes my jaw drop its so good 

The problem is, for some reason, I still seem to be completely unable to dial in the focus on a broad, wide area. Lets say instead of zooming in and focusing on a specific few leaves of a tree, I want to get the whole branch, or the whole thing maybe after I've backed off 50ft or so. I've tried dialing in with magic zoom and set it to as close as I can get it, but it never looks good on a monitor...Much more like something from a late 90's miniDV than the awesome footage I can make it do up close.

Example; I want to setup in a yard and just capture the trees around a house moving in the wind gently, birds flying around, etc. and it just looks plumb terrible in post. General settings would be 1/60 as recommended iso100-200 and Aperture no less than f8, which I would think would give me a pretty wide depth of field, if that is the problem. I've tried this with a few different lens, 18-55 kit lens, 10-22, and the 50 1.8 and I have the same problem with all of them, so I know its an operator error, just not sure what it is. Especially frustrating since I can get such awesome footage up close - my GoPro's make much clearer footage at these distances somehow.

Do I need to go wider on the aperture? I can post some clips if that' be of assistance.