Although I am thinking seriously of getting the AJ-VF20WB, mainly because of the larger screen and better eyepiece adjustment (old eyes) and the more robust build, I have developed a system which helps with the stock finder.
I shoot documentaries, fast, handheld, and I often need to be secure about focus without constantly zooming in and out to check. What I do is mount the Chrosziel DV follow focus unit. This particular FF has the scale around the outside of the knob, instead of the flat plate (which is only visible from the side of the camera) on other units.
I have two sets of witness rings (the white plastic sleeves that you mark on for following focus). One sleeve I leave blank for those times when I work with an AC. The other sleeve I have marked permanently with a footage scale - either copied from the lens or measured manually with a tape measure.
Because the DV scale is around the outside of the knob, it is visible to me from the viewfinder without moving my eye from the eyepiece. This allows me to guess at distances and set the lens on the fly - with a little practice you can get pretty good at it (good ACs often do it this way on major shoots, and anyone who's ever shot with an old rangefinder camera, like a Leica, knows it's possible).
You may not be able to hit inches accurately, but you can certainly be sure that if someone is about 5 feet away, you will be close enough for the focus to be acceptable. And if you have zoomed in to focus accurately, you can mentally note the setting on the ring and return to it if you move away and come back to the original frame within the same shot. Try it, you'll like it.
I shoot documentaries, fast, handheld, and I often need to be secure about focus without constantly zooming in and out to check. What I do is mount the Chrosziel DV follow focus unit. This particular FF has the scale around the outside of the knob, instead of the flat plate (which is only visible from the side of the camera) on other units.
I have two sets of witness rings (the white plastic sleeves that you mark on for following focus). One sleeve I leave blank for those times when I work with an AC. The other sleeve I have marked permanently with a footage scale - either copied from the lens or measured manually with a tape measure.
Because the DV scale is around the outside of the knob, it is visible to me from the viewfinder without moving my eye from the eyepiece. This allows me to guess at distances and set the lens on the fly - with a little practice you can get pretty good at it (good ACs often do it this way on major shoots, and anyone who's ever shot with an old rangefinder camera, like a Leica, knows it's possible).
You may not be able to hit inches accurately, but you can certainly be sure that if someone is about 5 feet away, you will be close enough for the focus to be acceptable. And if you have zoomed in to focus accurately, you can mentally note the setting on the ring and return to it if you move away and come back to the original frame within the same shot. Try it, you'll like it.
