Basic question about focusing

O

oxband

Well-known member
So, if I'm shooting someone a few feet away, I find the focus assist not the best way to make sure I'm focused cause the wave form sometimes is more reflective of the background being in focus and not the subject.

I've been getting into the habit of zooming in on the person's face, turning it to automatic so it automatically adjusts to his/her face, zooming out while on automatic so it's still adjusting to the fdace, and then once i get to where i want to be zoom-wise, I go to manual focus so it'll stop focusing. Is this a smart strategy?
 
No, it would probably be quicker and easier to just zoom in, manually focus, then zoom out. It will keep the focus when you zoom out.
 
Or at the very least, zoom in, push focus till it's focused, release and zoom back out. (Personally I agree with Mike).


If you zoom in and get focus and it looks out of focus when you zoom out then you need you back focus checked by Panny.
 
In the last few weeks I've been giving more consideration to purchasing a camera and I had pretty much pinpointed the 150 as my prime target. But after reading so much about focus issues I'm pretty dismayed. Everything I've been reading about this camera starts with soft focus. I mean c'mon focus??? There shouldn't be any question there.
 
Scott Whitney said:
In the last few weeks I've been giving more consideration to purchasing a camera and I had pretty much pinpointed the 150 as my prime target. But after reading so much about focus issues I'm pretty dismayed. Everything I've been reading about this camera starts with soft focus. I mean c'mon focus??? There shouldn't be any question there.
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The camera doesn't have soft focus (unless you get a defective camera, which isn't that common). It does have CCD's that aren't full 1920x1080 (something that isn't possible I believe with a 1/3" chip). That's generally the issue... it focuses just fine, it just doesn't have the razor sharp images a lot of full-rez CMOS or larger sized CCD's have. That isn't to say it isn't sharp... but compared to, say, a Canon A1 you'll notice a difference. But it's plenty sharp nonetheless.

I shot this a couple of weeks ago in the disaster zone in Japan (it really is just a bunch of random shots) at sunset... i.e. poorer lighting and thus softer focus. Is it plenty sharp? Yes. Is it razer sharp? No. But does it look more natural to my eye? Yes.

(Be sure to turn "HD" on)

 
Nice footage Mike. Really pretty.

Question: when I zoom back out after zooming in to get focused, I want to keep it on automatic, correct? If I zoom out on manual, it's not going to stay in focus, right?
 
oxband said:
Nice footage Mike. Really pretty.

Question: when I zoom back out after zooming in to get focused, I want to keep it on automatic, correct? If I zoom out on manual, it's not going to stay in focus, right?
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No. Zoom in and focus on MANUAL. Leave on manual and zoom out. If you zoom out on manual it definitely will keep focus. This is standard practice. :)

Automatic will hunt for focus and can change at any time. That is high end broadcast cams do not even have autofocus.
 
Manual focus is the way to go. The HMC150's lens is parfocal, so if you set focus while zoomed in, it'll hold it when you back out. If you still have problems setting focus, consider getting a battery powered external monitor with focus peaking or focus-in-red like the Marshall LCD50-HDMI.
 
Very interesting. So, if the subject moves around a bit, moving from dead center to the left or the right because they doing something, will it stay focused? I guess I'm unsure of the limits of a parfocal lens. If I move farther away and zoom in a bit, subject stays focused? One technical question: is the unique quality of the parfocal lens because of technology or simply some principle of optics?

Thanks for helping me with this. it's a question i've been meaning to ask for months. so much to master with this camera (in a good way)!
 
Focus is based on distance between subject and Focal Plane. Period. Regardless of zoom level. Move the cam closer to or farther from subject requires new focus.

If you have focus and zoom in or out you retain focus as long as the distance to subject is the same. Focal plane on most cams (usually those with a removable lens) is usually marked on the body with a red line or other mark. On the HMC150, HVX200, HPX170, etc, it is at the face of the lens.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm
 
JasonAllen127 said:
Manual focus is the way to go. The HMC150's lens is parfocal, so if you set focus while zoomed in, it'll hold it when you back out. If you still have problems setting focus, consider getting a battery powered external monitor with focus peaking or focus-in-red like the Marshall LCD50-HDMI.
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I bought the LCD50-HDMI, and if what i see in that screen is what this camera is capable of, then i'm lost of words, it is wonderfull!. I had lost confidence in this camera because whenever i played back my shots through the attached screen it was just rubbish. It is day and night using the Marshall, the only downside is that the battery life of the Marshall monitor which drains out within no time.
Anyone with the Marshall LCD50-HDMI power solution?
 
qap15 said:
I bought the LCD50-HDMI, and if what i see in that screen is what this camera is capable of, then i'm lost of words, it is wonderfull!. I had lost confidence in this camera because whenever i played back my shots through the attached screen it was just rubbish. It is day and night using the Marshall, the only downside is that the battery life of the Marshall monitor which drains out within no time.
Anyone with the Marshall LCD50-HDMI power solution?
Click to expand...

You could adapt something like a v-mount plate with a power pigtail if the voltage is the same. I have the LCD50 and I've learned to just turn it off a lot. Your best bet, when budget allows, is to step up to one of the Marshalls with various video battery plates on the back - filmtools has a large selection that starts around $800 - and sell the little guy to fund some of it. Or look into something like SmallHD.

When using the marshall, I assign 1:1 to one of the function buttons - I find that is the fastest way to get focus with the 150 - push one button, focus, push it again. Becomes very second nature.
 
Michael Carter said:
You could adapt something like a v-mount plate with a power pigtail if the voltage is the same. I have the LCD50 and I've learned to just turn it off a lot. Your best bet, when budget allows, is to step up to one of the Marshalls with various video battery plates on the back - filmtools has a large selection that starts around $800 - and sell the little guy to fund some of it. Or look into something like SmallHD.

When using the marshall, I assign 1:1 to one of the function buttons - I find that is the fastest way to get focus with the 150 - push one button, focus, push it again. Becomes very second nature.
Click to expand...

Got some two rechargable 3000mAh batteries for just under 20$ each, and just finnished testing them the second time aroud 3hours each giving me a good 6hours of recording. Although by calculation i should get 4 hours each, i'm ok with three.
 
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