EX3 very soft image

Doug_EX

Doug_EX

Well-known member
Hi, I rented a EX3 (that I use frequently) last weekend for a multi-cam shoot and when I saw the footage yesterday I was quite disapointed. The image was very soft for the first part of the show. The second part, the image was sharp as usual. The guy that works with this EX3 usually told me today that this had already happen once to him too. Did it ever happen to anyone else? Thanks!
 
I had a stupid error with the EX1 - setting focus on MF* which I thought was manual but is 'assisted' manual - the assistance involed focus creeping to the background.
 
morgan_moore said:
I had a stupid error with the EX1 - setting focus on MF* which I thought was manual but is 'assisted' manual - the assistance involed focus creeping to the background.
Click to expand...
I did not touch any of the settings during the show...I only change the battery and restart the camera.
 
I had two soft` copies of the ex3, swore I would never go back. Must have been a bad production lot.
Was always soft on the wide end. Took both to a tech bench at Discovery Channel and everyone agreed. puzzled.

That X70 looks very interesting btw...
 
EX3 lenses have trouble with back focus - it is a factory issue and many of them were taken back for service. Restarting camera sometimes fix the problem - maybe this was your case?
 
There is a simple way to adjust the back focus on an EX-1 or EX-3 lens. Can't remember offhand but you should be able to search for it on the web. It shouldn't drift once set, but if you had the same problem with the same camera before that certainly explains it - and it would show up exactly at wide-angle with an open aperture. Also as I recall it tends it might happen if you remove the lens on an EX-3.
Should not need factory servicing.
 
Yes to Lenilenapi and slon1u, I have worked with 3 EX3's often for the last 3 years. They all start to loose back focus, trick is to check it via the camera menu OFTEN. It is possible the back focus is too far out and requires professional work, but usually a run through the back focus menu fixes problems, that or you have a damaged lens mount which would be easy to see by eye. Operators will zoom in and get focus, then pull out and footage is soft.

In the menu there is one icon that looks like a little lens. In here is the option for to check the back focus. It can often be unhighlighted so you can't select it, this is because you need the servo lens on. Get a focus chart, set the ex3 up on sticks and let it run through the process. It is good to do this after transportation, or temperature changes.
 
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