Focus creep?

K

kevinM

Well-known member
I did some shooting today at a Blue Angels air show and had an issue with the HVX losing focus. I was some distance from the action so I set the focus at infinity using the focus switch and left it in manual. After some tilting from level to 90 degrees up and some quick pans to follow the jets ripping by, I had to reset the focus back to infifnty using the switch again. I had to do this regularly throughout the shoot and some footage was unusable because the focus was so hard to judge because of bright daylight and fast action.

Has anyone had this focus thing happen? Is this normal for the HVX?
 
The focus ring is real sensitive... I use the manual zoom a lot, and if I'm not careful, my fingers may touch the focus ring too. Just a sllght brushing will move it.

I hope in future versions Panasonic adds both a focus lock and more resistance to the focus ring.
 
pheboglobi said:
The focus ring is real sensitive... I use the manual zoom a lot, and if I'm not careful, my fingers may touch the focus ring too. Just a sllght brushing will move it.

I hope in future versions Panasonic adds both a focus lock and more resistance to the focus ring.
Click to expand...


Good point. I could have very easily brushed it when moving quickly.

When I get a minute, I'll try to duplicate the situation and see what happens.
 
My issue is slighty different - but equally troubling. On my HVX it seems that it is possible to manually focus past infinity. In other words - if you rotate just a little too far the image goes slightly soft, as in hard to see on the screen.
 
I beleive the focus is supposed to go past infinity - it was the same on the dvx - i think it might have to do with the fact that it is not a servo lens
 
avoiding the creeps

avoiding the creeps

just a quick thought: if you have an external focusing device from e.g. bebob or varizoom, you might want to plug it in, and make a small lid for the device, so that touching the focus ring won't actually move the lens, and you wont touch the remote potentiometer, too. I'll try that later myself. very important for working with my MPIC 35mm adapter...
 
I agree, a focus lock would be very useful. Plugging in an external device might be an excellent idea, let us know if it work.
 
Focus lock w. VZ-ROCK-PZFI, it works

Focus lock w. VZ-ROCK-PZFI, it works

I just plugged in my new varizoom remote. It works nicely as a way of minimising the chances of focus and zoom creep or bumping the rings. The zoom is less prone to being moved when the servo is engaged. The focus ring on camera does not move the lens. The only thing needed is then to put the remote inside something that will make sure that it is not touched. I guess that I'll also use gaffa tape on camera. I am also looking at making a lined cloth wrap around the entire mpic 35mm adapter and the hvx focus and zoom rings for two reasons: to make sure that I don't move things and lose focus, and to minimise the sound from the moving screen. It's very quiet, but it's there.
 
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