AC90: Focus Ring

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dmwc

New member
I've used the AC90 enough to get a pretty good feel for it in the month and a half I've had it, but there is one thing that is bugging me: the focus ring. I've been using a Canon XH-A1 for five years, and I have almost always used it in full manual mode, so that's how I'm used to working. On the A1, in a run-and-gun sort of situation, like a wedding reception, I'm used to being able to zoom in on a subject from 10 - 12 feet away and quickly re-focus with the focus ring. With the AC90, I'm finding that very difficult. With the XH-A1, I can go from focusing on a close object to infinity with about one full rotation of the ring. With the AC90, it takes about 6 full rotations to get from MF00 to MF99. To avoid cranking and cranking the ring, I've got User button 1 set as a Push Autofocus button to quickly refocus, but I'm still used to using the ring and I can't stop myself from using it.

I haven't read any reviews online which specifically describe it working this way. Some say it is stiff, which it is, but physical stiffness I don't mind. I just wish there was some way to make it work more like the A1's focus ring, like a focus ring speed sensitivity setting in the menu. Is this just the way the focus ring on the AC90 is supposed to work, and therefore something I will have to get used to? Or is this a problem with my camera?

Doug
 
I suppose the AC90 focus ring could be a hassle in some cases. However, I am shooting sports and I find the "forgiving" nature of long throw of this ring to be somewhat desirable.
 
I AGREE!! Its a bit like driving a sports a car, and then driving a bus. The ratio on the rotation of the focus ring is pretty loose... way too many turns to get it to focus! This would be a great fix for a software update! Anyone at Panasonic listening in on this?
 
Don't know if the AC90 has this feature, but some other Panny models do. In the menus, there is a setting which adjusts the sensitivity of the focus ring in a couple of steps. Can't remember what is called just know, but I can take a look later.

Grant
 
The AG-AC160A has an MF00 -> MF90 swing of 300 degrees (compared to what you seem to be describing as 2,160 degrees on the AC90 ??).

I find this adequate for getting a proper focus on near and distant objects (i.e. you have to turn the ring quite a bit to go from "out of focus left" to "on focus" to "out of focus right").

On the 160, you can cut back from 300 degrees of swing to 150 degrees by clicking on a button called "MF Assist".
 
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