FS7: Focusing issues

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pete chiaramonte

Member
I seem to be having far (infinite) focusing issues with my fs7, when i am wide and focusing on the farthest distance. Im getting slightly soft images. Peaking says its in focus but its slightly soft

im using three different e mount lenses

f4 16-35 sony/zeiss
f4 24-70 sony/zeiss
f4 18-105 sony

at first i thought it was my 18-105 but all lenses have been doing it and when i focus on close objects its sharp. put the lenses on an a7s and wide focal length infinite focus and its sharp. Any ideas out there? thanks
 
Two points here; first, don't trust peaking and second, don't trust infinity focus. I rarely find stills lenses focus accurately at infinity on any camera system let alone one with no back focus adjustment. Use the magnify tool to confirm focus. It's not perfect either, but will be improved in the next firmware.
 
My thoughts are similar to Liam's. The real question about infinity is whether you are able to achieve it at all. If you cannot get to infinity at all then your cameras mount is misaligned and it should go back to Sony for correction or replacement. If infinity simply doesn't align perfectly with the center of the infinity mark that's just par for the course.

Its a bit of a quandary with these lenses to know whether your Emount is properly adjusted. If the zoom lenses were par focal then its easy to know if your camera is off because the focus point would change while zooming. However if the lens isn't par focal then how do you know where the problem is?

In this case however it sounds like your lenses work better on the A7s . I would check them carefully. For example measure out say 10' or a couple of marks that are easy to confirm on the lens barrel and see where the lens actually focuses. ideally 10' away would focus when at 10' on the barrel. Even if they are off though it may just be the inaccuracy of a still lens. The critical thing though would be if those focus points are significantly different on the 2 cameras. If so one or both of the cameras is wrong. If any of the zooms are par focal & hold focus throughout the range or even if just tele and wide are the same , chances are that that camera is correct.

Lenny Levy
 
it just wouldnt get focus on the farthest object at all, i didnt align it up with infinite I was just guessing theres no markings on the lens itself. I did far to near focusing all the way through and near to far couldnt get it on all three lenses. Magnify is garbage compared to other cameras. the peaking is a good guide but i have been operating with this camera and these lenses since it came out for 3 to 5 days a week on average. First time having this problem so its not me trusting to much of peaking or infinity. its so slightly soft

My 18-105 is parafocal and thanks for reminding me earlier in the day i noticed but i guess it skipped my mind in the whirlwind of a shooting day I had zoomed in with this lens got my focus and zoomed out and when i was at my desired focal length it was soft. Its supposed to hold but it didnt. Thank you for reminding of that incident and the camera must have to go back to get checked. I have two of these cameras and ill check on my back up. Really wanted to see if anyone had simialr issues with this camera as the e mount is fairly new and weak
 
Peaking is used by some of the best 1st ac's monitors on the biggest of movies. I agree its a great too! What would be your required settings for the fs7? Id love to know your fs7 videos were great by the way thank you! They just ran out might have to re up on the subscription!
 
Simply being soft could be other issues so you need to test further:
On the infinity point, if you never get to infinity at all and the lens doesn't seem to roll through its best focus point then its probably a bad Mt. Likewise with the 18-105, if your best focus point at wide angle is different than it is at infinity, that also implies incorrect back-focus. But compare it to your A7s as many lenses aren't par focal themselves.
Sounds like a mOunt problem though. These things are cheap so I'm surprised they work as well as they do.

Test wide open of course
 
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pete chiaramonte said:
Peaking is used by some of the best 1st ac's monitors on the biggest of movies. I agree its a great too! What would be your required settings for the fs7? Id love to know your fs7 videos were great by the way thank you! They just ran out might have to re up on the subscription!
Click to expand...

Without pulling out the camera to check, I believe that my preferred Peaking settings on the FS7 are: Normal Peaking, Normal Frequency, with a Level setting of 50 or 60. I think this might even be the camera's default settings. The real key to having success with peaking is learning to understand what it is telling you and how to observe it. In my experience teaching production classes, I find there are usually three reasons people don't like peaking: 1) They are using color peaking. 2) They are shooting by looking at a monitor instead of having their eyeball pressed to viewfinder diopter where it belongs. 3) They haven't used it long enough to understand what to look for when the peaking kicks in. It takes experience. A lot of people just want instant gratification and don't want to take the time to master it's use so they dismiss it as junk. Actually, that sounds a lot like zebras too! :-)

Thank you for the nice comments about my Master Class videos. Very much appreciated.
 
pete chiaramonte said:
Peaking is used by some of the best 1st ac's monitors on the biggest of movies. I agree its a great too! What would be your required settings for the fs7? Id love to know your fs7 videos were great by the way thank you! They just ran out might have to re up on the subscription!
Click to expand...

Best AC's rarely use monitors at all. They use measuring tape, cinetape or guess the distance.
 
broughtonfilm said:
Best AC's don't use monitors at all. They use measuring tape, cinetape or guess the distance.
Click to expand...

I've worked with many great ACs, including some of the very best, & depending on the circumstances, seen them employ all the various techniques, including monitors & peaking.
 
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broughtonfilm said:
Best AC's rarely use monitors at all. They use measuring tape, cinetape or guess the distance.
Click to expand...

Im not going to argue with you on that, I made it seem like thats the only tool they use and you are right they do use all of the above and most nowadays use there own monitor on set on top of measuring and cine tape etc. Some use peaking when they need to
 
Doug Jensen said:
Without pulling out the camera to check, I believe that my preferred Peaking settings on the FS7 are: Normal Peaking, Normal Frequency, with a Level setting of 50 or 60. I think this might even be the camera's default settings. The real key to having success with peaking is learning to understand what it is telling you and how to observe it. In my experience teaching production classes, I find there are usually three reasons people don't like peaking: 1) They are using color peaking. 2) They are shooting by looking at a monitor instead of having their eyeball pressed to viewfinder diopter where it belongs. 3) They haven't used it long enough to understand what to look for when the peaking kicks in. It takes experience. A lot of people just want instant gratification and don't want to take the time to master it's use so they dismiss it as junk. Actually, that sounds a lot like zebras too! :-)

Thank you for the nice comments about my Master Class videos. Very much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much, I have always appreciated how well you explain things in your videos and here. Keep up passing on the knowledge thank you
 
pete chiaramonte said:
My 18-105 is parafocal and thanks for reminding me earlier in the day i noticed but i guess it skipped my mind in the whirlwind of a shooting day I had zoomed in with this lens got my focus and zoomed out and when i was at my desired focal length it was soft. Its supposed to hold but it didnt.
Click to expand...

Not sure why you think the 18-105 is parfocal. I've never read a claim by Sony that it is. Mine certainly isn't.

You are talking about the Sony electronic 18-105 lens, right?
 
Lots of back and forth here that has little to do with the OP question. Simply put, if you cannot achieve infinity focus then the flange focal depth is incorrect on your camera's lens mount. The fact that all your lenses are having the same issue and that these lenses perform better on another camera indicates that the problem lies in the mount on your FS7. It needs service.
 
Before a service it is worth considering the options of 'user error'

reliance on par focal ity - peaking et Al is user error!
 
They haven't used it long enough to understand what to look for when the peaking kicks in. It takes experience. A lot of people just want instant gratification and don't want to take the time to master it's use so they dismiss it as junk. Actually, that sounds a lot like zebras too! :-)

Doug.. if its possible without giving away too much of your know how for free :).. I have bought your F5 book a while back.. can you explain a bit more about peaking re your statement above.. i.e. understand what to look for , how peaking works... Thanks
 
bengiles said:
Not sure why you think the 18-105 is parfocal. I've never read a claim by Sony that it is. Mine certainly isn't.

You are talking about the Sony electronic 18-105 lens, right?
Click to expand...

in daves online master class for the fs7 he as a section on lenses and he states that lens is parfocal, never had an issue while zooming in and zooming out till now. Its a decent lens for the price but with that price comes negatives
 
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