Highlight Clipping Seems to be the Main Concern

Status
Not open for further replies.
maybe it's just me but I would take focus assist over zoom focus, if you have the time grab the old tape measure and work it out to the T. I have been working with DSLR's for the past year don't get me wrong I love using the zoom focus at times, but there are many other times where I wish I still had focus assist like I did on my hd100.

but that is just me and I have yet to see how the focus assist is implemented in the af100 first hand so i really don't know, though having more options is always nice.
 
A little off subject, but if you could only have three lenses with you to cover most situations, what would they be ! excluding anything above $ per lens or a total $ 3000 for three lenses. Quality is more important than cost within reason.
 
For $3000, I would get the 7-14, 14-140, and 100-300. That should leave me enough left-over to get the 14mm and the 20mm as well. 5-lens set.
 
so without a zoom focus assist, sounds like the af100b is already in the works ;P lol

let's hope something comes with the camera to assist with focusing besides just lcd peaking.
 
PaPa said:
so there is absolutely no type of digital magnification to assist with focus? hmmm. Might be slightly problematic. There must be something beyond the red peaking to help us get focus in check.
Click to expand...
There is no magnification. Your focus assist aids include:
a reasonably sharp LCD and EVF
EVF DTL "peaking"
Focus In Red peaking
the "focus bar"
 
S. Matthews said:
but that is just me and I have yet to see how the focus assist is implemented in the af100 first hand so i really don't know, though having more options is always nice.
Click to expand...
It's pretty much just like it is on the HD100 or EX1. Except that it's tighter-tolerance, and on a sharper screen. The HD100 was a very low-res finder, and I thought the colored outlines were way too generous (i.e., telling you something was sharp, when in fact it wasn't). On my recommendations they've tightened up the time that red will show up, substantially -- in fact, I think a bit too far. It now will only show up if something is hyper-crisp -- which sounds good, but there are some things that I wish showed focus better than they do. So I've asked them to loosen it up just a little, and it should be really solid.

Basically if you're shooting an actor, you can get extremely perfect focus on them by using this; you just need to make sure there's a catchlight in their eyes. If there isn't one, add one -- have your AC or assistant go over there with a flashlight and reflect it off their eyes, and then the red will pop up on the screen and you'll have hyper-crisp perfect focus.
 
StephenM said:
And a tape measure hook, correct?
Click to expand...

Yes, and I guess I should have said that that's perhaps the most accurate focus assist tool, if you profile your lenses and make sure that their focus rings are accurately marked. And, the m43 lenses I've used will feed back the exact focus distance right on the LCD, so ... even with a spinning focus ring, you can still use the tape measure and focus accurately. Again, you'll have to test your lenses to make sure their markings are right, but if they are, then yeah -- use the tape (or a digital tape) and spin the focus ring to the right distance and you're good to go.
 
Andrew S said:
A little off subject, but if you could only have three lenses with you to cover most situations, what would they be ! excluding anything above $ per lens or a total $ 3000 for three lenses. Quality is more important than cost within reason.
Click to expand...
A low-cost (but slow-ish) lens set would be the Panasonics, as mentioned above. However, the Olympus Four Thirds lenses are fast as snot and would almost fit within your budget; the 14-35 and 35-100 are both f/2.0 throughout the zoom range. I think together they're like $3600 so you'd have to shop around or buy used, but they're great sharp lenses and there's nothing else nearly as fast.

Not capable of video-style autofocus, if you need that. But if you don't need it... they're pretty sweet.
 
the only problem with using lens readings is if you are using 3rd party lenses, like a nikon prime, i don't know how accurate the flange distance is with adapters so i wonder if infinity is really infinity and if 2 fee is really 2 feet..

sigh. This is kinda a bummer, to be brutally honest. I just find it hard to believe that something like this could be omited. Or perhaps it was done on purpose.
 
PaPa said:
the only problem with using lens readings is if you are using 3rd party lenses, like a nikon prime, i don't know how accurate the flange distance is with adapters so i wonder if infinity is really infinity and if 2 fee is really 2 feet..

sigh. This is kinda a bummer, to be brutally honest. I just find it hard to believe that something like this could be omited. Or perhaps it was done on purpose.
Click to expand...

Well given Barry has told them it's complaint #1 through #99 from him, maybe they'll add it. Just out of curiosity, does the GH1 or GH2 allow you to zoom in? I don't have a lot of Panasonic experience other than some use of our HVX200 which is minimal, but do they often update firmware in the future with feedback in their more expensive cameras?

I look at it this way, the AF100 is new and given so, there isn't a lot of use to look at with the types of lenses available for it compared to what was done in the past. Therefore, as people start using these things out in the field, overwhelming consensus could really enhance their usability in ways that might not have been apparent since the world wasn't using them yet. Here is a case where others like myself had assumed we'd have zoom, just because I thought it was so simple.

But, I've not used what is there so I can't say how I feel about it yet. When I was using a DP6 monitor I was evaluating from smallHD, I was amazed at their 2 focus tools they have. They worked REALLY well. Hopefully what is in camera works just as good or better. I'll just have to reprogram myself :)
 
grimepoch said:
Well given Barry has told them it's complaint #1 through #99 from him, maybe they'll add it. Just out of curiosity, does the GH1 or GH2 allow you to zoom in?
Click to expand...

Yes the GH1 does have a focus assist zoom in. It is VERY useful; no, more than useful; essential when using my Contax primes.
 
I FOR ONE also think that the push in focus assist is essential. It'll be a real PITA going from my previous two cameras having it and this not. I know it's not perfect but now it's become a habit. I don' think the focus line is anywhere near as useful... This might be a pretty big omission.
 
I guess many of us are used to the excellent magnification on the Canons and having used peaking on the Marshall I still prefer 10x or 5x magnification for critical focus. As Barry states it's his most wanted feature by far and now they know. Somewhere I remember that Jan said something about this not was possible due to lack of CPU power?
 
editman said:
Somewhere I remember that Jan said something about this not was possible due to lack of CPU power?
Click to expand...
I don't know if there's any official reason given for why it's not in there; Jan would know better than I would. But the way they're responding, I doubt it's possible in this current model.
 
PaPa said:
the only problem with using lens readings is if you are using 3rd party lenses, like a nikon prime, i don't know how accurate the flange distance is with adapters so i wonder if infinity is really infinity and if 2 fee is really 2 feet..
Click to expand...

I think the focus hook will be viable with any lens due to the fact that the micro four thirds mounting system. But when Barry gets the camera he can certainly check it out and report back.

Best,

Jan
 
powervideo said:
Yes the GH1 does have a focus assist zoom in. It is VERY useful; no, more than useful; essential when using my Contax primes.
Click to expand...

Apologies if there are errors but personal experience - correct if I missed something:

The GH1 focus assist requires pushing two buttons for expanded view - but in the other hand you get to set 10X (or other) as default instead of having to push the same button twice like in Canon to get into 10X view
In my EX1R (changed from EX1) we have expanded focus right on the zoom rocker and I've used it quite a lot for fast operation as only with the peaking, it is sometimes challenging to get real sharp results
Also in EX1R you can do expanded focus whilst recording, in canon etc it's no-no :(

Would really prefer pre-settable one-button focus assist, available during recording and nearby other frequently used controls

Are the gammas going to change and are there any proper descriptions somewhere available for the curves (as I'm coming from Sony world)

Also what kind of knee user-control is going to be provided?

S-log or similar could be awesome but can you expect this from camera priced like this...? :)
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top