Nailing focus with the AF100- it wasn't just me

mainstreetprod

mainstreetprod

Veteran
I generally like to move up in camera when moving from one feature to the next. Last one was shot with the AF100. Missing the focus assist feature from the HVX200 I had previously, I purchased a 7" Ruige monitor with expanded focus assist and thought I would be fine- but I managed to miss focus many, many times. No way I would have tried to use the LCD for critical focus, it just didn't cut it.

This time I'm using the FS700, and we are about 3 weeks in so I'm getting a good idea how hard or easy it is to nail focus. Bottom line is there is a night and day difference. On the FS I'm able to nail focus using the LCD and expanded focus, (seldom using peaking) to the point I'm not even bothering to bring the 7" monitor certain days because it just isn't needed. Not sure why there would be such a difference but to me there is, and I'm using many of the same lenses.

I still think the AF is the best camera for the price by far in the used market, considering what it does. But I don't miss focusing with it.
 
That lack of expanded focus is the worst decision Panasonic has ever made. They finally learned on the "A" model, but taking it away from the AF100 was a bad, bad, bad decision.
 
I'm pretty good with FA but I needed to get the TV Logic monitor to make it really work for focus because then at least the monitor has the focus zoom. I'm actually pretty quick with it now ;)
 
I use my magnified monitor too; it's not always essential (the focus-in-red is pretty good) but man, it's so much easier on a camera that has magnified focus assist built-in. Like I said, they fixed it on the AF100A.
 
Maybe because the highlights are usually there but I have to say that outdoors, I did much better with the FA with B&W on the EVF on the AF100 than with the monitor and hoodman getting good focus. I rely on that a lot.
 
I do the opposite- I turn the color off on the LCD and have it on in the viewfinder. Red peaking on a black and white lcd makes focusing easier. Monitoring a color image isn't as critical as focus, exposure and framing which all can be done with the LCD in B&W mode. I occasionally check the VF when color temp changes.
 
I get great results with focus-in-red on the AC130 (unless the light is very very flat). Often I'll do a combo of in-red on the VF and pixel-to-pixel with peaking on a small HDMI screen. Ya do what you can... does the Af100-a have enlarged focus AND in-red? That sounds like a great combo.
 
AF100A (and AC130A and AC160A) have the choice of EITHER focus-in-red, or enlarged/magnified focus. You can assign either function to the focus assist, but they don't let you have both at the same time.
 
One factor that may have influenced my opinion of the AF100 vs FS700 focusing is that since using the AF, I have learned to ALWAYS focus at a low F stop, regardless of where your aperture is for the actual shot. If i were consistently doing that back during the AF project, things could have been much different.

A lot depends on the lens also. I'm finding the Tokina 11-16 difficult to focus sometimes, because it just doesn't seem very sharp. it's a lot easier to focus from blurry to razor sharp than it is from blurry to "just OK". That's the perception through the lens- the actual footage looks great, mainly because of the lack of "video sharpness" . Two very inexpensive Sigma lenses (19mm and 30mm) I bought for the FS700 are tack sharp, but not as organic. I absolutely love focusing with Nikkor primes (35mm and 50mm). Stopped down a bit and equipped with follow focus, they are focusing heaven, producing cinematic looking images.
 
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Peaking in Sony cameras is much better than in Panasonic cameras so even without using expanded focus I can use peaking to get things in focus with confident. At least that's how I've experienced it.
 
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