no auto focus, at 99 zoom

[The Dark]

hi all,

OK, i just went to the free Doobie Brothers/ Three Dog Night concert and i was zoomed in all the way at 99, and for some reason, the band on stage was out of focus, i had the auto focus turned on, so i spun the focusing dial slightly and it focused for me manually while i was still in auto. Plus the focus stayed. from my experience with the auto function, when you spin the focus ring it will slowly go back to what it was before.

did i set something in my menu that messed this up or what?

 

[Sumfun]

There are many situations where auto focus may not work. Often you may not notice this, but it becomes more obvious when you're zoomed in.

1. Were you shooting 24p? No autofocus with DVX100, or slow autofocus with DVX100A.
2. Maybe lighting conditions were too dark?
3. Maybe there were several things in the field of view that are different distances from the camera. This can confuse the autofocus.
4. Maybe the center of the picture doesn't have sufficient contrast to focus on.

That's why I mostly use manual focus. After a while you get pretty good at guessing where the focus should be just by eyeballing the distance to your subject. Even if you use autofocus all the time, it's still a good idea to know the ball park of where your focus should be.

 

[The Dark]

hey thanks alot, yeah, it was outside at night, and i was maybe 30ft back from the stage, and i was in 24p with a dvx100a, so everthing your telling me seems to have fallen together to create that situation.

i guess i'll just have to take your advice and get real cozy with the manual focus ring.