Soft image / Macro problem?

O

Orson

Member
Hi there,

I recently shot some footage on the HPX-500 @ 1080 with the standard lens. On import I have noticed that during some shots with focus on a person around 7 meters from the camera and at around f8 or f 11, the footage looks soft overall. I am really worried that the macro lever at the base of the lens was accidentally engaged. I am not familiar with the 500 much and it is possible that this setting was on.

Would this affect the image sharpness?

I don't mind if the focusing was off, as that is 'normal' user error wheras to knock a lever and affect focus is downright frustrating.

Many thanks in advance.
 
What about the back focus?

When I first got mine I thought I had adjusted the back focus correctly but everything was just a little bit soft on the wide end.
 
hey, thanks for the response.

the camera was a rental (from a very good company) and as I am new to the 500 and cameras of the like (I'm a dvx 100b owner) I didn't adjust the back focus before the shoot.

yikes...
 
You would think that they would have had the camera set up properly when you picked it up ...

I had an issue when I was shooting at the Tacoma Glass Museum, they have a hot box with giant furnaces for melting glass. I think the the extreme temperature made my back focus go out of alignment because every wide shot and other shots at certain focal lengths were out of focus. Of course, the stock EVF is not accurate enough so I didn't notice until I got home and reviewed the shots.
 
Oh no, thats a real problem.
After reviewing the footage it does seem to be on the wider shots.

I cannot reshoot...any recommendations to resolve the footage??

I edit in FCP 6.0.
I havent used the sharpen filter, is it effective?

Very scared the footage is unusable...
 
I don't know man... I have to reshoot my shots, there was no saving them... but I would describe mine as "blurry" not "soft".

My "soft" shots from when I first got the cam were usable... they were just slightly soft but the furnaces really did a number on the focus. I went out and bought the LH80 afterwards so it wouldn't happen again.

I think the only thing you can do is try to recover the footage with filters/edit around the softness.

Do you have a way to post the footage?

Maybe someone else has a good idea?
 
I guess its possible to edit around and then apply filters to a clip if it is a really important clip. (I am thinking of Nattress's progressive sharpening filter?)

Unfortunately I don't have the ability to post the footage but I have attached a still if that helps get an idea of the softness, this still is one of the worst cases of it in the footage.

Thanks again for the help.
 

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What lens were you using?
Have you viewed the clips on a monitor or HD TV? I think you'll find it looks better than on your computer screen..

It definitely looks a little soft but not blurry and not horrible. I haven't ever used any sharpening filters you'll just have to experiment.

Check out this grab for comparison. This a sharp wide shot from the Fujinon XA17x7.6 which is little soft wide no matter what but when the shot is on motion on my TV or on the LH80 it looks great. I'll try and find one of the soft or blurry shots so you can see that as well...
 

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Hey, thanks for the grab. It looks a little soft but thats reassuring that it looks sharp on your monitor. I don't have a HD TV but I am viewing it on a on a 23" Apple HD Cinema Display (full screen). I do have footage that looks noticeably sharper when compared to the grab footage which I have used as a 'control' to make sure the monitor isn't soft. It would be great to see one of the soft or blurry shots for comparison.

For the shoot I used the Fujinon XA17x7.6.
 
Just to give a bit of an update: I used a little of the sharpness filter with a pinch of noise reducer and brightness/contrast and the footage looks much better.


I have another, different shoot this weekend and I will be renting the 500 again. Any advice to help avoid the same softness again? Should the back focus be adjusted, I'm not really sure how to go about that.

Many thanks.
 
yeah, check the back focus while you are at the rental place. There is a thread here on DVXuser that explains the process... but I can't seem to find it. It only takes a few minutes so they should be up for helping you out.
Glad to hear the footage ended up looking OK!!!
Good luck with your shoot!
 
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