AC160 Warrranty issue AC-AG-160A

kwkeirstead

kwkeirstead

Well-known member
My 3 year warranty runs out and I have a possible issue that may need sending in the camera

The problem is with the distance meter (non-linear overstatement of actual distance)

If anyone has the time, please run a test so I can have a baseline for getting warranty service

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Here below is a comparison of measured distances to an object (black and white bulls-eye) compared to the distance reported by the camera.

Conclusion: My camera overstates distance by as much as 5 meters, the variance is non-linear.


Camera _ Actual _ Diff
25 m _ 25 m _ 0
23 m _ 21 m _ +2
21 m _ 17 m _ +4
18 m _ 13 m _ +5
12 m _ 09 m _ +3
5.8 m _ 05 m _ +1

test conditions:
red focus assist
daylight wb
Z86 (full zoom)
Iris 4.8
ND 1/4
0 db
spot meter ON
measurement device: surveyor's 200 ft tape measure
 
Thanks, John, for the input.

I should have read the manual . . .just noticed that Panasonic does warn in their manual on page 94 . . . . "The [mm/feet display and [mm/m] display may be in error, so please use them as approximations".

What we haeve learned after all of this is that the error can be as high as 38% (if my particular camera is representative of all AG-AC160A's)

The meter is useful at the NUMBER setting to establish reference points for front, mid and back stage event recordings where you need to requently change focus.

I have never doubted the repeatability and suppose I could make a conversion chart but I can't think of a situation where I need to rely on distance to set focus.
 
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