Maybe it's my eyes (I wear glasses!) or the viewfinder is wacky... but in some (not all) of my video the subject matter seems a bit soft. I use peaking to fine tune it. Anyone have any issues with their Z1 or is this just an operator issue?

I have noticed the same thing with my FX1. Soft focus compared to footage from my HV20.

I know the back focus on mine isn't great. So you can really use the 'zoom in, focus, zoom out' technique. Wish I had realized it before the warranty was out )-:

But other than that, it's fine.

What is your sharpness set to in your active preset.

Or are you not using any custom presets (Custom Preset on OFF)?

Sharpness is at 11 to 12.

On my Z1 I found that taping in HDV I MUST use manual focus because if your subject is just a little off dead center they (the subject) can become soft. When taping in DV with auto focus I don't have a problem.

This seems odd, but I think the lighting/color/contrast of the subject affects the apparent sharpness. I shoot performances and the lighting is often terrible for video. But I have seen a number of examples where a person's face looks out of focus, but a piece of scenery right next to them looks sharp. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think so because I've seen it happen many times. The problem seems especially bad for dark skinned individuals in situations where their faces are not lit very well.

Anybody else notice this, or am I just getting a little goofy?...

Anybody else notice this, or am I just getting a little goofy?...

I've noticed this, Boyd. I wonder if it's the skin tone settings in the picture profiles that's smoothing out these areas, making them less sharp.

Well I have that turned off, but maybe it's always there to a certain degree? Seems more likely that it's just the codec struggling to work under poor lighting conditions.

Wait, where are you seeing this problem? Are you watching it on a monitor or a computer? If you're looking at on the computer what are you viewing it through and is it pro res or HDV?