Hey, Karl.
I certainly am not a professional, but I think many people just shoot on manual focus because you have much more control, and you can choose on what to focus. If I am not mistaken, AF mainly focuses on things in the middle of your frame, so if you want to have a rather special composition, that already is almost lost, because your camera sets focus on the wrong thing

And it's very annoying to see in a shot that in the middle of your shot, the focusing changes. If you set focus manually, it doesn't shift, it's really annoying to see that, and in narrative work really unacceptable.
(If you would think I know a lot of it... I don't :-p I have the XL1S only since a couple of days, but I come from a simple 1CCD camcorder, and I shoot narrative work (I'm still in high school, but the lesson package I'm taking is Audiovisual Forming (now it sounds stupid in English :-p)) so I already made some little shorts with my little camcorder, and if you set up a dramatic scene, focus shifting is sooo disturbing :-) :-)

But if you just want to shoot a little around or make documentaries in the style of the guerilla filmmaking, than it's very handy ofcourse. Manual focusing is offcourse only to use if you have much time and ofcourse are willing to put much time in focusing on that specifically thing you want

Hope it helps a little bit :-)
**bye****

If you use green box mode the camera takes over and reosrts to auto everything , regardless of the position you put the swiches in ,eg. manual focus resorts to auto focus in green box.DON'T use green box.
Mathieu you are correct.If on a tripod and you use the image stabilizer the camera may assume subject movement as camera movement and try to stabilize the subject movement.How do you spell disaster?
Try Lorinda's suggestion of the search because many focus problems are operator inducted BUT some can be camera problems whuch can be repaired by Canon.
P.S. few pro cameras have an autofocus
smitty

<<<-- Originally posted by Jack Smith : If you use green box mode the camera takes over and reosrts to auto everything , regardless of the position you put the swiches in ,eg. manual focus resorts to auto focus in green box.DON'T use green box.
Mathieu you are correct.If on a tripod and you use the image stabilizer the camera may assume subject movement as camera movement and try to stabilize the subject movement.How do you spell disaster?
Try Lorinda's suggestion of the search because many focus problems are operator inducted BUT some can be camera problems whuch can be repaired by Canon.
P.S. few pro cameras have an autofocus
smitty -->>>

hello smitty,

well, i bet it is all operator error, like i said i have the xl1 new, now about 4 weeks, but it seems to be interessting that the af problems has many postings here.

this tuesday i shoot an rehearsal and the show is on wednesday, so lets see if i can put some of the good advice to work.
will keep you posted.

greetings

few pro cameras have an autofocus

Huh? Try manually focusing when the camera's on a steady cam or crane. I have two XL1's and they are both the same when you need to autofocus - going out of focus on quick pans or zooms, hunting, etc. I manually focus when it's on a tripod, or my shoulder. You have to. Is this a topic with other cameras of this caliber? I don't think so.

the rehearsal went fine much better auto focus control because of better lighting and background condition. no "hunting" this time.
the theater was about 42 degree..needed a heater.
will post the show expirience incl. settings.

greetings

I was shooting some footage with my XL1s at a hockey game through plexi glass and I noticed on play back the the lower left and right corners are out of focus.
The image was quiet distorted in those areas but the rest is fine.

Is this just a normal occurance because of the plexi? or do I have to set up my camera better? Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks

Got a grab you can post???



ash =o)

For some reason the 16x lens for my Canon XL-1S camera stopped zooming and became unfocused one day when I turned the camera on. It worked fine just the day before when I used it to videotape a nesting quail hen. Anyway, I was wondering why this lens won't zoom and shows a blurry out of focus image. I was also hoping maybe there was some way to fix this without sending the lens to a repair dealer, which is what I think I'll probably do. I used my 16x lens almsot exclusivley for wildlife and outdoor scenery. I thought maybe it had been jarred too much from me carrying it in a backpack or maybe my brief shots of a setting sun had damaged the lens, though I make sure I never get full-on bright shots of the sun because that can mess things up. Anyway, if anybody has any input on this issue I would appreciate it.

Regards,
Tristan Howard

Before getting too excited(I'm sure I would be) you may want to try removing the lense and cleaning the contacts very carefully.If you do alot of outdoor stuff the camera has posibly been exposed to some harsh enviroments and a little clean of the contacts may work.

Hi Tristan

The same thing happened to my XL1s, the len's wouldn't focus or zoom

Had to send it to canon for repair, the len's was ok but there was a faulty ribbon in the camera what ever that is, but thats what canon said and it fixed it and worked fine

Ian

there was a faulty ribbon in the camera what ever that is

They were referring to a ribbon cable. They are typically flat plastic with individual embedded strips of copper that make up the 'wires' in the cable. They tolerate flexing much more than standard cables and because they are flat, they take up less real-estate.

-gb-

Before getting too excited(I'm sure I would be) you may want to try removing the lens and cleaning the contacts very carefully .If you do a lot of outdoor stuff the camera has possibly been exposed to some harsh environments and a little clean of the contacts may work.

I would second this idea. Many years ago I had a Panasonic camera shift all colors to green a few hours before I was to document an important speech. After a couple hours of troubleshooting to no avail I called Panasonic's tech service line (you could actually talk to a tech specialist then). I was advised to remove the lens and clean the contacts. The tech further explained that to save space and weight the metal body of the camera frame was used to carry the negative side of electrical connections (just as automobiles have done for years). Because many components within the camera use such low voltages even a thin film of grime and dirt residue can alter electrical resistance and cause camera components to behave erratically.

Cleanin the contacts and metal faces of the lens mount make the colors return to normal.

If the camra has not been serviced for a year or more, a visit to a repair center would be worthwhile.

Thank you all so much for the useful information.

Hello. The to-be-unnamed place where I work has an XL1s that has a fairly screwy stock lens. I don't know if it has other issues, but the back focus is definitely screwed up (won't hold a critical focus). Anyone know how much that repair generally costs?

Dear Josh,

In case you decide not to fix your XL1s lens, I have a slightly used XL2 20x lens for sale.

I'm not the one in charge of the decision. . .I'm thinking if it's a reasonable enough price, I might be able to convince them to have it done. The fixing, I mean.

First of all when i move camera left to right i see a blur when i stop it comes into focus. I see this in the view finder even without recording. i have tried it stab on and off. When i record i get what i see in view finder. I bought the camera used called canon they said no record of service

www.kbvideos.net/blurtest.wmv
Got another wedding june 9th

go to manual mode, learn to focus by hand...the auto focus is what is doing this to you. Easy mode won't let you focus manually, AF will always be on and annoying you. The more trust you put in machines, the more they will rule your life...Ray Bradbury was sooo right.

I have noticed recently that my camera is starting to loose focus even on auto mode. It tends to just breath in and out of focus from time to time.

I haven't had my camera serviced so I am wondering if a service will rectify this problem.

For example what might be causing my camera to loose it's focus like this even in auto mode. I have noticed this on static interview shots I have done even when the talent is center since I understand that when on Auto Focus the camera uses the center of frame as its focus point.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Auto focus needs reasonably prominent contrasting vertical edges. Drift and focus hunting can be induced by a combination poor light (less than 50 lux) and/or lack of contrasting vertical edges in the focus zone of the image, or if there are changes in the dominant contrasting vertical edges in the focus sensing zone of the image. Any of these could cause auto focus to struggle.

But I even noticed certain drifting of focus in manual mode.

I focus on a particular point and notice that the focus can slip and even breath. That is without moving the zoom or focus ring.
It just appears on this camera no to be very solid.

Again could this be something which might be tightened up or addressed by giving the camera a service?

If focus is drifting when nothing is going on, including changes in image content or zoom setting or lighting, then worth having the camcorder checked.

If you send it in for a check, it is helpful to also send in a tape with an example of what is happening.

check to see if the lens is dirty as well...we had a lens that a friend had purchased off of ebay (it had a single large finger print on the inside of the back element...the screws were glued down as well...wonder why it was being sold?). It never got good focus ever when in auto due to this.

Make sure your not in green mode, as even if you set manual focus, the camera will stay in auto.Although there are many factors which can affect focus , the "breathing" sure sounds like autofocus.

Hi Cole,

Just a question on cleaning the lens.

What do you use to clean the lens?

Are there any major Don'ts with cleaning these canon lens?
eg Materials or products to stay clear off.

Clean as you would a lens on a high quality still camera.

that one, we didn't...we sent it back for a refund and purchased a different camera.

I'm experiencing this problem:

I'm in full wide. I set the focus to auto - focus is adjusted automatically. Then I set the focus to manual, then I zoom to full tele not even touching the focus ring. When zooming, the lens is going more and more out of focus, BUT in almost full tele the picture is suddenly sharp again and in full tele it is blured again.

I think the alignment of the lens and body is bad and should be adjusted. But I don't understand, why ther is this "sharp" in almost full tele. Your ideas are welcome.

Depth of field/focus is greatest at wide angle settings so focus accuracy is not as important or apparent. The accuracy of focus is most apparent at full telephoto setting due to the much reduced depth of focus.

The normal procedure for setting focus is to zoom in fully on the subject of interest, focus, than adjust zoom as needed to compose the shot. With this done, the focus should be good through out the zoom range. If it is not, the backfocus setting is off, and for the XL1 series with the stock auto lens, it means a trip for service (special tools requiredm; however, the manual lenses do provide for user back focus adjustments).

In general, setting focus when at full wide angle zoom setting will not provide satisfactory results when you zoom in.

Why the change in focus to sharper and then to not as sharp in the zoom? Assuming the lens is otherwise in good condition, I do not know for sure but given that the lens element positions are computer and servo controlled based on a specific program for the lens motion, and different elements may move differently during the zoom, it likely relates to starting the zoom from what is effectively an "out of focus" position even though depth of field made it look like it was reasonably in focus.

Once you switch to manual focus, zoom all the way in on the farthest object from you. Press the "Push AF" button the side of the lens to set focus (you need *some* light for this). This is called "setting critical focus."

Zoom back out, and everything should stay in focus from here.

Hi Chris,
I know this has been addressed about a million times, but I thought I'd mention something that my XL-1 service guy told me. After inspecting and tuning up my camera, he told me that I shouldn't have focus-wander problems, if I use a procedure virtually identical to what you outlined above. However, he said that during the shoot, if I ever zoom the camera's lens in past about 80%, it was highly likely that the AF would lose its setting when I zoomed it back out again. This issue, he said, may become worse, if the zoom controls are operated quickly... going in or out (I think, is what he said).
I must confess to not understanding the mechanics behind this issue, but I certainly wish I could wish it away... but I can't.
I did test this information at my last dance recital shoot, however, and I believe his information is/was correct. My AF seemed to stay locked at the manually-set point, unless I zoomed in too far, or pulled back quickly.
But my eyesight (and the resulting "transitional" bifocal glasses!) makes it difficult to always discern perfect focus, even though I use the B&W viewfinder (as opposed to the stock one). I'll soon be working with a larger monitor at my station, so I can get a better sense of accuracy, but I thought I'd just drop in my two-cents worth... for whatever it's worth.

Thanks!

Skip Hall
Homeworks Video Productions
Suffolk, Virginia

I bought an XL1s 3 months ago. Prior to the XL1S, I had bought a Sony TRV900. The Sony was easy to use right away. Focusing wasn't an issue. Same with my Sony VX1000. I can manually set the focus, or set the focus to infinity, and the focus stayed exactly there (I was videotaping a high school football game). I loved it. After buying the XL1S, I decided to use it for a different football game. It was a complete disappointment. I would zoom in, focus, and zoom ouot.... and lose focus. It was a complete disaster.... Since then, I made it a point to really learn how to use it. I attended any field hockey, football, volleyball, soccer... anything that I could practice on and not have to give a DVD out to anyone. Well, just last Friday, I finally decided to use the XL1s again, on the last football game for Helix High School (Highlanders) against Steele Canyon (Cougars). Wow! The clarity of the video just blew me away! My wife watched the footage, which I had transferred to DVD, and she wanted to know if I had spent money on a new camcorder. Even I was astonished how much better the footage was compared to my first 2 months of using it.

If you just want simplicity, the Sony camcorders are excellent, or even Panasonic ones. If you want to be in control (and really, that's the issue here. With the XL1S, you are in control, good or bad), then the XL1/XL1S, XL2 are definitely capable of jaw-dropping videos. I remember the first time I used my Canon 20D (still camera). I was so disappointed because of the many images that didn't seem sharp, or where the exposure wasn't right. It seemed that my point and shoot, which cost $1200 less, did a better job. Then I learned to stop using the 20D as a point and shoot. That made all the difference!

But I even noticed certain drifting of focus in manual mode.

I focus on a particular point and notice that the focus can slip and even breath. That is without moving the zoom or focus ring.
It just appears on this camera no to be very solid.

Again could this be something which might be tightened up or addressed by giving the camera a service?

The manual says that even on manual focus, it can drift, depending on variables like temperature.

I had an XL1 and XL1s.

The IS lenses were nearly useless when it came to setting focus. So I got the fully manual 16x lens and that made a big difference. Not having any automatic features didn't matter at all to me since I never used them anyway.

The XL1 and XL1s CCD had a tendency to color shift over time. I sent the cameras in annually to get re-calibrated. Otherwise one corner would start to shift slightly cyan and the other magenta. Never had that happen in any other camera, and I worked with several different Sony cameras, and a couple of Canons, over the past several years.