Hi everyone,

I was shooting some scenes on a golf course and the person i was filming was teeing off. as they swung the club and hit the ball the camera went extremely out of focus. it was on automatic focus with macro focus off. as it went out of focus (twice) it made a weird clicking noise.. any idea what may have caused this?

suggestions greatly appreciated,
Mike

Clicking noise? My first thought was that the clicking could be something -- maybe a mic cable --- swinging in a breeze and hitting some part of the camera, but that would not account for the loss of focus. Do you have remote control enabled in the camera menu? Can you replicate this with the remote off?

i heard the clicking noise as i was filming. i didn't watch the footage yet so idk what it sounds like on the camera during playback. and yes i have the remote enabled what do u meant by that?

Long shot, but, if you cannot replicate what happened, maybe you picked up a stray signal from something. Over the years, I've had an odd problem like this once in a while. A couple of times, I was able to trace it to somebody else in the area using a remote to run a camcorder on a tripod.

The clicking is what puzzles me. Maybe you can listen and check if it sounds like a slipping servo motor or cog.

worst come to worst i send the camera in to get it fixed, i have a 3 year warranty so im not to concerned about it. the 3 years that i have owned my FX1 i have never ran into anything like this.. although i had the NX5 on while driving around in a golf cart on the course, you think the bumpiness may have messed with it somehow?

The bumpiness? No. Not unless the camera was bouncing around loose on the floor of the golf cart. But, maybe you got some grit or dust in something. Have you tried replicating the thing that produced the clicking? How about manually running the focus and zoom rings all the way in and out several times? If you have a defective or damaged servo gear, that may reveal the clicking.

i took your advice and started going through the zoom and focus ring and haven't heard any clicking noises yet.. although when the camera is set to auto focus i am still able to adjust the focus with the ring... is that suppose to be like that?

Yes. No noises? That may be a good sign.

when the camera is set to auto focus i am still able to adjust the focus with the ring... is that suppose to be like that?

No. That is not proper behavior for the NX5. If your camera is set to auto focus and you spin the ring, it should not be adjusting the focus whatsoever.

Sure it is. Mine has done this from day one. Try it.

Hi Jay,

Sorry if I posted incorrect information. I actually have 3 NX5's and perhaps all of mine function improperly. When mine are set to auto-focus and I spin the ring, nothing happens. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong or should I be concerned that mine might be broken? Again...my apologies if I posted incorrect info.

(Edit) I'm sure I must be doing something wrong as I have just tested my NX5's. When set to auto focus...spinning the ring does not change focus so I'm sure it's operator error on my end if you're able to get it to work with yours but I can't get it to work with mine.

Manually "helping" the camera find focus with the ring while in autofocus mode is what Sony calls the "focus assist" feature.

Alec Moreno
Wedding Art Films - Southern California - Los Angeles - Orange County - Video (http://www.weddingartfilms.com)

It's on page 74 in the manual. Default is off.

Ron Evans

Thanks for the clarification. I rarely use anything "auto" on this camera and therefore never really familiarized myself with focus assist. Goes to show that you learn something new everyday. Thanks again.

The NX5 seems to have a pretty feeble focus lock on subjects. With my Z1 I could shoot at any focal length in the auto-focus mode and the camera would hold that focal plane as I panned or tilted. The NX5 is quite different, and with macro on or off, doing anything but the gentlest of pans will mean the auto-focus hunts wildly. I hate this 'feature'. How come Sony can take so many steps backward?

tom.

HD is more critical for focus. I don't think my NX5U is any worse than my FX1 it just shows the focus issue more because of the HD image. They are both terrible in auto compared to the consumer SR11, XR500 or CX700 I have. I never run either the FX1 or NX5U in auto anything as they are both poor in auto compared to the consumer cameras side by side the difference is clear. Maybe the new NX70 will have the best of both. I think the consumer camera logic focuses on the faces or objects close to the camera rather than a simple section in the middle of the view. This makes a big difference and stops a lot of hunting and also manages the exposure better for these subjects too. Shooting people there is no doubt the consumer cameras in auto do a better job. They can even do pull focus with the spot focus feature too, quicker and more precisely. What they don't do is have full manual control for difficult conditions or special effects and all mine certainly have obvious backfocus issues not present on the pro ranges.

Ron Evans