I know that here the most part of the users prefer the manual modes... but the auto focus mode can be helpfull (and I think that many 'no-more-beginers' use it more often than they say!).
But with my HC1, on my point of view, the auto focus is very disappointing: it reacts quickly, but becomes often quicky lost too!
That arrives on moving scenes (people walking, children playing), but on quiet scenes too: sometimes, on a wide surface (wall, green grass...), the auto-focus decides wrongly to search an another focus. In comparable situations, the auto focus of my previous Panasonic GS-400 made a perfect job, I fell now to be back 10 years in the past!

Have the owners of the AC1 notice the same kind of problems with their auto-focus mode?

again this is a filmmaking problem..what is focus in a space with four dimensions?.. i started using auto focus with the hc1 and found it very liberating because it's a slower way of filming with definitely more thinking..of course like any tool where there's a problem.. manual focus is operational on the lens with a flip of a finger for those moments.. and with the human error factored in i advise auto focus on the mise en scene, especially if you're alone..

I know that here the most part of the users prefer the manual modes...

Because of the "problems" with auto focus, and the suggestions from more professionals that manual focus is a better way to do things, can anyone offer some tips on MF with the HC1? I absolutely hate focus rings that don't have a stop and a start limit, which unfortunately is what the HC1 offers.

I mean it's no problem when you are taping something where you know the distance to something and that doesn't change, so you go MF and keep the camera from doing any "focus hunting" on it's own.

However, do people really do MF on pans or zooms from two points that are significantly further apart? I find that a: I over/undershoot the focus so that I end up "hunting" the focus for the object, or, b: if I prefocus on both scenes, then I find I'm watching the LCD focus distance info. and not looking at how my scene is being set up in realtime.

I know there is a transition action A->B feature, but the auto zoom portion is too fast when trying to setup two widely spaced scenes and I have yet to get this to work/focus correctly when using MF.

So again, do HC1 user's REALLY use MF a lot, and if you do, under what situations do you use it and can you offer "us" some tips.

Thanks in advance.

I tend to use auto-focus to lock my target and then set it to manual, so that it wouldn't move around.

Sometimes I just use manual focus for specific things. For occasional shooting I just use auto and if it starts wondering, then I'll zoom in and out so it will lock faster.