I bought a used ax53 from a retailer in the U.K. I have found that with the focus peaking tuned on that as I zoom it there is a point where the peaking indicators disappear . Once those indicators disappear the image is not sharp.

Even using the manual focus fails to produce indicators and while it looks sharp on the camera screens once viewed on a computer screen the image is soft.

I have tried on a tripod with stabilisation off and gain fixed at zero which does help a bit especially the gain.

I have seen a few times on a google search people having this issue with other xa53 cameras.

Is this camera faulty or is this how they all are?

I can return but don’t want to swop it for another supposedly grade 9 camera if this is the case.

Without knowing the details of this specific camera most if not all camcorders rely on contrast to focus and to provide focus peaking. In addition the lenses are not para focal meaning zooming in or out it needs to be refocused.

I suspect the thing has been dropped - normal cameras have back focus, which moves one of the internal lenses - so zoom in and out focus match. If the knob gets knocked, you get this problem. With one piece cameras, the back focus lens is fixed and preset. Dropping them can thrown this off, and focus won't track. Tell the dealer and send it back for checking at the very least. I doubt you can do anything with it yourself,

With one piece cameras, the back focus lens is fixed and preset.

Not always. The Z280, for example, has a user-adjustable backfocus that should be checked frequently.

I agree that Alistair has a broken camera, but it is probably more severe that backfocus. Backfocus problems usually exhibit themselves when the lens is zoomws out wide. It sounds like his cameras goes soft when he pushes in. Just the opposite of a TYPICAL backfocus problem.

My AX53 shows peaking for full optical zoom but not digital zoom. Do you have digital zoom set ? It also needs good exposure/contrast to show at full zoom. The moment you start in digital zoom the image is degraded.

My AX53 shows peaking for full optical zoom but not digital zoom..
Just did a check with my AX53 and got the same result as Ron.

There are a number of "Notes" in the "Sony AX53 Help Guide" that are helpful, but too many to remember them all.

One of them is under Scene Selection:
Camera/Mic > Camera Settings > Scene Selection > Landscape
Picked some fir and cedar trees about a 1/2 kilometer away and the tops look really sharp on the LCD and the zebra is working.

Another setting may influence background sharpness is under Iris:
Camera/Mic > Manual Settings > IRIS > Manual: Select “+” to sharpen the whole image (increase the IRIS parameter), and “-“ to sharpen the subject with its background blurred (decrease the IRIS parameter).

There are a lot of setting adjustments and it's possible for a setting in one place to influence a setting elsewhere. For example, with all the fall foliage, if one wanted a shot with a person in the foreground and the iris was set for Manual and "-", the background will be blurred.

Sure hope there is just a setting issue.

thank you everyone for the replies. I have found the issue is resolved by using the landscape scene this allows correct focusing at full zoom either with a variable ND filter or a 2 x extra zoom lens attached.

I was inadvertently causing the problem by using a filter on the lens.

You lose the spot focus but that is not a issue if set one of the user buttons to scene selection
I can focus auto or manually in auto scene then change to landscape and use the focus ring will finish off the focus.

A work around but I read somewhere that these camcorders despite have a filter thread don't function to well with any filter on the front!