Hi,
I recently got Canon XH A1 with its small LCD screen and have been thinking about an Ikan or other LCD monitor to use as a focus aid.

The problem is that these monitors are very expensive, and I can't afford one at the moment.
But my camcorder in the manual focus mode shows the distance a particular focus position is intended for.

So I have this idea to use a tape measure for the time being. I'll just get a rope and mark it every 50cm or so, so that I can measure the distance between the camera and the talent or object accurately and then just adjust the focus to the respective distance.

So I have two questions:
1. How precise is the XH A1 in camera focus distance suggestion, i.e., if I measure the distance of 4,5m and then set my camera focus to 4,5m will it be accurate?

2. Have you yourselves tried this workaround and does it work in real shooting situations?

Thanks

Genius! Hah, this is so simple, should have thought of it before.

I don't have the A1 so I can't comment on that but I'm buying the HV20 to use it with a lens adapter and I was looking for an accurate way to pull focus with our lenses since it might be difficult with our 800x480 lcd.

This is great :) .

Not sure if this is any help, but I was playing around with my camera recently and connected up one of my kids widescreen in-car DVD players as a monitor, it worked just fine as a bigger monitor than the standard LCD. They cost around £120 a pair and are the kind of things that are designed to hang on the back of a cars headrest.

I'm sure that the proper monitors have better colour etc, but it did the job :)

Paul.

Until I see prices settle down a bit more, I'm just using an old 19"" LCD 4x3. (Tripod shoots, AC). I need it to focus as the eyes aren't what they used to be. I use the component out and don't worry about the tall thin people. Frame, focus, and read-outs are what I need.

Here's a thread that might be useful.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=93845&highlight=focus

Thanks! I missed that thread.