SR12 Autofocus Issue... at DVinfo.net

David Horwitz · September 24th, 2008, 12:00 AM

Hi all,

I just had a gig tonight with my new SR12. I was shooting in a pretty big room from the back and zooming in on the speaker who was on stage and right in front of me. I had the face lock on and it was pretty steady, however, even though the lock was on the focus would go in and out.

So after a few minutes I switched to manual focus and tried to get it as accurate as I could on that little screen. It looked ok in the Sony AVCHD player that came bundled (once I went to manual focus), but I have yet to test in Vegas on the machine I'm using as a workstation right now. My question is, why is this happening and what to do about it? I have a feeling it has to do with shooting from across the room. We had pretty good lighting from what I can tell. Please advise. And also, is there a way to fix the blurred focusing in post with Sony Vegas?

Thanks in advance!

David Horwitz

Martyn Hull · September 24th, 2008, 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Horwitz

Hi all,

I just had a gig tonight with my new SR12. I was shooting in a pretty big room from the back and zooming in on the speaker who was on stage and right in front of me. I had the face lock on and it was pretty steady, however, even though the lock was on the focus would go in and out.

So after a few minutes I switched to manual focus and tried to get it as accurate as I could on that little screen. It looked ok in the Sony AVCHD player that came bundled (once I went to manual focus), but I have yet to test in Vegas on the machine I'm using as a workstation right now. My question is, why is this happening and what to do about it? I have a feeling it has to do with shooting from across the room. We had pretty good lighting from what I can tell. Please advise. And also, is there a way to fix the blurred focusing in post with Sony Vegas?

Thanks in advance!

David Horwitz

Auto focus is the worst thing with the SR11/12,if you zoomed in and locked to manual focus with the wheel everything should stay in focus regardless of how much zoom or wide angle is used if everything being filmed is fairly close together.

Robert Young · September 24th, 2008, 05:39 PM

I have had the same experience with both "face recognition" and, of course, auto focus. For best results shooting any foreground, or midground subject, I zoom, lock to manual focus, recompose the shot and it's dead on. The only problem is run n' gun shooting when you don't have time. To be fair, I have to do this with my bigger cams too. Unlike DV, HD is very focus sensitive. None of the "auto" systems are bulletproof.

David Horwitz · September 25th, 2008, 01:25 AM

Thanks for the replies guys. I still need to check the focus accuracy in Vegas, hopefully tomorrow. Is there any way to fix the blurring, or am I stuck with it?

Cheers,

David H.

Robert Young · September 25th, 2008, 05:57 PM

If your captured image is out of focus, you are probably stuck with it as far as I know.

Erik Phairas · September 25th, 2008, 07:43 PM

turn off the face detection.. it works better without it.

Dave Blackhurst · September 26th, 2008, 12:26 AM

Consistent with what Erik observes, I've begun to suspect that there's a certain amount of "processor overload" potential with the SR series. The more you ask the camera to do, the more likely that you may not get exactly the results you're expecting.

I've noticed sometimes at the tele end of the zoom color seems to wash out, particularly bad if you toss the digital zoom on... so I tend to stay away from the long end of the zoom range and leave digital zoom off. Looks phenomenal otherwise, so not a big issue for me.

If you think about all the functions the internal processor has to "crunch" the numbers on, there's a lot going on in there. Face detection HAS to take a lot of horsepower away from other critical functions when you think about it...

FWIW, if you are facing the same focus situation, you might try the spot focus function, I've had OK luck with it for challenging focus situations.

David Horwitz · October 22nd, 2008, 10:36 PM

Thanks for the replies everybody. I'm going to look into the spot focus/exposure function right now.

September 24th, 2008, 12:00 AM	#1
David Horwitz Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Los Gatos, California Posts: 109	SR12 Autofocus Issue... Hi all, I just had a gig tonight with my new SR12. I was shooting in a pretty big room from the back and zooming in on the speaker who was on stage and right in front of me. I had the face lock on and it was pretty steady, however, even though the lock was on the focus would go in and out. So after a few minutes I switched to manual focus and tried to get it as accurate as I could on that little screen. It looked ok in the Sony AVCHD player that came bundled (once I went to manual focus), but I have yet to test in Vegas on the machine I'm using as a workstation right now. My question is, why is this happening and what to do about it? I have a feeling it has to do with shooting from across the room. We had pretty good lighting from what I can tell. Please advise. And also, is there a way to fix the blurred focusing in post with Sony Vegas? Thanks in advance! David Horwitz

September 24th, 2008, 05:39 PM	#3
Robert Young Trustee Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Coronado Island Posts: 1,472	I have had the same experience with both "face recognition" and, of course, auto focus. For best results shooting any foreground, or midground subject, I zoom, lock to manual focus, recompose the shot and it's dead on. The only problem is run n' gun shooting when you don't have time. To be fair, I have to do this with my bigger cams too. Unlike DV, HD is very focus sensitive. None of the "auto" systems are bulletproof. __________________ Bob

September 25th, 2008, 05:57 PM	#5
Robert Young Trustee Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Coronado Island Posts: 1,472	If your captured image is out of focus, you are probably stuck with it as far as I know. __________________ Bob

September 25th, 2008, 01:25 AM	#4
David Horwitz Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Los Gatos, California Posts: 109	Thanks for the replies guys. I still need to check the focus accuracy in Vegas, hopefully tomorrow. Is there any way to fix the blurring, or am I stuck with it? Cheers, David H.

September 25th, 2008, 07:43 PM	#6
Erik Phairas Major Player Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 628	turn off the face detection.. it works better without it.

September 26th, 2008, 12:26 AM	#7
Dave Blackhurst Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Apple Valley CA Posts: 4,874	Consistent with what Erik observes, I've begun to suspect that there's a certain amount of "processor overload" potential with the SR series. The more you ask the camera to do, the more likely that you may not get exactly the results you're expecting. I've noticed sometimes at the tele end of the zoom color seems to wash out, particularly bad if you toss the digital zoom on... so I tend to stay away from the long end of the zoom range and leave digital zoom off. Looks phenomenal otherwise, so not a big issue for me. If you think about all the functions the internal processor has to "crunch" the numbers on, there's a lot going on in there. Face detection HAS to take a lot of horsepower away from other critical functions when you think about it... FWIW, if you are facing the same focus situation, you might try the spot focus function, I've had OK luck with it for challenging focus situations.

October 22nd, 2008, 10:36 PM	#8
David Horwitz Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Los Gatos, California Posts: 109	Thanks for the replies everybody. I'm going to look into the spot focus/exposure function right now.