Amazing Rack Focus with HV10 and DIY 35mm Adapter at DVinfo.net

Meryem Ersoz · September 24th, 2006, 02:38 PM

just kidding! there is no 35mm adapter! but you can do a serviceable rack focus with this camera. one of the fine features of this camera that it comes with a decent set of manual controls which includes Av (aperture priority mode). Av allows you to set the shutter at full wide and get this nice shallow depth of field that everyone is seeking. the Instant Autofocus on this camera is razor-sharp, and since the lens doesn't hunt and the focus is excellent, you can create a pretty nice (at this price point) rack focus. check it out....

http://media.dvinfo.net/canonxh/RackFocusHV10.mov

i shot this on my trusty beanbag stabilizer. i'm sure the results could be improved with a tripod, but i'm doing this all on the fly, simply to learn the parameters of this camera. so far, this is a favorite feature! this camera can be used to create a very nice DOF and does very, very nice macro work, for its price....

thanks to chris for hosting the clips...

p.s. these are H.264 clips, requires Quicktime 7. i had to pay for flip4mac to watch wmv files. apple provides a windows version of QT 7 for PC for free. so if you want to watch these and don't have QT 7, you can go here for a free download:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html

Lee Wilson · September 24th, 2006, 04:45 PM

Great info Meryem !

Cheers for the clips.

:)

Michael Wisniewski · September 24th, 2006, 07:16 PM

Meryem, very nice. Is there a way to select a different focus point on the screen, instead of dead center.

Meryem Ersoz · September 24th, 2006, 08:40 PM

michael, i don't think so...that's one of the limitations...it's still auto-focus, just a lot better than average auto focus, that lets you do a maneuver like this one reasonably cleanly. i'm sure with a bit more practice, i could find the sweet spot with confidence and develop a more subtle panning technique (especially if i bothered with a real tripod instead of the beanbag i was using....). this is just a first effort. if you look closely, both objects, bunny and elmo are actually left and right of center, so the auto-focus kicks in at a fairly large diameter and focuses accurately before they hit center...

Wes Vasher · September 24th, 2006, 10:07 PM

You could probably set up your shot to auto focus on one subject, then switch to manual focus and dial in your other subject... then by pressing the manual focus off it will rack back to what the AF was detecting before. This could be a solution to some shots. I've done this with my camera before.

Meryem Ersoz · September 25th, 2006, 08:27 AM

michael, just checked the manual and you can enlarge the focus point (but not choose, specifically) which may give different results. such as even more subtle panning to get the same effect, for instance.

wes, that's a good suggestion, except i think the manual focus requires hands-on the camera and button-pushing (rather than a focus ring, say) and that means adding judder potentially to the shot. it would probably require more practice. it could definitely be done the way you suggest with this camera.

i probably won't use this camera in this way...so i'll leave it to someone else to perfect the rack focus. but it does have pretty bokeh, which i wanted to show, and which will be great for nature-y, macro work.

Wes Vasher · September 25th, 2006, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meryem Ersoz

wes, that's a good suggestion, except i think the manual focus requires hands-on the camera and button-pushing (rather than a focus ring, say) and that means adding judder potentially to the shot. it would probably require more practice. it could definitely be done the way you suggest with this camera.

That's right Meryem, you'd really have to lock the camera down well on a tripod.

A classmate of mine used your technique to add a shallower DOF to his stop-motion using a prosumer camcorder and it really looked great, though he had to use a lot more light he said.

Lou Bruno · September 27th, 2006, 05:54 PM

The enlarging of focus point only occurs, as far as I can observe, in the STILL PICTURE mode.

BTW: My IF hunts all over the place and I am now using normal Auto-Focus. If I am missing something please help me out. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meryem Ersoz

michael, just checked the manual and you can enlarge the focus point (but not choose, specifically) which may give different results. such as even more subtle panning to get the same effect, for instance.

wes, that's a good suggestion, except i think the manual focus requires hands-on the camera and button-pushing (rather than a focus ring, say) and that means adding judder potentially to the shot. it would probably require more practice. it could definitely be done the way you suggest with this camera.

i probably won't use this camera in this way...so i'll leave it to someone else to perfect the rack focus. but it does have pretty bokeh, which i wanted to show, and which will be great for nature-y, macro work.

September 24th, 2006, 02:38 PM	#1
Meryem Ersoz Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 3,015	Amazing Rack Focus with HV10 and DIY 35mm Adapter just kidding! there is no 35mm adapter! but you can do a serviceable rack focus with this camera. one of the fine features of this camera that it comes with a decent set of manual controls which includes Av (aperture priority mode). Av allows you to set the shutter at full wide and get this nice shallow depth of field that everyone is seeking. the Instant Autofocus on this camera is razor-sharp, and since the lens doesn't hunt and the focus is excellent, you can create a pretty nice (at this price point) rack focus. check it out.... http://media.dvinfo.net/canonxh/RackFocusHV10.mov i shot this on my trusty beanbag stabilizer. i'm sure the results could be improved with a tripod, but i'm doing this all on the fly, simply to learn the parameters of this camera. so far, this is a favorite feature! this camera can be used to create a very nice DOF and does very, very nice macro work, for its price.... thanks to chris for hosting the clips... p.s. these are H.264 clips, requires Quicktime 7. i had to pay for flip4mac to watch wmv files. apple provides a windows version of QT 7 for PC for free. so if you want to watch these and don't have QT 7, you can go here for a free download: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html

September 24th, 2006, 07:16 PM	#3
Michael Wisniewski Wrangler Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Makati, Metro Manila Posts: 2,706 Images: 32	Meryem, very nice. Is there a way to select a different focus point on the screen, instead of dead center. __________________ "Ultimately, the most extraordinary thing, in a frame, is a human being." - Martin Scorsese

September 24th, 2006, 04:45 PM	#2
Lee Wilson Major Player Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: London UK Posts: 376	Great info Meryem ! Cheers for the clips. :)

September 24th, 2006, 08:40 PM	#4
Meryem Ersoz Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 3,015	michael, i don't think so...that's one of the limitations...it's still auto-focus, just a lot better than average auto focus, that lets you do a maneuver like this one reasonably cleanly. i'm sure with a bit more practice, i could find the sweet spot with confidence and develop a more subtle panning technique (especially if i bothered with a real tripod instead of the beanbag i was using....). this is just a first effort. if you look closely, both objects, bunny and elmo are actually left and right of center, so the auto-focus kicks in at a fairly large diameter and focuses accurately before they hit center...

September 24th, 2006, 10:07 PM	#5
Wes Vasher Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 440	You could probably set up your shot to auto focus on one subject, then switch to manual focus and dial in your other subject... then by pressing the manual focus off it will rack back to what the AF was detecting before. This could be a solution to some shots. I've done this with my camera before.

September 25th, 2006, 08:27 AM	#6
Meryem Ersoz Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 3,015	michael, just checked the manual and you can enlarge the focus point (but not choose, specifically) which may give different results. such as even more subtle panning to get the same effect, for instance. wes, that's a good suggestion, except i think the manual focus requires hands-on the camera and button-pushing (rather than a focus ring, say) and that means adding judder potentially to the shot. it would probably require more practice. it could definitely be done the way you suggest with this camera. i probably won't use this camera in this way...so i'll leave it to someone else to perfect the rack focus. but it does have pretty bokeh, which i wanted to show, and which will be great for nature-y, macro work.