FOCUS ISSUE - Is HD Focussing REALLY this HARD ???

[Mats Frendahl]

Shawn,

The sad fact is that the human eye is so superior to any optics that one often wonders "what garbage is this I'm holding in my hands?". ;)

Low f-value and high focal length = low DOF (depth of field)

So, then most persons recommends wide angle to increase the DOF, which it does, due to rules of optics.
The problem is that wide angle gets it all out of proportions - giant nose, big hands, "twisted" buildings ... etc. The real magic is to be somewhere in between...

Anyhow, some "blurring" is nice, it gives depth to the image and makes it less "flat" .

Remember that when they do a perfect "scene" in Hollywood they have tested the distances and placement of persons hours in advance and usually have dedicated persons taking care of the focus issues as actors move around. No-one will ever blame you for some errors on focus.

[Lynn King]

Shawn - I'm wondering how you remedied your focus problems. I'm having the same issue - I'll focus on the eyes and they are sharp but the nose is soft. Outside of using a wider mm and closing down the aperture to increase DOF, as suggested here, were you able to improve your results in any other way.

Thanks - Lynn

[Shawn Levin]

Hi Lynn,

Good question.... this is all still relatively 'new' to me, so I'm still figuring a lot out as I go along - Therefore I'm not sure if I can give you a 'well experienced' clearcut answer.

I think the combination of a few factors makes for situations where the focus becomes softer in parts.

I certainly have been learning more about DOF and focal length... also realising that lighting plays a big part and that is all besides considering the HDV resolution and codec.

It's a big learning curve for me.
Also folks say that shooting in SD isn't the way to go, which is what I was doing.

I bought myself a 22" LCD monitor, so If I'm at a location where I'm not moving around too much (like interviews) I plug it in, and get to see exactly what I'm getting from the cam. ( I wanted a 19" - smaller, but settled on the 22")

Small true HD monitors (7-10") are hellish expensive!

I do believe that my errors are operator inexperience... and for the most part have come to accept that there is more here than meets the eye.

Sorry for the wishy-washy answer, but it's the best I can do.
The rest of the advice in this thread (and others dealing with focussing) was very useful.

That said.... I still do find situations where I end up getting 'soft' spots... specially if I'm interviewing a man and he has a dark beard, then some areas of his face seem softer than others.

Perhaps we can team up here and by opening this thread again here find some further practical info..... though it is probably just more practice that I need.

good luck for now.

Shawn

[Lynn King]

I've put a query into Canon tech support and on another message board. I'll let you know if I come up with any useful info. I do not have a HD field monitor. That may be my next step.

Thanks,
Lynn

[Ken Wozniak]

OT

Lynn,

South Bend, IN? Woo hoo!!!!