Sony FDR-AX100

[Vaughan Wood]

Auto focus was pretty good last week when I shot 5 dance concerts, however when the stage lights went out at the end of each item, the camera would reset the auto focus at 0.1 metres, thus completely screwing up the start of the next item when the lights came back up..

I had to teach myself to switch to manual before the end of each act, but of course during 6 hours of recording I forgot sometimes.

Why doesn't it stay where is was until it has something to focus on is beyond me, it would make much more sense.

Cheers,

Vaughan

[Alister Chapman]

How can it know whether there is something to focus on or not until it checks through it's focus range? Fortunately us humans are far more intelligent than most cameras.

[Vaughan Wood]

Yes Alister, but it ALWAYS resets back to 0.1 metres. That's the frustrating bit. It means NOTHING is in focus. Surely they could easily design it to rest at a midway point instead of 0.1 metres!

Cheers,

Vaughan

[Noa Put]

Trusting the camera's autofocus to know where to focus in the transition from pitch black to bright light is like taking a u-turn with your car and halfway letting go of the steeringwheel...

There doesn't exist a camera that will get it right in autofocus mode if it doesn't have anything to focus on, you always will have to go manual if you want to have a guarantee it remains in focus.

[Ron Evans]

I assume it has touch spot focus that I use all the time on my small Sony's. Set in manual focus and use touch spot focus. The camera will then stay at that focus until changed. I set all my fixed unattended Sony's this way. My wife uses the NX30U for closeups and just touches where she wants the focus to be. If you are not moving the camera it will stay great for a show with lights going up and down etc with AE shift negative as all the Sony's over expose.

Ron Evans

[Noa Put]

I also use the touch focus a lot on my sony handicams though I have noticed that on my cx730's that has become less reliable and slower then on my older xr520. I always need to double check with a magnifying loupe te be sure.

[Ken Ross]

Originally Posted by Vaughan Wood

Yes Alister, but it ALWAYS resets back to 0.1 metres. That's the frustrating bit. It means NOTHING is in focus. Surely they could easily design it to rest at a midway point instead of 0.1 metres!

Cheers,

Vaughan

Vaughan, when shooting a concert, wouldn't you be better off with MF anyway? Depending upon your distance from the stage, I'd think the focal points would all be pretty close.

[Ken Ross]

Originally Posted by Ron Evans

I assume it has touch spot focus that I use all the time on my small Sony's. Set in manual focus and use touch spot focus. The camera will then stay at that focus until changed. I set all my fixed unattended Sony's this way. My wife uses the NX30U for closeups and just touches where she wants the focus to be. If you are not moving the camera it will stay great for a show with lights going up and down etc with AE shift negative as all the Sony's over expose.

Ron Evans

Ron, yes, it has touch focus, touch exposure and a combination of both. For some events, if you are using AF, the touch focus is the best way to go. Tracking focus works quite nicely too and was one of the improvements in the last firmware upgrade.

[Bruce Dempsey]

I have a pen sized stylus with a rubbery tip on it much smaller than the end of my finger, Designed for touch screens on phones I think and it works great for precision touching an area of the screen whilst in the spot focus rectangle....bonus no greasy finger tip marks.
Can't remember where it came from a stocking stuffer I think
Has " Merkury" embossed on it

[Ken Ross]

Good idea, Bruce.

[Mark Rosenzweig]

Originally Posted by Bruce Dempsey

I have a pen sized stylus with a rubbery tip on it much smaller than the end of my finger, Designed for touch screens on phones I think and it works great for precision touching an area of the screen whilst in the spot focus rectangle....bonus no greasy finger tip marks.
Can't remember where it came from a stocking stuffer I think
Has " Merkury" embossed on it

In fact, Panasonic camcorders with touch-screens come with a plastic pointer that is tethered to the camera to use for both focusing and picking menu items on the touch screen.

[Noa Put]

Haven't thought of that, definitely worth trying out.

[Rodman Bourne]

Love trains and trains travel... real amateur here but check it out....

Amtrak Empire Builder April 30 2014 4K ac Sony FDR-AX100 - YouTube

[Monday Isa]

After having used this camcorder for 3 moths as a Limo camera for quinceanera's and my CYA cam I must say I'm still impressed with this little beast. Nothing else is on the market that matches it right now. Sony nailed this little camera.

[Dave Blackhurst]

Any "field reports" on the 2.0 firmware upgrade?

I've been fine with what I presume is 1.0... just wondering if the upgrade is a big or at least noticeable improvement... haven't gotten around to trying to "install" it yet!