Latency on manual focus at DVinfo.net

Peter Rush · February 7th, 2013, 10:28 AM

Has anyone else noticed this? the distance over which you rotate the focus ring to go from one object to another is different depending on the speed at which you move it? This also happens with my NEX-VG20, and was the same with my old HVR-A1E. My old Z1/FX1 cameras never had this issue

I'm not sure why this is in technical terms - I'm guessing it's something to do with the focusing being reliant on an electrical rather than purely mechanical shifting of the lens elements.

Pete

Dmitri Zigany · February 7th, 2013, 10:43 AM

Yes, it seems to be the way things are on the Sony NEX lenses. I guess the thought is that you move it slowly to do fine adjustments and faster to to more rough adjustments. It's rubbish. Close to unusable for manual work to me.
Just got a Samyang 35mm/T1.5 lens. Silky smooth focus (and aperture) that behaves the way you'd expect it to.

Noa Put · February 8th, 2013, 03:49 AM

Yes, it's not that easy to pull the right focus with that lens, for that I prefer my primes which in combination with the peaking option is spot on. With the stocklens you can do the same but the feedback you get is totally different, first it can adjust quickly with a fast short turn and if you need to fine tune you need to turn the ring much further, once you get used to it you can adjust focus on the fly but not as fast and accurate as on a prime lens.

February 7th, 2013, 10:28 AM	#1
Peter Rush Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: UK/Yorkshire Posts: 2,069	Latency on manual focus Has anyone else noticed this? the distance over which you rotate the focus ring to go from one object to another is different depending on the speed at which you move it? This also happens with my NEX-VG20, and was the same with my old HVR-A1E. My old Z1/FX1 cameras never had this issue I'm not sure why this is in technical terms - I'm guessing it's something to do with the focusing being reliant on an electrical rather than purely mechanical shifting of the lens elements. Pete

February 7th, 2013, 10:43 AM	#2
Dmitri Zigany Major Player Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Berlin, Germany Posts: 286	Re: Latency on manual focus Yes, it seems to be the way things are on the Sony NEX lenses. I guess the thought is that you move it slowly to do fine adjustments and faster to to more rough adjustments. It's rubbish. Close to unusable for manual work to me. Just got a Samyang 35mm/T1.5 lens. Silky smooth focus (and aperture) that behaves the way you'd expect it to.

February 8th, 2013, 03:49 AM	#3
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	Re: Latency on manual focus Yes, it's not that easy to pull the right focus with that lens, for that I prefer my primes which in combination with the peaking option is spot on. With the stocklens you can do the same but the feedback you get is totally different, first it can adjust quickly with a fast short turn and if you need to fine tune you need to turn the ring much further, once you get used to it you can adjust focus on the fly but not as fast and accurate as on a prime lens.