Backfocus before and after pics.

[Paul Kellett]

Please use this thread for before and after pics of backfocus adjustment.
Along with your pics please can you supply the following information,
Camera firmware,
Serial number,
Type of chart used,ie siemens,
Number of charts used,
Distance of charts from the cam,
Which ND was used with the adjustment,ie ND0 or ND1 or ND2,
If detail was used when adjustment was made,
If detail is on or off in the pics/screengrabs,PP in the pics.
Format used,ie,1080 or 720,progressive or interlaced.
For anyone who's interested,i've done a backfocus demo on Vimeo,link below,

http://www.vimeo.com/819802


To Chris Hurd,any chance of making this thread a sticky please ?
I think most EX users will appreciate it.

Thanks,Paul.

[Dean Harrington]

Chris, this would make a great sticky!

[Gerald Loidl]

I have uploaded screenshots from my testfiles.

First one shows the backfocus with ND on after I took it out of the box

Second one shows the backfocus when it came back from Sony after the first repair

Third one shows the backfocus after FB adjustment with one chart. Also looked exactly like this after the second and third repair attempt from Sony

Fourth one shows how I fixed the camera with the FB adjustment and multiple focus charts.

The fifth image shows all ND settings after the successful adjustment as split screen.

Here is what I did to fix my issues:
o.k. try at your own risk. Thats how it worked for me for 2 cameras Sony could not fix - your experience could be different..

Camera was set to 1080 25p
PP1 with detail off
I used 12 focus charts (Siemens Star) - I think a few less would not make a difference... 4 columns 3 rows
Camera was 3 meters away from a white wall outside my house
Aperture always f1.9 fully open at stop (use shutter to adjust brightness)
Focus full manual
Zoom servo on
Macro set to off

Set to ND off - zoom in fully - use expanded focus and sharpen
Use the maintenance menu - choose backfocus adjustment (FB)

When finished - leave menu - do not turn the camera off
Turn on ND1 - adjust brightness with shutter
zoom in fully - use expanded focus and sharpen
Use the maintenance menu - choose backfocus adjustment (FB)

When finished - leave menu - do not turn the camera off
Turn on ND2 - adjust brightness with shutter
zoom in fully - use expanded focus and sharpen
Use the maintenance menu - choose backfocus adjustment (FB)

no need to turn off the camera in-between adjustments.

Good luck - its pretty easy to perform - I hope this will solve your backfocus problems as well.

[Paul Kellett]

Here's some pics after my recent last back focus adjustment.
Camera firmware...V1.02-337
Serial number.......0400594
9 siemens charts used,3 rows x 3 columns,spaced out about 1 ft between each chart.
3 metres from cam.
Made with ND off,ND1,and ND2.
No PP used in adjust.
Detail on with screen grabs.

On the top left picture i focused on the trailer before going wide.
On the others i focused on the house in the very far distance before pulling back.

Opinions please !!!

[Gerald Loidl]

Paul,
looks good to me - perfectly useable.
The last one seems to be slightly softer compared to the other ones, but still o.k.
I think we already got extremely sensitive over this issue ;-)

regards,
Gerald

[Paul Kellett]

I reckon the 1080/25p looks slightly sharper.
Also the day was very overcast as you can see from the pics,a bright day seems to give better results. It's sunny here today so i'm gonna take the same pics from the same spot and then post then,,,re backfocus loosing adjustment after cam being powered off,re another thread on here.

Paul.

[Matt Davis]

http://www.mdma.tv/ex1/fb.html - roll mouse over image to swap

EX1 s/n 0401953, Firmware 1.03
Siemens star chart and patio door (! seems to work)
Distance of about 5 meters
Tests at 720p25
Detail off

[Paul Kellett]

Same pics,same PP,after switching off cam,(been on a shoot in between aswell.)

Paul.

[Paul Kellett]

Matt.
Yours looks better.
What about from a distance though ? Can you focus on something far away then zoom out,then post a screengrab of that.

Thanks,Paul.

[Paul Kellett]

Some footage i shot last night from about 40 metres away.
I'm quite happy with my backfocus now.

Paul

[Dennis Joseph]

Originally Posted by Paul Kellett

Some footage i shot last night from about 40 metres away.
I'm quite happy with my backfocus now.

Paul

Looks great. What camera settings were you on? shutter, gain, fps?

[Paul Kellett]

1080/50i-SQ,shutter off,+3db of gain.
The EX could've shot most of the scenes with no gain but some of the scenes were really dark so going with +3db gave me enough room to play with with the iris. Most scenes were around f4.

I was using Bill PP which was good for most scenes but when people were under spotlights some of the white clothes were really blowing out,( i had 65% and 100% zebras),so i went with Bills PP but with cine 2 which is supposed to limit whites,and it did help.

Paul.

[Dennis Joseph]

Originally Posted by Paul Kellett

1080/50i,shutter off,+3db of gain.
The EX could've shot most of the scenes with no gain but some of the scenes were really dark so going with +3db gave me enough room to play with with the iris. Most scenes were around f4.

I was using Bill PP which was good for most scenes but when people were under spotlights some of the white clothes were really blowing out,( i had 65% and 100% zebras),so i went with Bills PP but with cine 2 which is supposed to limit whites,and it did help.

Paul.

Looked great! Is there any difference if I were to try the backfocus check in 24p, 30p and 60i? Do you think that that at 30p or 60i the picture would appear more sharp? I have not tried the backfocus test in any other format besides 24p .

[Paul Kellett]

If you go a few posts up,on this thread,one of my pics of the houses is 1080/25p,i feel that it's slightly sharper then 1080/50i.

Paul.

[Dennis Joseph]

Originally Posted by Paul Kellett

If you go a few posts up,on this thread,one of my pics of the houses is 1080/25p,i feel that it's slightly sharper then 1080/50i.

Paul.

hmm...I wonder if it really does make a difference to switch formats. If anyone has any facts and figures please do tell.