On my little ZR, which I've pretty thuroughly tricked out, I oftentimes use this trick to help me judge focus. I actually temporarily turn on the "D-Effect" of Black and White. It just helps me by removing all chroma from the picture to allow me to properly judge focus, then I just turn it right back off before I shoot. It's a pretty simple and cheap version of a professional B&W viewfinder, but it really does help, especially when you're zoomed in with a short DOF.

Hey, that's a pretty cool trick there, Tom. How is your ZR tricked out? Just curious,

Wide angle lens, Telephoto lens, 5 hour battery, spare 1 hour battery, homebuilt Steadicam, homebuilt crane (though those last two don't count so much), and a nice Azden shotgun.

It's not much, but when combined with Magic Bullet For Editors it looks pretty good. Also, I got the camera for $250, so I'd say not a bad deal at all.