Focus problem in SD at DVinfo.net

Bill Grant · March 9th, 2009, 11:46 AM

Hey Guys,
You may remember my post awhile back about focus issues with both of my A1s, well I have that solved in HD by raising the sharpening, and that is all done. I am still having a problem with SD. I shot some news this weekend and did an interview with a little girl. It was in 4x3 SD and I manually focussed. I zoomed in on her face focussed and then pulled back. When I watched the news Saturday night, the clip was out of focus. What in the world is going on? Am I just expecting too much out of SD or is there a problem with both cams now? Am I just so used to looking at HD that SD just looks out of focus? What's the deal, it is very frustrating for me. Sorry, I have no samples...
Bill

Brian Pratt · March 9th, 2009, 11:57 AM

I was getting what I thought were out of focus shots with landscape shots, I set a faster shutter speed and all was well, in Auto the XHA1 was sometimes setting a low 1/50 of a second shutter speed - not good for landscapes.

Bill Grant · March 9th, 2009, 12:26 PM

BRian,
I was shooting everying in Manual. and I don't know that it's a focus issue, becuase I had some shots that were ok, but the interview was just plain out of focus and I did everything I could think of to get it in focus with the zooming in to focus, etc. it is very frustrating...
Bill

Steve Sobodos · March 9th, 2009, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Grant

Hey Guys,
You may remember my post awhile back about focus issues with both of my A1s, well I have that solved in HD by raising the sharpening, and that is all done. I am still having a problem with SD. I shot some news this weekend and did an interview with a little girl. It was in 4x3 SD and I manually focussed. I zoomed in on her face focussed and then pulled back. When I watched the news Saturday night, the clip was out of focus. What in the world is going on? Am I just expecting too much out of SD or is there a problem with both cams now? Am I just so used to looking at HD that SD just looks out of focus? What's the deal, it is very frustrating for me. Sorry, I have no samples...
Bill

I had the same SD problem, the focus looked fine in the viewfinder but when played back certain areas were soft. Sometimes the background and foreground were in focus but in-between was soft! how does that happen. Never a problem in HD so I vowed to tape in HD and down sample in post to avoid the problem. Others have posted the same problem on DVI. It almost looks like the camera has some processing like skin detail turned on (which it wasn't).

Bill Grant · March 9th, 2009, 07:08 PM

yep, very soft. And I can't edit this, so I can't shoot in HD. I have to shoot and turn it in. I was hoping maybe there was a great preset for SD that upped the sharpening, etc. Thanks for the replies...
Bill

March 9th, 2009, 11:46 AM	#1
Bill Grant Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Columbia,SC Posts: 806	Focus problem in SD Hey Guys, You may remember my post awhile back about focus issues with both of my A1s, well I have that solved in HD by raising the sharpening, and that is all done. I am still having a problem with SD. I shot some news this weekend and did an interview with a little girl. It was in 4x3 SD and I manually focussed. I zoomed in on her face focussed and then pulled back. When I watched the news Saturday night, the clip was out of focus. What in the world is going on? Am I just expecting too much out of SD or is there a problem with both cams now? Am I just so used to looking at HD that SD just looks out of focus? What's the deal, it is very frustrating for me. Sorry, I have no samples... Bill __________________ Cinema Couture www.cinemacouture.com

March 9th, 2009, 12:26 PM	#3
Bill Grant Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Columbia,SC Posts: 806	BRian, I was shooting everying in Manual. and I don't know that it's a focus issue, becuase I had some shots that were ok, but the interview was just plain out of focus and I did everything I could think of to get it in focus with the zooming in to focus, etc. it is very frustrating... Bill __________________ Cinema Couture www.cinemacouture.com

March 9th, 2009, 07:08 PM	#5
Bill Grant Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Columbia,SC Posts: 806	yep, very soft. And I can't edit this, so I can't shoot in HD. I have to shoot and turn it in. I was hoping maybe there was a great preset for SD that upped the sharpening, etc. Thanks for the replies... Bill __________________ Cinema Couture www.cinemacouture.com

March 9th, 2009, 11:57 AM	#2
Brian Pratt Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Lancs, England Posts: 48	I was getting what I thought were out of focus shots with landscape shots, I set a faster shutter speed and all was well, in Auto the XHA1 was sometimes setting a low 1/50 of a second shutter speed - not good for landscapes.