Auto Focus "BAD" Hunting Problem
 

ARGGGG, It's happening to me too, it's so bad that even when it finally decides to focus on something and you think "well finally" it starts pulsating in and out.

"It's worse on HDV24" "Handheld or tripod" "Zoomed all the way in or Wide Angle"

I never had this issue with any other camcorder whether DV or HDV.

I don't mind pulling manual focus here and there, but this is definetly not right, not for casual shooting, running behind kids, etc.

Just bought it 4 days ago so it's going back to the store. I even tried turning Instant AF off (I believe that's the name), even when pushing the assist button it struggles to find it. I have seen footage of people who didn't even know how to use the cam so they used it all auto and focus looked great, I tested another cam here in ATL and it was fine too.

Suggestions/comments?

The demo that we have had for 2 weeks from Canon has been doing the same thing. We ar inclined to go with the V1's, or maybe the Z1's again. the focus was slow to respond and was hunting even when there was good contrast. Then the problem with manual focusing was that the screen and viewfinder are very difficult to see what is sharp. One of our guys shot wrestling with it and it was hunting all over. The next night he shot wrestling with the V1 and it was sharp, and even held focus when the ref. walked through the frame.

Funny thing is that the demo tape from Canon had examples compairing the A1 focus to the "others"--you should have seen how fast the Canon focused in that tape. It was more like a still camera.

Interesting!

I hope they don't give me any issues and just exchange it. I know them pretty well so I don't think that will be a problem.

Ha!

My old JVC GR HD-1 did that.

Almost pulled my hair out. Something is wrong.

Is something really wrong or are the expectations of auto focus too high?

Check against a target object that is well lit and has plenty of detail. It is possible to confuse any auto focus system under adverse conditions.

I have been extremely impressed by the IAF system in conjunction with manual focus. I get as close as I can manually then push IAF to make sure I've hit focus. The more you assist the AF system the better the results will be unless you really do have a fault then get the camera checked out by Canon asap.

TT

Been there done that, and the answer was all the same. One weird thing I noted though is that if you pay detailed attention while the cam is hunting for focus, the zoom actually moves slightly back by itself, I found that strange.

Something is wrong.

Do you have high speed zoom activated in the custom functions file you're using? It makes the pulsing worse!

Nope! not at all.