GH4 in full manual only

[Benjamin Maas]

So I'm a bit confused here... I have a GH4 that has been nearly perfect for me. Once I figured out the quirks, it's been a great camera. However, recently, there has been an annoyance that I can't seem to figure out my way around.

That annoyance is that it is functional only in full manual focus. Under the majority of circumstances, I of course focus manually- I'm using an Olympus 12-40 2.8 lens on the camera. Sometimes, I've used the capability to touch focus on the screen and on rare occasions (say if I have it on a glide cam or similar mount) I'll keep it in full auto focus. It is almost like auto focus for video is completely disabled. There is an MF in the upper right corner of the screen that I don't seem to be able to turn off.

As I said, I use it in manual most of the time, but it would be nice to have the functionality back. It also doesn't seem to matter what settings I have in the menus- it still behaves the same way. I can turn on continuous autofocus and it still is in manual. Even in picture mode, I cannot do a half-press on the shutter release and have it focus.

So does anybody have any idea what is causing this? And what can I do to remedy the problem? Thanks.

--Ben

[Gary Huff]

Is the switch on the GH4's body set to AFS/AFF or AFC or MF?

[Benjamin Maas]

It's in AFF/AFS. Unfortunately I only have the one lens for it, too. Means I cannot do a great troubleshoot to see if it is a camera issue or a lens issue (or a stupid Ben issue)

-Ben

[Pete Carney]

Remember FPS override is also manual focus only. I've forgotten that a few times and missed focus on shots I wish I had back. From there I've found that AFS during recording almost always focuses on the background, even when the subject moves to fill more than half the frame. Lets just put it this way, the GH4 auto focus in video mode sucks. For stills it's another story completely.

Cheers,
Pete

[Benjamin Maas]

I'd prefer not to get into a discussion as to if autofocus is worthwhile. I almost never use it, but there is on rare occasion a need. More importantly I really like the touch focus ability on the screen- something that without autofocus enabled will not work.

It is almost like the camera has lost focus control of the lens- treating it as if it was a manual focus lens.

At the end of the day, I'd like the camera to work as it should.

-Ben

[Bruce Foreman]

Ben,

In the Custom menu (C with wrench icon), on page 1 down at the bottom: Shutter AF - Is it ON or OFF?

The only way I seem to be able to make my GH4 fail to AF with a half press of the shutter button is to have this off (other than put it in MF with the switch on the back). But I get no MF on the upper right of the LCD.

Something else to try is to set the AF/AE LOCK to AF LOCK (same menu page) and then see if a press on the AF/AE button on the back will give you ONE autofocus operation (will only do it once until after you press it a second time). If it does, you somehow have SHUTTER AF set to OFF.

Normally when you set the AF/AE LOCK to AF LOCK, a single press of the AF/AE button does one SAF operation then switches to MF. The camera will stay in MF until you press that button a second time, change modes, or power down; any one of these will clear it back to default Shutter button AF. While in MF this way the shutter button AF is disabled until you do one of the 3 things just mentioned.

I have mine set this way with MF + ASSIST set to ON and the ASSIST assigned to the focus ring. In video mode this ASSIST is disabled once you've started recording.

If this behavior continues try resetting the camera to default (out of the box) condition. Go to the SETUP menu (blue wrench icon), go to page 5 and select RESET. If you do this you will have to go through your whole configuration and set everything the way you want it again, so it's a good idea to go through each menu and menu pages and write everything down (or photograph each page with another digital camera - my "lazy" way). Then do a RESET.

If something has "glitched" this should clear it. Anyway SHUTTER AF is set to ON by default when you do this.

Post here and let me know if this helps.

[Benjamin Maas]

Hmm... Did a full reset. Still in manual. Wondering if there is a hardware problem. My issue is that I can't easily test it. Grrr...

--Ben

[Pete Carney]

Why can't you test it?

The only way mine goes dead on the switch is if I'm in FPS override to shoot 96 fps. That's why I asked about that above.

If you are in one of the regular video modes under manual video on the top dial, you will see the screen change from AFS to AFC to MF when you toggle the switch back and forth. If you are sure you're in a regular video mode and you are toggling that switch back and forth and not seeing it change on the screen you're cam is faulty.

Cheers,
Pete

[Bo Skelmose]

Does the autofocus work with your lens in still mode?

[Benjamin Maas]

Honestly, I didn't know that the symbols on the screen change when you move the switch... I purchased the camera, set it up and I pretty much never change things (it's still pretty new as well). I do a pretty limited amount and type of shooting so I really haven't done a huge amount of different stuff with this camera. About the only settings that are ever changed is resolution (1080 vs. 4K) and color balance/space. Anyways, this tells me that the switch is most likely bad: a big help. thanks.

--Ben

[Benjamin Maas]

And almost as disconcerting as the problems I've had, it is now working... Did a firmware update and that must have cleared something out because it is doing what it should now. Glad it is working, but confused as to what may have gotten corrupted in the first place.

--Ben

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Maas

Did a firmware update and that must have cleared something out because it is doing what it should now.

It might have simply reset the camera settings and you had previously set something or toggled something that you forgot about.

[Vishal Jadhav]

Firmware magic works, guess its more like a windows system where reboot is answer to 90% questions and 10% is reinstall.
I have been using my GH4 from Sept 2014 and my Timelapse gave way no matter what i did it just did not do the time lapse , i flashed it with the latest firmware and the thing worked with the same settings.

Guess thats why i am always 1 version behind on firmware to flash things :) :)

vishal