A1U zoom setting trick
 

Most of you might already know about this, but as a new A1U owner I didn't know. I actually found this on another forum tonight, and thought I would share it for those that might not know.

If you really need precise, extremely slow zooms, do the following:

Turn off "steadyshot", and turn on "full scan". Now try zooming! It takes my A1U about 1 minute and 20 seconds to zoom from full wide to full zoom!


I also assigned steadyshot to my assign button for easier access to it.

I don't know about anyone else, but I didn't know about it. Thanks for the tip! I've got the Bogen/Manfrotto 531 LANC controller that I use with sticks or a Spiderbrace. It allows much finer control over the zoom speed. But, I'll have to give your tip a try and see how things work.

I'm still pretty new to the A1U myself. Unfortunately, life has been cutting into my "play" time more than I'd like.

Aloha

I gave it a try last night. Steady shot off, full scan on. My zoom speed didn't change. I tried control over the record button and the one on the LCD panel. Am I missing something?

Sounds like a great tip. I'm just wondering if works for all A1Us.

Try the zoom lever. Works for the hc1 by going to the shot transition mode first.

I noticed that if you don't have a very soft touch, it won't make a difference. You have to feather the zoom lever in order to get the extremely slow zoom

No, on the A1, a soft touch doesn't work. The softest touch will get you a max slow zoom of 10 seconds if you don't play with some settings. There are many, many settings you can turn on/off (not just the ones listed in this thread) to achieve a slower zoom of 26 seconds. This is a flaw of the A1.

I'm telling you, turn on full scan, and turn off steady shot. Then just use the zoom lever with the slightest touch, and I mean SLIGHTEST and you will get the slowest zoom you have ever seen. It is hardly even noticable it is so slow. My zoom, with these settings, and a soft touch on the lever, takes 1 minute and 20 seconds, and that's with digital zoom off.

If your using your zoom lever normally, then no you won't get the slow zoom I am describing here. The key is an extremely soft touch.

I tried this out and the slowest zoom I can get is around 40 seconds, which is still pretty slow.

Best wishes,
Peter
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Maybe the firmware is different on various models...I just love this zoom