Back Focus Repaired Again
 

After only two weeks my V1U is back and the back focus problem seems to be resolved. I had an interesting conversation with the technician who was very nice, but wanted to blame my issue on SD vs HD resolution, gain, iris, lens quality, etc. All of which are valid for good images, but not back focus. He also threw in a bit about servo vs. mechanical zoom. I agreed that servo is harder to focus, but still insisted that the camera should maintain focus. He asked me why I use a UV filter. I explained that a filter is less expensive than a lens element. He then told me that a UV filter has a filter factor and decreases the sensitivity of the camera. I didn't think so, but I didn't argue. Once at home I viewed the camera signal on my waveform monitor and could see no decrease in signal with the filter. A clear filter would perhaps be best. Anyway he said he replaced the lens. That's great and the pics show the results. Sorry, but I was too lazy to light so there is a bit of noise from gain, but you can easily see that focus is maintained. Finally I did mention that there were others with the same problem. He didn't agree nor disagree. I will say that Sony repair is courteous and the repair time was reasonable. They shipped back to me Fedex Standard Overnight. Thanks to all who offered support, advice and feedback.

Hey, Lee . . .

I am really happy to see that your camera has come back to you -- and fixed! Great news!

The thing I don't understand -- why do the repair folks try to put the blame on either the customer and how they use their equipment when, as in your case, there really WAS an obvious issue. As one can see from the new pics you've posted, the focus is 1000 times better since the repair job. It's really crazy for you to have to defend the use of using a simple UV filter on your V1U!

I took my two V1U's (both with identical back focus problems) just over 1 week ago to Sony of Canada. I hope that they are agreeable to either replacing the lens (as they did for you) or find another fix ... time will tell, I guess.

It does look like the new lens did the trick.

Enjoy!

Ian