Autofocus on reflective material at DVinfo.net

Peter Rush · August 26th, 2014, 03:07 AM

I've noticed at the last few wedding shoots that the stock lens has 'hunting' issues when trying to track the arrival of wedding cars, it just has trouble locking on, especially if the sun's out and bouncing off the paintwork - I'm pretty sure it hasn't done it in the past though - strange! I had the same issue with my NEX-VG20/stock lens.

I suppose I could engage the servo and track focus manually but some of those cars arrive pretty quick and the servo is pretty slow :/

Anyone else have an issue like this?

Noa Put · August 26th, 2014, 03:14 AM

Yes me! :) Had exactly the same issue when I just got the camera, I oldtimer with a high glossy carpaint drove towards me, I think it was even cloudy at that moment and it was early in the morning but the autofocus from the ea50 went completely haywire, the image turned all blurry and the camera refused to recover. I had to switch to manual after that.

Chris Harding · August 26th, 2014, 07:48 AM

Hi Pete

Me as well ..I have had a few times when the autofocus lost the plot on a limo that kept changing colour (seriously it went from a metallic blue to a metallic green) and the AF went into total fuzzy mode.

I even shoot bridal entry and limo arrival now in manual and as long as you are not 20 metres away and zoomed in at 200mm the DOF is massive so you can virtually zone focus and it still stays sharp. If I'm looking at moving objects I just stay close and shoot at 18mm and even at F8 you are in focus from around 3' right up to infinity so any limo arrival is easy peasy!!

What I did like on my Panasonic's was a focus ring over-ride so even in auto you could still "correct" the focus by manually adjusting the ring which was useful.

Chris

Peter Rush · August 26th, 2014, 09:05 AM

I think i've been lucky up until now - now I have wedding car arrivals footage from 2 weddings I can just about use - need to change my strategy!

Michael Spanheimer · August 26th, 2014, 12:07 PM

Had some kind of a similiar issue with a guy standing on a boat at night with pyroeffects from behind reflecting on the water... autofocus got lost at one moment to recover after almost half a minute...

August 26th, 2014, 03:07 AM	#1
Peter Rush Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: UK/Yorkshire Posts: 2,069	Autofocus on reflective material I've noticed at the last few wedding shoots that the stock lens has 'hunting' issues when trying to track the arrival of wedding cars, it just has trouble locking on, especially if the sun's out and bouncing off the paintwork - I'm pretty sure it hasn't done it in the past though - strange! I had the same issue with my NEX-VG20/stock lens. I suppose I could engage the servo and track focus manually but some of those cars arrive pretty quick and the servo is pretty slow :/ Anyone else have an issue like this?

August 26th, 2014, 03:14 AM	#2
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,509	Re: Autofocus on reflective material Yes me! :) Had exactly the same issue when I just got the camera, I oldtimer with a high glossy carpaint drove towards me, I think it was even cloudy at that moment and it was early in the morning but the autofocus from the ea50 went completely haywire, the image turned all blurry and the camera refused to recover. I had to switch to manual after that.

August 26th, 2014, 07:48 AM	#3
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Autofocus on reflective material Hi Pete Me as well ..I have had a few times when the autofocus lost the plot on a limo that kept changing colour (seriously it went from a metallic blue to a metallic green) and the AF went into total fuzzy mode. I even shoot bridal entry and limo arrival now in manual and as long as you are not 20 metres away and zoomed in at 200mm the DOF is massive so you can virtually zone focus and it still stays sharp. If I'm looking at moving objects I just stay close and shoot at 18mm and even at F8 you are in focus from around 3' right up to infinity so any limo arrival is easy peasy!! What I did like on my Panasonic's was a focus ring over-ride so even in auto you could still "correct" the focus by manually adjusting the ring which was useful. Chris

August 26th, 2014, 09:05 AM	#4
Peter Rush Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: UK/Yorkshire Posts: 2,069	Re: Autofocus on reflective material I think i've been lucky up until now - now I have wedding car arrivals footage from 2 weddings I can just about use - need to change my strategy!

August 26th, 2014, 12:07 PM	#5
Michael Spanheimer Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Frankfurt Germany Posts: 62	Re: Autofocus on reflective material Had some kind of a similiar issue with a guy standing on a boat at night with pyroeffects from behind reflecting on the water... autofocus got lost at one moment to recover after almost half a minute...