Backfocus Issue

[Alec Moreno]

I just keep finding something to complain about on the NX5...

On a recent shoot, I had backfocus issues for about ten minutes, and then the problem disappeared. I zoomed in and set focus correctly each time, and when I zoomed back out to frame my shots they were consistently blurry. (I had the macrofocus turned off and the camera was definitely set to manual focus.) Several minutes prior, I had been gathering similar shots with no problem at all. After this ten minute window, the camera held focus properly for the rest of the shoot.

I should have thought to turn off the camera and turn it back on again to see if it would help, but it never crossed my mind as I thought backfocus was a mechanical issue. I don't actually recall whether I powered down the camera after the problem period or not. If I did, that might have been solution. If not, then I'm at a loss for an explanation as to why the problem ceased.

Here's a related problem. When I first got this camera, I was testing the difference between shooting with the macrofocus turned on and off. In my tests, I noticed that the camera would not hold focus on distant subjects when I had the macrofocus turned on. This seemed a little odd to me but I assumed that this was just how the camera was designed...that I would just need to be very careful about selecting the proper setting depending on my proximity to the subject in each shot. After last night's fiasco though, I tested this again and now the camera is holding focus on distant subjects regardless of whether the macrofocus is turned on or off. I have not been able to duplicate either problem since.

I got somewhat lucky on this last shoot as the shots I missed due to this were not the most critical to the event, but if it had happened at the wrong time, it could have been disastrous.

I know there were some backfocus issues with the earlier NX5's as Mark Von Lanken detailed in his review, but I checked my serial number again and it's definitely a more recent camera, bought a little over a month ago. So my question is...has anyone else run into a similar problem? If so, what solution did you find? If sending the camera back to Sony was the only option, how quick were they about getting it fixed (did they make it a priority over other repairs)? Were there any additional charges (though I can't imagine a fee for a problem like this)?

Alec Moreno
Wedding Art Films - Southern California - Los Angeles - Orange County - Video

[Ron Evans]

My dealer sent mine back to Sony and they changed the whole lens assembly. I seem to recall it took about 2 weeks and it cost me a one way shipping charge of about $25. I was convinced mine had an intermittent backfocus problem and the auto focus was very poor and slow for the one push auto when in manual.

The focus now seems good and picture is much sharper.

Ron Evans

[Alec Moreno]

Thank you Ron. It's comforting to know Sony took care of it fairly quickly and I'm glad it worked out in the end for you. I guess I'll be going the same route.

Alec Moreno
Wedding Art Films - Southern California - Los Angeles - Orange County - Video

[Serggio Lamas]

Originally Posted by Ron Evans

My dealer sent mine back to Sony and they changed the whole lens assembly. I seem to recall it took about 2 weeks and it cost me a one way shipping charge of about $25. I was convinced mine had an intermittent backfocus problem and the auto focus was very poor and slow for the one push auto when in manual.

The focus now seems good and picture is much sharper.

Ron Evans

can i have the mail to contact with sony i have back focus Issue thanks

[Ron Evans]

You need to ask your dealer to do it. I am in Canada you need to use Sony in Europe.

Ron Evans

[Stelios Christofides]

here is Europe Sony support mail

primesupport@eu.sony.com



stelios

[David Arendt]

My 2 NX5s have just arrived. The second has the serial number just incremented by 1, so they are really produced more or less at the same time. As per suggestion of numerous people, I turned macro focus off on both as I generally don't have subjects neared than 80 cm. I filmed a subject with lots of details, once 80cm away and once 2m away. Regardless of zoom range, from aperture F11 to F4, both gave similiar results, from F4 to F1.6, one camcorder was noticably sharper when looking with expanded focus (in manual and autofocus). I disabled my picture profiles to be sure nothing in them was causing it, but same result. I was ready to send one NX5 in for repair, but before doing that, I wanted to restore settings to default, to be sure that the problem can also be reproduced with default settings. As I knew which settings I have changed, I have not used the reset function (I don't even now if there is one), but I manually changed the settings back. Once I changed the Macro Focus to on, there was no longer a problem with focusing and even at F1.6, both camcorder looked equally sharp, for subjects at 80cm away and at 2m away, so for now, I stick ever with macro focus on. Also comparing the meters indication, they were displaying the same on both camcorders.
It was to late to do more tests. I will probably do some more tests today and report back my findings.

[Ron Evans]

Two points you may want to look at. The autofocus on my NX5U is poor at best. I always have peaking on and double check with the expanded focus. I often find the indication is not close to what the actual focus is observed to be "in focus" to my eyes and the peaking. Second as mentioned the scaled indication is not consistent at all. I can use either autofocus or manual focus and get different distance indentations just repeating at the same point. I don't trust anymore and always have peaking on. Expanded focus and peaking are what I use all the time. In good light at a distance autofocus is not bad but in low light useless. Before I had my lens changed under warranty autofocus was the only way to get acceptable results but the image really was poor compared to my small consumer Sony's to the point of me considering selling the NX5U. You will also get better results by making sure to keep iris in the range close to F4 by using ND filters or gain. This I think keeps the camera in the best range for the lens/sensor. Close down the iris much more than F6.8 and the picture gets fuzzy, of course with zoom the lens ramps to F3.4 so the useful range is quite small for best results. With operation in this range I can see the difference with macro on or off. Small but noticeable on my camera. Maybe with later cameras this has been solved. Mine was one of the early models.

Ron Evans