Focus is malfunctioning
 

Today my EX1 focus has stopped functioning during regular indoors filming.
I had full manual focus and zoomed in a label, sharpened shot then zoomed out.
While the zoom became totally wide open picture got blurred.
I couldn't operate the camera in auto-manual or in full manual focus mode.

Has anyone came across similar phenomena?

Suggestions are highly appreciated.
( I've already tried to get in touch with Prime Sup, this could be a nice malfunction of the focus ring...???)

thnks in advance

Atti

i may have had the same problem on a shoot this week. my normal procedure for focusing is similar to yours. i zoom all the way in on my subject, focus and then zoom out to compose the shot. during the shoot i would notice on our 17" Panasonic HD monitor that the image looked soft even though the "peaking" showed everything in focus and the "DoF bar" displayed exactly what the "peaking" was doing. on a couple of shots the subject was anywhere between 5-10 feet away, yet i had to set the focus, on the lens, 2-3 feet further than the actually distance of my subject. i didn't notice these issues when i was zoomed in, only on the "fully" wide shots.

is this a back focus issue?

one variable to consider is that i had a 1/8 Black Pro Mist filter in my mattebox.

Well, now I just think this is a broken focus issue not a back focus, which is actually giving me a funny feeling about the reliability and workmanship of the EX1 line.
Although my EX1 was quite an early bird of its line I had no back focus or other premature production line issues.
This broken focus failure or phenomena is not at all what I was expecting from a camera from the EX line, and especially when the cam is "younger" than 2 years.

I had cheaper cams before, worked e.g. with the PD170 which was superbly built, never a problem.

Now I'm really thinking that it would be actually interesting to collect and analyse inputs on my "EX1 broke down with...".
How many EX1 sold and how many ended up in Silver Support or Service with obvious failure. Send it in pls. if you had time, thnks

If you have an early EX1, like mine, then i can tell you that there is a modified lens.
My lens went faulty, i had it replaced by prime support, (they're only a short distance from my house so i can drive there), i was then told that the lens is a different model, outside it looks the same but inside it's different.
In clip browser you can find out the lens model on specific shots, and the number of the new lens is different to the old lens

Paul.

Paul,
that's a very valuable info, thank you for that. PS arranging a pick up for tomorrow but they'll fixing it in the UK or France. I'll report back here later what they'll say caused the fault.

what is the new lens model number? i'd like to see if mine is the new one.

thanks.

It's XT14X5.8 (that was found in clip browser )

What is the new supposed to be?

For sure that's one thing you might expect when buying a "cheap" camera like this, makes those that spend nearly 10 times the price on an F900/Varicam etc. feel a little better I suppose.
I used an EX3 that had focus problems too, seems to be fairly common.
Steve

mine's XT14x5.8 as well.

I had a lens change - before the change, the lens was shown as XT14X5.8 and after, XT14X5.8AS-X8C

interesting. thanks Nick.

EX1 defective lens
 

I have an EX1 in for repair (it will not hold a focus) and was told today the lens has to be replaced (($1,700 ouch!!!!). The camera is probably in that 1st batch with a serial # in the low 300's. From this post it seems that this is not the 1st with that problem. From past experience, is Sony a standup type or a CYA type. Any information will help as I need to address the problem tomorrow.

out of curiosity what was your f-stop?

Jack, do you need to pay it? How come?
I was thinking that Silver Support is the one taking care of such problems. I think Sony must be aware of the existence of focus issue, or you might just point out to this thread.

i'm having my lens looked at by the service department where i bought my camera at on thursday. i'll let you guys know what we find out. if there is an issue i sure hope sony covers the cost of it. times are tough.