View Full Version : Can you pre-focus GH4 and have it stay through power on/off?


Ken Kaiser
September 27th, 2014, 08:43 PM
I thought if I put my GH4 on manual focus that it would remain focused on the same point when I turn it off and back on, but it turns back on out of focus and needs to be refocused. Is there a setting I'm missing or is just not possible to lock focus on a certain point through a power cycle?

Noa Put
September 28th, 2014, 12:11 AM
I have to refocus as well each time, unless there is some hidden menu feature I guess the only way to prevent this is to use all manual lenses like the Samyang/Rokinons.

Ken Kaiser
September 28th, 2014, 10:26 AM
Darn...that's what I am afraid of.

Pete Carney
September 28th, 2014, 10:37 AM
I've tried it with my 100-300 in manual focus and even after sleep mode it loses focus.

Unfortunately that lens is a bear to do manual focus with in the first place. Definitely a bummer to have to refocus every time I power off or it goes to sleep.

Cheers,
pete

Ken Kaiser
September 28th, 2014, 12:38 PM
I was hoping that for a remote camera, I could pre-focus and set everything to manual so that I could just "turn it on" and go if I had everything set. I do long form recording, and I don't have access to cameras through the event. I have to balance getting set, memory card, and battery, to capture a 3 hour event.

Dave Partington
September 28th, 2014, 01:04 PM
I thought if I put my GH4 on manual focus that it would remain focused on the same point when I turn it off and back on, but it turns back on out of focus and needs to be refocused. Is there a setting I'm missing or is just not possible to lock focus on a certain point through a power cycle?

I was hoping that for a remote camera, I could pre-focus and set everything to manual so that I could just "turn it on" and go if I had everything set. I do long form recording, and I don't have access to cameras through the event. I have to balance getting set, memory card, and battery, to capture a 3 hour event.

A couple of things to consider...

Samyang / Voigtlander primes are totally manual, so won't change their focus based on the camera powering up / down.

There is a remote iPhone (and Android?) app for controlling the camera which also allows touch focusing, so if that's an option it may be worth checking in to.