Originally Posted by Chris Hurd (Post 648234)

Well I think it's obvious that the title of the thread should be changed. No doubt the original poster returned the HV20 after one hour, but the reason was not "due to bad autofocus design." It was instead perhaps due to unrealistic expectations or unfamiliarity with how the camcorder is designed to operate. I'll come up with some suitable revision for a more appropriate thread title.

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd (Post 648234)

Well I think it's obvious that the title of the thread should be changed. No doubt the original poster returned the HV20 after one hour, but the reason was not "due to bad autofocus design." It was instead perhaps due to unrealistic expectations or unfamiliarity with how the camcorder is designed to operate. I'll come up with some suitable revision for a more appropriate thread title.

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd (Post 648357)

Thread title changed from "Returning HV20 after 1 hour due to bad autofocus design" to "Returning HV20 after 1 hour." We know for a fact that the "Returning HV20 after 1 hour" part is true. The "bad autofocus design" part is an obfuscation. There is nothing wrong with the autofocus design on the HV20, and it is highly unlikely that there was anything at all wrong with this particular HV20. Hope this helps,

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd (Post 648234)

Well I think it's obvious that the title of the thread should be changed. No doubt the original poster returned the HV20 after one hour, but the reason was not "due to bad autofocus design." It was instead perhaps due to unrealistic expectations or unfamiliarity with how the camcorder is designed to operate. I'll come up with some suitable revision for a more appropriate thread title.

Originally Posted by Alan Dunkel (Post 649371)

Mike, The default instant auto focus us just that, way fast, in this case calling it instant isn't much of a stretch. If the center of the image is small, like a squirrel, it will hunt if the camera person is shaky with the camera or the squirrel moves, not so with a larger subject or a steady hand. It is a very useful auto foucs feature, you can even simulate a rack focus with it, it snaps to that fast, it is unlike any other auto focus I've used and a great tool. I did change mine to regular ( not instant ) in the menu and it works like any consumer auto focus. I've been using that setting, but when going with manual focus I set back to the instant mode and can go to that or manual quickly that way without the menu. To each his own, but there are no issues with HV20 focus. None at all, now like any auto focus when you get in low light performance of the auto focus degrades, I'd suggest going manual and using the focus assist on the LCD when lighting dims. The HV20 image does do well in lower light, at least in 24p mode, which took me by surprise. I'm in no way saying it is a night vision device, you need light, but it does well in that regard for a basic consumer camera. My plan is to use an external monitor for narrative work, but that is due to the addition of the Brevis35 on front and a Nikon 50mm. In that configuration I will focus using a 720p monitor, not needed for the camera on its own though.
Thanks, Alan

Originally Posted by Pat Reddy (Post 649611)

I have tried using these features. Manual focus and exposure functions work quite well. It's fun to us Av mode and see how changing the aperture affects depth of field.