Who needs a Focus Puller?
 

Just kidding, really, but I practiced a bit today with the Focus Preset, setting the point on a foreground object, camera right. Pushing the Push Auto Focus button shifted the focus 10 feet farther away to my background object, positioned center frame. Pushing the Focus Preset button (with the speed set to slow) racked focus right back to the original spot - beautiful!
It doesn't look like this action can be accessed via the remote, so I had to be very gentle with the buttons in order to avoid any camera movement. Does anyone know of a work around for this, and, is there any way to set two discreet focus presets, so as to not have to use Push Auto Focus, and maybe allow for a wider spacing of two objects (or people)? Also, is it just me, or does this lens have shallower DOF than the stock 16X on my old XL-1?
Thanks,
- Jim

It is probably just you that thinks the lens create different depths of field. All lenses will create the same DOF at the same aperture and focal range, it is simple physics.

One thing that may be missleading is the 16x and 20x, these are just representations of how many times the starting focal range occurs in the range of the lens. So at 16x for both lenses, they will be different focal lengths because the XH-A1 starts of wider.

I wish, I wish, I wish Canon had put this focus preset feature on the remote. It seems more than anything the thing you would want to do without touching the camera.

I'm just waiting to get the ZR2000 LANC remote, which has a focus wheel on it.

Sony have got it licked with this one. You can set two shot transition presets, set the length of the transition and whether it's linear or smooth, and now you can even set a delay and a syncro start so you can do some nice focus pulls or zooms, without shakey hands coming anywhere near the camera during the recording.

Still, I'm glad Canon at least included a single preset option on the lens. It helps during interviews to reset back to your wide shot.

Hi Alex - which cameras are you refering to? FX7? V1? Z1? Others?
TIA

With the Sony Z1 and FX1 you can set two shots (focus & zoom) and toggle between the two. You set the speed of the change (up to 15 seconds?) and whether it is linear or has a soft start and stop.

On the Sony HVR-A1 you can also set a pre-timer, so once you hit the button it will wait a set number of seconds before doing the transition - so you have time to get your hands off the camera to avoid wobble!

On the Sony V1 they've also added a synchro-start function so you can get the transition to happen at the same time as the tape starts - saving you hitting extra buttons.

I don't know about the FX7.

I want it on the remote!
 

Just got around to playing around with this feature and noticed how useful it's going to be. However, trying to push the preset focus button while shooting can definitely shake the camera, if you're not very careful. I looked for this function on the remote, but doesn't seem to exist. Bummer. Can this be a firmware update feature? Or maybe Canon can come out with a new remote that his this function! I want it! I want it!

You make a good point, it is indeed a beautiful feature and the remote option would make it just fantastic. Someone want to add this to the wish list?

I'm not sure if it is a "firmware" item or not. For several years I've been led to believe that exposure control wasn't possible over LANC, but then it became a feature on their most recent controller, the ZR-2000.

It's too late to include this item to the current poll (it's progressed too far along to change it now), but perhaps we'll have a "Round Two" to which it could be added.