what can a guy do to get consistent focus??

Tony Davies-Patrick · December 30th, 2011, 03:44 AM

I've never had a problem with the 6 X lens in AF or MF with stock viewfinders and find it far the sharpest and easiest to focus of the all AF and MF XL series lenses.

Were you using MF throughout the filming? (The AF of course can hunt or shift focus if not locked down).

If the 20X lens is OK using the stock viewfinder, then it can't be the viewfinder that is at fault. Are you touching the lens barrel of the 6X at all during filming? Have you also checked that the back-focus is ok?

Norbert Holzmann · December 30th, 2011, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marty Hudzik

Thanks everyone for your input. I have a question though.

Why do you need to add 10% on the 6x lens to get an accurate focus? This lens was made for this camera so why would the focus readout be off?

And since we are talking about the 6x lens, why is that focus ring so sensitive. I am focused at 12ft and I barely nudge it and it jumps to 68ft! What's up with that?

This is exactly the same behavior with my 6x.

Marty Hudzik · January 3rd, 2012, 01:49 PM

I have been very busy the last few weeks and I will try to answer some of the questions posed to me.

First and foremost, the Samurai has performed like a champ and seems to be a solid device. Since I have the XLh1 I have to use the control-l cable, an analog audio cable and the SDI cable. A bit of a nuisance but it works great...no complaints there.

One quirk is that when shooting 24P I have to move the camera around or wave my hands in front of the lens a few times to get the Samurai to detect the 2:3 puuldown cadence and remove the duplicated frames. This is only required once each session, so power on, point the camera at something and move it slowly side to side. It locks in, and done until I power down. The Samurai will not even allow you to record until you have done this.

Regarding the 6x wide lens.....while i have had good luck with sharp images when it does focus, i do not feel like it is easy to focus with. In theory, being wider should make it easier, but I have a hard time detecting focus on wider shots. The 6x has always felt harder to get focus on, at least with the EVF.

My best guess is that my problem arose from using the peaking of the FU-1000 in conjunction with the peaking of the XLh1. The two combined to create a very "white edgy image in the viewfinder" that looked almost like an effect. I could clearly see detail in all the areas....it was over busy. I would swear that the shot in question was nailed dead on as there was a lot of items in the shot that I could see were in focus....based on the white lines glowing around the edges. Still, the shots themselves ended up being very soft. So obviously something was wrong.

I wish the clips had MetaData that would tell me if autofocus had been on accidentally, but I don;t think I will ever know for certain. I am 99% sure it was off.

Regardless, I will say that the Samurai exposes a lot of fine noise in the footage that I shoot. It is very small fine grain that the HDV codec cannot handle, therefore it gets compressed and is not easily detectable in the HDV footage. The ProRes codec grabs this however and it can be quite offensive to watch. It cheapens the image somewhat and makes it look like it was shot on a much lower end camera. Even at -3db it is there somewhat.

I have resigned myself to using Neat Video plugin which detects the noise signature and removes it amazingly well, making the resulting footage look more like it was shot on a modern camera with great S/N ratio.

Regardless the resulting footage, when color corrected, graded and noise removed, looks far better than the HDV that I was previously recording.

I'll be glad to answer additional questions if you have any.

Chris Hurd · January 3rd, 2012, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dale Guthormsen

I also would love to hear some more about using either ninja or saumeri with the xlh1.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marty Hudzik

First and foremost, the Samurai has performed like a champ and seems to be a solid device.

This really belongs in a separate discussion thread since it isn't related to focus issues... I am planning to have a dedicated Atomos forum up and running here shortly. That's really where this post should go. Thanks in advance,

Marty Hudzik · January 5th, 2012, 08:35 AM

Sorry about the Samurai related portions of my post. I have been active in the Samurai forum also so when the question got asked, I just answered, forgetting that we are in the XLh1 forum in a thread discussing focus issues. Will try to keep it in the Atomos section once it's live.

December 30th, 2011, 03:44 AM	#16
Tony Davies-Patrick Trustee Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Worldwide Posts: 1,589	Re: what can a guy do to get consistent focus?? I've never had a problem with the 6 X lens in AF or MF with stock viewfinders and find it far the sharpest and easiest to focus of the all AF and MF XL series lenses. Were you using MF throughout the filming? (The AF of course can hunt or shift focus if not locked down). If the 20X lens is OK using the stock viewfinder, then it can't be the viewfinder that is at fault. Are you touching the lens barrel of the 6X at all during filming? Have you also checked that the back-focus is ok? __________________ www.WILDCARP.com www.NIKON.me.uk

January 3rd, 2012, 01:49 PM	#18
Marty Hudzik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canton, Ohio Posts: 1,771	Re: what can a guy do to get consistent focus?? I have been very busy the last few weeks and I will try to answer some of the questions posed to me. First and foremost, the Samurai has performed like a champ and seems to be a solid device. Since I have the XLh1 I have to use the control-l cable, an analog audio cable and the SDI cable. A bit of a nuisance but it works great...no complaints there. One quirk is that when shooting 24P I have to move the camera around or wave my hands in front of the lens a few times to get the Samurai to detect the 2:3 puuldown cadence and remove the duplicated frames. This is only required once each session, so power on, point the camera at something and move it slowly side to side. It locks in, and done until I power down. The Samurai will not even allow you to record until you have done this. Regarding the 6x wide lens.....while i have had good luck with sharp images when it does focus, i do not feel like it is easy to focus with. In theory, being wider should make it easier, but I have a hard time detecting focus on wider shots. The 6x has always felt harder to get focus on, at least with the EVF. My best guess is that my problem arose from using the peaking of the FU-1000 in conjunction with the peaking of the XLh1. The two combined to create a very "white edgy image in the viewfinder" that looked almost like an effect. I could clearly see detail in all the areas....it was over busy. I would swear that the shot in question was nailed dead on as there was a lot of items in the shot that I could see were in focus....based on the white lines glowing around the edges. Still, the shots themselves ended up being very soft. So obviously something was wrong. I wish the clips had MetaData that would tell me if autofocus had been on accidentally, but I don;t think I will ever know for certain. I am 99% sure it was off. Regardless, I will say that the Samurai exposes a lot of fine noise in the footage that I shoot. It is very small fine grain that the HDV codec cannot handle, therefore it gets compressed and is not easily detectable in the HDV footage. The ProRes codec grabs this however and it can be quite offensive to watch. It cheapens the image somewhat and makes it look like it was shot on a much lower end camera. Even at -3db it is there somewhat. I have resigned myself to using Neat Video plugin which detects the noise signature and removes it amazingly well, making the resulting footage look more like it was shot on a modern camera with great S/N ratio. Regardless the resulting footage, when color corrected, graded and noise removed, looks far better than the HDV that I was previously recording. I'll be glad to answer additional questions if you have any.

January 5th, 2012, 08:35 AM	#20
Marty Hudzik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canton, Ohio Posts: 1,771	Re: what can a guy do to get consistent focus?? Sorry about the Samurai related portions of my post. I have been active in the Samurai forum also so when the question got asked, I just answered, forgetting that we are in the XLh1 forum in a thread discussing focus issues. Will try to keep it in the Atomos section once it's live.