thanks guys. this all helped alot.

luckily i went to a new location and timed it perfectly with the sun so it was never on us and we were in SHADE the whole time! one of the best shoots ive ever been on (even though we only got a 15 second 1 shot frame done in 4 hours :D then had to go home)

:D

David--Glad to hear things worked out well for you. The reason you were not seeing much change in focus when shooting in such bright conditions is probably because you were shooting at a very high f-stop (f22 or f16). At such a high f-stop the depth of field of the camera is extremely deep (even deeper if you are shooting wide angle, shallower if you are on a telephoto). This is basic camera theory and you may already know it, so forgive me if you do. I agree that the eyepiece resolution is very poor and def. something panasonic needs to improve--it's nearly impossible to get precise focus on something using it. That said, the best way to obtain focus is to zoom all the way in on your subject, focus, and then zoom back out to whatever focal lenght you will be shooting at. And if you are looking for a shallower depth of field, go to a longer lens, use your ND's to cut the amount of light and open up on your iris to a lower f-stop. Good luck,

Peter