Michael,

Not forgetting that at all - read my theory a few posts above as to why I think it's happening in only some cameras.

Your theory is equally plausible. Looking forward to finding out the full story.

Michael,
its not just ONE particular camera - there are A LOT of owners with the very same problem besides me.

Tried and true
 

Both of my EX1s exhibit vignette and back focus issues.
Both bought fro the UK and sent to Athens Greece.
The first one arrived in the end of January SN: 401039 and the vignette problem is more apparent the second camera arrived in the middle of February SN: 402302 with much less vignetting but both exhibit the back focus problem mentioned above.
Called Sony UK and already have file numbers for both and wait for a technician to call.
I will let you know when I talk to the technician.

How do you check for the back focus problem ?

zoom in, make focus (to what disctance ?)
zoom back, check focus (which should be out of focus), make focus, see the difference.

What the difference is ?
is it the same when focusing at different distances ?

I'll try to check mine soon, I think I do have the backfocus problem.
What about the back focus option in the "maintenance menu" ? anybody tried that ?

Hi
Same problem here:

ND off: Backfocus ok.
ND on: not in focus

:-/

Zoom in (almost infinity) f/1.9 ND2, focus and then zoom out. everything look blurry unless I turn the focus ring to 0.8 meters which is really weird.
Really Really bad :-(

Cmon this is ridiculous,
We should be using these cameras to do our assignments instead of just performing tests after tests for possible shortcomings and talking to Prime Support. Sony needs to recognize the problem which is really serious and take action. It's been three months already and no serious action's been taken on their behalf.

So do I run a backfocus check at every ND setting or do you change ND DURING the test.

Pavlos..

you are SOOOooOOOoo right.

Why does'nt someone call Sony directly and ask them what is being done about this back focus issue. We can sit around here talking about our issues but that problem won't do much of anything since none of us have the tools to fix this problem. If you don't start calling Sony directly this issue will be taken light heartedly.

Someone please report back with their findings. I'm getting sick and tired of theories and speculations.

I´ve talked to Sony (in France) about this 2 days ago. The lady on the phone said that the EX1 still has some issues which can´t be repaired by now and where they are awaiting feedback from Sony Japan before they can do any repairs. (she did not name these issues)
She did not know if the backfocus issue was one of them. She said she would ask a technician and call me back if it made any sense to send my camera in once again. Well, she did not call me back, but UPS picked up my camera today once again. So I called Sony again and the lady said that this would be a know issue which can be solved. On other forums I read about successful repairs coming back from Sony. They already fixed the vignetting issue on my camera and I hope they can also solve the backfocus issue too without introducing another problem...
I also read from various sources that they had great success in fixing their EX1 backfocus issue using a backfocus chart and the hidden menu. It did not work for me on 2 EX1s though - I could greatly improve backfocus with it, but there is still a difference with ND on or off in sharpness.
In the meantime I do not really use the camera :-( and try to stay away from ND on settings which is pretty difficult when shooting outdoors.
Best solution for the time beeing would be to use external ND filters which you can screw in front of the lens or the ones for the matte box.

regards,
Gerald

Interersting find Gerald. When I called Sony a couple of weeks ago and asked about the vignetting issues they said that the new batch should not have any vignetting and it was only inherent in the first batch which has supposidly long been sold out. I would call again but I work during Sony hours and I don;t think I would be able to call on the weekend. It would be awesoem if someone could call Sony North America and see what the situation with the ND filters and backfocus is.

After talking for at least twenty minutes this morning with the help-desk and stating the problems of the camcorder (vignetting-back focus) SONY UK sent me an e-mail asking me what do I mean exactly by Vignetting and Back Focus and if I can elaborate.
Is it possible that they do not have a clue? Phleeeeease...
We are professionals and thank God internet has been an eye opener for over a decade now. How can they ask such questions?
Haven't they heard anything about those issues?
What planet do they live on?

They certainly do "have a clue", Pavlos - being overhelmed by the number of complaints, they're just trying to filter yours out... They hope it is YOU who deosn't know what you're complaining about :)

On the other hand, I remember the long e-mail exchange I had with Prime Support engineer last year on my DR60 drive not working OK with the Vegas "Import from HDD" option... He really didn't seem to have a clue, and tried to explain to me that the 4GB chunks were due to shooting in 25p rather than 50i (while in fact it's connected with the FAT32 limitation, of course).

Sony, c'mon...

I hear you Piotr,

I guess I needed some reassurance.