Loosing the ability to focus with Sony EX-3
 

Hello,

During a recent shoot I lost the ability to focus with my EX-3. I always shoot in manual, so I don´t suspect the auto/manual switch ring to be the cause. This seems to be a software issue. Shuting the camera down and power it back again solves the issue. But I must admit this is a very annoying bug, and I don´t dare to think about what will happen if I´m not able to reset the camera during an important session (which most of them are). Anyone experiencing the same issue? And are there any permanent solutions to this annoying bug?

Thanks.

Best,
Terje Rian

I have had the same problem on long shoots with the camera essentially in free run record mode for over an hour. I have also seen other forums on this issue with the EX3 but I am not sure if it has been documented before today on this forum. Could be wrong though.

The present known fix is to "reboot" the camera by turning it off and then back on as you have discovered.

I've been recently told by Sony Canada that a firmware update to fix this problem will be available sometime mid-December.

It's a bug that hit my new EX3 in september within the first shots. I sent it back to Sony. They didn't manage to reproduce the problem but they believed me and send me a new one - now I film without any problems.

Markus

Thank you for confirming my findings. After posting here on dvinfo I found threads that describes similar behaviours of the camera. It´s a shame, it´s such a nice camera. I´m happy to hear about Sony´s quick response though. It´s time to contact Sony tech support.

Best,
-terje

Terje,

I have experienced the same issue in a very funny situation. It was a showroom item in Vienna where I went in August to try the cam. During the trying session this same thing happened and the Sony guys had no clue what the heck it was about, they tried a lot of things before they switched it on and off - and then the focus was back again.

anyone notice if this is hapenning while coming out of the macro setting? cause it just happened to me three times, and every time it was when I would either turn the macro on or off.

its three days old, so I am just gonna send it back. hopefully the next one doesnt do it too!


edit--

I should describe it better, its when I slide the focus ring forward, then back that will get it to stop focusing. but not every time. I just spoke to someone else here in des moines who has the ex3 and theirs does it too. if a firmware update is coming out, might just be better to wait for that, rather then send it back twice. right?

I´ve been in contact with Sony here in Norway. They confirm what Mr. Hama suggests earlier in this thread. It seems that Sony has a firmware update ready in December. I
can´t be sure of this, of course, but I find it difficult to believe that Sony would ignore a serious issue like this.

Mr. Planchon, I can´t confirm your findings. Everytime I´ve lost my focus I´ve paused to reframe. The first time it happend it was of course really scary. Hopefully the issue will be solved real soon, or Sony will end up with a non-selling camera model.

I find the lack of a statment odd. It would calm the users, or at least provide some information about the issue. It´s obvious that Sony know about the focus issue with the EX-3. My telephone conversation earlier today confirms this. What I don´t understand is why just a few of the users experiences this problem? If it´s just a software issue most users should get the same problem eventually? (I´ve had the EX-3 since July, but haven´t used it more than about 15-20 hours in total.)

Well, let´s hope for the best, and that the issue is possible to solve.

Best,
-terje

focus
 

Never lost focus, but have sometimes a feeling of slow focus tracking. I always use manual focus. Looking forward to an upgrade!
Ap

Well, I have come across this too. I was doing a lot of macro work yesterday then reframed for a more distant shot of something 12 feet or so away (after I'd turned macro switch off) and could not get focus with focus ring in AF/Manual or Full Manual position or with Autofocus switched on or off. Rebooted the camera and all was fine (except I'd lost a little confidence in this great cam!)

Hmm! Let's see what Sony's new EX3 firmware promises next week

yeah, thats exactly what happened to me.

new firmware next week?? I thought it was december.

I've been considering the EX3 but now I'm not so sure. I've been reading similar reports elsewhere. There was one report of the fix being a lens change...is it definitely the firmware?

Well, I wouldn't let something like this put you off getting the EX3!!! Sure, it's a pain in the neck but Sony will resolve it and, so far, it is simply sorted by rebooting the cam. Sure, that's sometimes....often.... the last thing you want to do at a critical moment but at least it is a temporary solution. I for one will keep this thing in perspective. For what I'm doing I can simply reboot - for now.

It's new technology (....well nearly new, it's just a re-packed EX1 really!) but it's stunning technology. As always, us early adopters do a bit of the 'Beta testing' for the manufacturer, in this case Sony....it's always been like this and it always will...and in the meantime we get the advantage of 'bleeding edge' technology that would otherwise been out of our budget. Every new leap-frog (i.e. step) in technology brings things like this as we all know.

This will be resolved by Sony as we've learnt from this and other forums they are aware of the issue and they certainly won't want this to impact any on the fence potential purchasers of this pro cam as the world economy heads south.

It's been reported that some EX3's, apparently, have this issue (mine included it seems) and some don't. This suggests, at least to me, that it might be the lense rather than software (as the software would be the totally identical for all EX3s, but manufacturing/assembly tolerances in the lense might be different - if you follow my logic).

I read a post on another board from a guy that has two EX3s, one with this issue and one without. Now if he could swap the lenses over and see if the problem transfers from one cam to the other we would have our answer as to if it's the software or a lense issue. Simple as that.

Whilst we await the solution from Sony I'll just carry on using the thing to get the stuff that no other cam I've ever owned came close to enabling me to do (I just won't do lots of macro and longer range shots back to back at critical times!)

like andy said, its not something that should turn you away from the camera. its still sweet as ever. in my case, I least I know what to avoid doing in order to maintain focus. luckily, I dont need the macro very much. some arent as lucky though, and it happens randomly. but again, like andy said, its a simple reboot for now.

Loss of EX3 focus seems intermittent
 

Try as I might I was unable to reproduce this fault again on my EX3 this morning, it all worked perfectly as I went to and from macro to longer shots where I was using either full AF or (more typically for me) full manual. Focus behaved exactly as it should. I definitely had this issue late last week as reported above so it looks like it's intermittent on mine. This might explain why it's taken so long for me to experience it, I've had the cam since late July. When I noticed the issue last week it was after using the cam for many hours. The camera was very cold today (and it was outside in sleet). No idea if temperature is important but I'll try it again sometime after hours of heavy use.

Hello,

I have to agree with Mr. Wilkinson. In my opinion the Sony EX-3 is by far the most exiting camcorder out there (in it´s price range, of course). The focus issue is something Sony needs to address, and they know it. It´s the lack of response to this issue that´s my main concern, not the quality of the actual product. The EX-3 is, for anyone who has spent some time with it, a unique and superb product. (But I guess it helps to recognize it´s potential if you have experiences with other camcorders and different types of work challenges.)

Best,
Terje Rian

Rarely with computers are crashes random. The embedded operating system in the EX series cam is fouling up with the focus. The exact nature of the bugs haven't been determined for certain. It seems the only thing consistent about the (software) bug is that in happens when the camera has been in record mode for a long time. I think this business about switching back and forth between macro mode is a red herring along with the pulling of the focus ring from assisted manual to full manual and back again.

All the freezes I have had occurred shooting in one mode, say assisted manual and then after an hour or so the auto focus button wouldn't work and when I went to use the focus wheel, it didn't work as well.

I am sure Sony's software engineers are busy trying to reproduce the bugs with repeatable conditions so they can eliminate the issue ASAP. An issue like this has huge implications to a lot of departments in Sony's video division. I do think they will have a lot of difficulty selling this software fix as something the users will have to pay for given it makes the camera unsuitable to many in a production environment where big bucks and reputuations are at stake.

same here
 

This happened to me twice yesterday on my 2nd shoot. It's a shame to have to turn the camera off. I thought it was broken.

I have swapped lenses - the issue comes from the camera body. It disengages the servo clutch in the lens so that the ring spins and does not pick up and move the lens elements. Ours does it pretty much full time. Sony did not say they knew about it and I only found this thread after having called them but the service we have had from them so far has not exactly been good so quelle surprise.

So far, my issues are ex1 - battery drain, remote control not working , ex3 - 48v phantom not working, random renumbering of clips, focus not working. I am not feeling too chuffed at the moment.

s

Stuart, thanks for the useful, if very worrying information. Sony better get their Techies to cancel their Xmas holidays until this is sorted.

Really good info Stuart for the users and Sony.

When I had the problem in early September they told me to disconnect and reconnect the lens but the problem wasn't resolved. Therefore they decided to change the camera. It's not that funny having a new cam with those failures but I am really glad to deal with Sony folks in the EU because they really want to help. With Canon I never had this service level. Maybe today or tomorrow I will report about another Sony service help concerning EX3.

Markus

Once again, I had the focus problem yesterday and this time, I had just switched out of macro mode.
knowing that the quick-fix is "power-down and reboot", I didn´t panick....
but like you´re all saying, this is a real pain in the @$$....

dunno if a petition to SONY would change anything...
any ideas?

for me it seems to be strictly based on the macro mode. so I am good if I steer clear of that, or at least understand if I DO switch to macro, I WILL have to reboot.

cant wait for the new firmware though!

EX3 focus issue
 

I sent my EX3 in to Thomas at Sony service for a back focus issue in Manual Focus mode. I had it back in 3 days. I'd set up the back focus via the manual instructions, but I was in Full MF mode when I did it. He set it up while in Auto Focus mode and it seems to have fixed the problem in any mode I'm in now. He did, however, say that there is a firmware update coming out Dec 6 for everybody---meanwhile, try doing the back focus procedure in Auto Focus mode and see if that works for you.

just heard back from a guy I used to work with who has an ex3, he said that he heard from some one else who spoke with a sony rep that turning off the manul focus assist in the menu will fix the focus issue some of us are having.

worth a shot at least.

EX3 - Fix for Loss of Focus Issue
 

Thanks Ian for the information! Will give it a try next time my EX3 decides to act up again on this one (it's still acting perfectly, I've only ever had this issue once so far, unlike some on this thread who have been much more unlucky.)

Anyone heard any more about this supposed firmware upgrade that was due to appear on the 6th...or was the info innacurate?

I think the news today that Sony is cutting 8000 jobs may have delayed this one (and no doubt other imminent things in the Sony camp)....but that's only a guess. I've been in big multi-nationals when things like that hit and it's chaos for a while! Now I'm self employed I can create my own chaos......

Endgaget is reporting 16,000 jobs cut, 8k permanent positions and 8k contract workers as well as 1/3 of manufacturing output. Then in January 09 major price increases to compensate for high Yen as well as high EU and US dollars. Pretty bleak news :-(

Yes, just seen these revised figures in the UK on-line press. Bleak indeed. Amongst some of the detail on one website was news that "It will end production at the Dax Technology Centre in France, where it makes tape and other recording equipment" (from The Telegraph).

Anyway, this thread is about loss of focus on EX3s, not the loss of focus on the world economy.... so I guess we should get back to that!

Please no!
 

I want to believe that this didn't happen to me this afternoon. But I'm not kidding myself. I'm using a Summer model, with firmware 1.02_0078 IIRC. Is that the lastest?

Jus.

So far there is no announced firmware update for the EX3. So what we all have is current.

you should try what I mention on page two: turn off manual focus assist in the menu. it seems to have fixed it for me....

Where does one find the firmware version in the EX3? Is it in a plain menu screen or do you have to know an undocumented sequenece of button presses to see the version number?

Well...
 

I would... but mine was already off. My EX3's 'senior moment' occurred after changing between manual and auto focus on the ring. Rebooting restored the function but sheesh... suppose I was in the middle of a shot!

That said, still loving this thing. Haven't quite got around to having an EX3 tattoo on my shoulder but I'm not far off...

Jus.

Top Secret.
 

Hold down the 'Select' and 'Cancel' buttons and while holding them down, click the menu button. A few extra menus appear on the list, the last of which (again IIRC) will list the 'version number' of the firmware. This functionality lasts until the camera is rebooted.

Jus.

I thought I've read somewhere here that there's only ONE version of firmware so far?

my camera was doing exactly what your camera was doing, when you slide the focus ring forward, then everynow and then, when sliding it back, focus would quit.

if you turn off the manual focus assist now, SUPPOSEDLY you wont ever have the problem again. rebooting only fixes it when its happening. this is what I am told at least, and so far, after much testing, I cant get the focus to stop working yet.

No, we're having that problem even with FA "off".