Focusing with HV20

[neolinski]

Im shooting a documentary with a limited set up (shot gun mic, some filters/wide angle lens, hood, and of course tripod). So I've been using either AF or just using hv20 LCD to manually focus (there are times that I just have to use MF).

But then I read some posts in HV20 where people are saying "MF is useless unless you have an external monitor" because one can not (or should not) make a focus decision based on what hv20 LCD shows.

So should I try to avoid "tricky situation for AF"??
What's your take??

[24Peter]

Personally I find the AF on the HV20 to be pretty good, other than occasionally sticking at the long end of the zoom. I haven't had a situation yet where MF was important but I can see where using the camera's LCD alone would be challenging - e.g., outside in bright daylight, indoors in a very low light situation.

Can you use AF to initially set focus and play with MF from there?

[Frank]

I have found manual focus to be superior to auto even using the built in LCD (at least for a fixed subject). Try this:

1. Zoom in full on the object of interest.
2. Allow autofocus.
3. Once it focuses, lock focus.
4. Push the focus assist button and fine-tune the focus manually.
5. Zoom out to your desired framing.

I have been getting perfect focus using this technique.

[neolinski]

how do i "lock focus"?

i couldnt find in my manual.

[Frank]

Simple: If you are in autofocus mode, just press the "focus" button on the left of the camera towards the front. This switches you to manual focus and locks it at whatever it currently is.

btw, the focus assist button is on the LCD screen and if you are in manual mode and you push it, the image is digitally magnified and the focus exaggerated so that is very easy to dial in exact focus.

[jmorton]

Once in manual focus, zoomed all the way in and with focus assist, I like to place a newspaper or magazine or some other printed material at the point I want focus then I manually focus to get the sharpest lettering. Then I zoom out to my desired framing.

You simply cannot do any better than this as far as I can tell.

Also note that generation loss and the quality of your export format will effect the sharpness of your video.

JM

[neolinski]

thanks guys.

jmorton, that seems like a good idea. but i can't afford to do that because of a nature of my documentary.

ps: i hate how i can't use the focus assist function when recording.

[24Peter]

ps: i hate how i can't use the focus assist function when recording.

Agreed - it makes no sense to me but I don't really use MF that much so it's not a big deal. Maybe because they're afraid we'll shake the camera when trying to push the button on the LCD while recording? Technically, it just looks like an in-camera digital zoom.

[Doctor F.]

If you set, under DISPLAY SETUP, ASSIST FUNC. to PEAK, then this feature is available while recording. See p48 of the manual.

This I find makes focusing easier during recording.

[Freeroamer]

I don't actually have my HV20 yet, will be receiving it tomorrow, but have already found this forum useful.

About setting focus before shooting, my movie making experience is mostly with film cameras, but maybe this will add something to the discussion:

If you don't have faith in auto focus in a particular situation, especially where the subject(s) will be moving around rapidly in a random fashion, and you want to manually set focus, there's always the rule of thirds regarding depth of field.

Currently I'm making videos of kid football games from the sideline using the movie function on a Canon G7 still camera. (I expect that the HV20 will give me a tad better resolution!) What I do is to manual focus on a subject a third of the way across the field. I find that even with a moderate telephoto setting the players are in focus even when they run right past the camera (or crash to the ground at my feet a mere eight feet away). Of course this isn't perfect focus, but since the action is very fast and the small format focal length is short, the results appear quite sharp in the finished product. In fact, when the subject is moving toward the camera and getting bigger in the frame, the psychological effect is of the focus getting sharper even though the subject is actually moving away from the point of focus (a third of the way across the field).

The above doesn't make me a rocket scientist, I know, just amateur stuff, but maybe it will be helpful to someone.

This is my first post. I'm really enjoying this forum.

[Erik Bien]

I think the problem with making focus decisions based on what you can see on the LCD has to do with its relatively poor resolution; Bruce Allen has posted some test shots which seem to indicate monitoring at 720p will allow more precision.

[jmorton]

I just read over this thread an saw that no one mentioned lighting.

Of course everyone may be assuming a shallow depth of field. But with the HV20 you may have to do the best with what you've got.

So, with this in mind let me suggest that if you want to insure proper focus then strive to shoot under conditions with abundant lighting. This increases depth of field and can insure that your subject is going to be in proper focus.

I'm sure you have already found that your clips and the others posted in this forum have looked sharp when there has been very good lighting.

JM

[duzzit_madder]

I'll ditto Frank's remarks, It works very well for me too.

[FreddieZ]

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