measuring focus

[Rennie Klymyk]

I can’t think of a video camera that does have a film ccd plane reference mark. At least with interchangable lens cameras you can find it yourself. The only thing is to try to get a schematic of the body and lens and scale a measurement from that. Perhaps Panasonic will help you with this one, they could tell you how many mm in from the front of the body below the lens it is.

[Rmherd]

Thanks for the advice. Good idea.

I’m reviewing footage right now. It’s sweet. What a cool camera. I set it to manual, pushed the auto focus trigger, looked at the read out in feet and inches, then measured to the seam between the lens and body area. They were within fractions, too small to matter, so I pushed focus assist, and it was clear also.

I’m happy.

RH

[Ken Nemetchek]

Just one thing to add: the ccd array moves, depending on the focal length you are set at, so the focal plane moves. For most situations this is not an issue, considering that we’re talking maybe a cm of difference (I’m only guessing at the actual distance, but it can’t be much). With the depth of field this camera has, once you are focusing more than a few feet away, the variation in the actual focal-plane-distance-to-subject won’t make any appreciable difference.

Enjoy your camera.

[Leabo Films]

I was recently shooting some table-top using a Century Optics achromatic diopter, and zooming out from full telephoto on the fixed lens. I noticed a focal shift that I would normally refer to as a back focus problem. I removed the diopter and checked again, and found the same thing. One technician mentioned a possible chip mis-alignment, which can be fixed. Anyone have a similar problem?