problem with focus in tight close-up

[Noah Kadner]

You may have a back focus issue but then again this is also a lens with limitations and even more so a built-in monitor not capable of resolving detail for every shot. Best way to avoid for future shoots is carry a good production monitor. Even a black and white 5″ CRT will make a huge difference. Better a 14″ or more color CRT.

Naoh

[Ruby Gold]

Thanks Noah. What would a “back focus” issue be, exactly?

Also, any suggestions on a decent but not obscenely expensive CRT monitor, and how one calibrates it? Sorry for my ignorance…
thanks-
Ruby

[Noah Kadner]

Sony makes some nice compact ones under $1,000. For a bit more you can get the Panny 7″ LCD which is pretty sweet and also lightweight. Back focus is when you zoom in and focus and then zoom out but it doesn’t stay focused. On professional lenses you can adjust this but on prosumer cameras it’s fixed and requires a service center to repair. But I’d argue more in favor of this caused by not having a good monitor to see focus well than actually having a broken lens.

Noah

[Ruby Gold]

Noah–thanks so much for your response. I’ve been tripping–should I send in this brand new camera I just bought to have the lens/focus checked or is it something I’m doing/not seeing clearly?

Seems odd that that this camera wouldn’t stay in focus if I focused it as described–and can’t imagine that the lcd screen could be that far off that I wouldn’t see it being out of focus when zoomed in tight. I get that a monitor is better, but could the lcd screen really by that misrepresentative? Do you think it’d be good to have it checked?

thanks-
Ruby

[Noah Kadner]

I’d argue more in favor of this caused by not having a good monitor to see focus well than actually having a broken lens.

Noah

[Ruby Gold]

Thanks again Noah. I’ll look into monitors. I’d heard CRT monitors are better than LCD, any thoughts?

[Noah Kadner]

You heard correctly IMHO.

Noah

[Paul Fx]

While Noah makes some good points, I’d have the thing looked at as soon as you can, I had some problems with my DVX and had to have the whole lens assembly changed. 4 times in the shop with less than 30 hours on it and the focus is still a little dodgy.

[Ruby Gold]

Thanks Paul. Yeah, I broke down, bit the bullet and sent it in to an authorized Panny dealer this afternoon. After reading the various responses here on the forums, I called Panny tech support and they said it sounded like it could be a misalignment between the lens and CCD. I can hardly believe that there’s already a potential issue with a three week old camera.

I’d just upgraded to the DVX from my old Canon GL2. And after having to go through the aggravation and expense of insuring and sending the GL2 into the shop several times, it’s killing me to have to do this again after forking over the dough for the DVX (and expecting it to be flawless).

Sorry for the rant, and thanks for the advice.
Ruby

BTW–what did they say the problem was with the lens assembly (and what’s still “dodgy” about the focus now)? All I’ve ever heard about about the DVX100s has been brilliant stuff, so I’m finding this rather disheartening.