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Canon HV40

Discussions about High Definition Television, Blu-Ray, HD DVD and other high definition DVD formats.

Canon HV40

Postby hpharley90 » Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:47 am

Hello,I'm starting to use my camera more with manual focus than auto focus. The problem I'm having is I can't see the subject in the little LED view finder large enough to get a good focus manually. Also the eye view finder not being adjustable and in a fixed position I find it no good. I recently took a video of a spider wrapping a fly in silk on it's web and I could not keep it in focus. I know the tripod panning is bad. Junk tripod.
What can I do to improve this manual focus problem?
I have a video of my example but converting it to FLV from an m2t file it lost a little clarity.

Thanks
Richard


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Re: Canon HV40

Postby Chuck Engels » Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:02 am

One thing about High Definition video - focus is sometimes difficult. And that goes for even the expensive high end cameras with rather large monitors connected. I've used some really nice cameras at church to shoot events and they all have 9 inch and larger monitors attached, it's still hard to focus in HD.

You will even notice professional camera operators for live events on television get out of focus these days.
I think that once you get used to the camera it will help but mostly it takes a good eye and practice.

The auto focus is pretty good unless you are zoomed in very close. If you can get in close to the subject and not have to zoom a lot then auto focus will work great, but if you have to zoom in far then most likely you will need manual focus. I struggle with this sometimes myself but it does get easier the more you work with the camera :)
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Re: Canon HV40

Postby hpharley90 » Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:18 am

Again, thank you for that information Chuck. :-D
Thanks
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Re: Canon HV40

Postby Dave McElderry » Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:28 am

Add me to those who have struggled with manual focus using a Hi-Def camcorder. After a while I've come to a pact with myself, at least for the time being: If there's no compelling reason to use manual focus I let autofocus handle it, as it always seems to do better than me. Maybe that's the coward's way out, but it keeps my frustration levels down. :)

One place where manual focus is a necessity is where you want to change focus in one continuous shot, between something closer up and something farther away. For example in a drama movie where you're seeing the victim with the background blurred and then the focus changes to show the stalker lurking in the background. Your spider video is another prime example. The subject is so small, and you're moving to follow it, and autofocus can't figure out what the subject is supposed to be. My Canon has a neat little feature which allows you to "point" to the subject that you want to focus on by touching it on the touch screen. The target becomes surrounded by a green rectangle that moves with the subject as it moves and/or you pan. I was skeptical at first, but it really works amazingly well. The magic of microprocessors. I suppose that no self-respecting pro is going to use auto-focus, but it's surely a lifesaver for this amateur.

In manual mode it helps to understand the relationship between aperture (F-Stop) and depth of field. If it's not important to you that the background (or foreground) necessarily be out of focus, a greater DOF will make it easier to keep your subject in focus. It gives you more breathing room. There are, of course, tradeoffs; you need more available light if you use a higher F-Stop. And aperture isn't the only thing that affects DOF. Maybe you're aleady familiar with this. If not just Google "aperture vs depth of field" for tons of information.
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