Manual Focus

I recently purchased an E-10 and have a few questions regarding the Manual Focus Problem. I have searched the forum and am unsure of the depth (specifics) of the problem. I have done the test (playing cards an inch apart in depth) and usually wind up with the best focus on the target or the card BEHIND the target. If I read it correctly, the test results for a bad Manual Focus show up as best focus on a card 10 inches IN FRONT of the target. Is that correct?

Hi Bruce!

Please view the other (earlier) thread titled "Manual Focus".

My suggestion is to get out there and take as many photos as you wish under different lighting conditions. Keep in mind that depending on the conditions, and the aperture setting, the ease of manual focus can be quite different. With aperture wide open (shortest shutter duration) the short depth of field will make manual focus very touchy. Expect to mis-focus a few shots, but recall and understand the conditions, aperture, shutter speed.

In the other thread, I mention the behavior of the color LCD display when used to compose and manually focus a subject. The LCD display appears very grainy when the camera is optimally focused. I suppose you could compare the LCD image to what you see in the E-10 viewfinder. Using a TV monitor plugged into the E-10 produces the same behavior, allowing you to view what the CCD sensor 'sees' as you adjust manual focus.

My personal experience with my E-10 has been excellent- no problem with focus unless I misjudged something.

Hope this info helps!

• David

Bruce Kolber said:

I recently purchased an E-10 and have a few questions regarding the
Manual Focus Problem. I have searched the forum and am unsure of
the depth (specifics) of the problem. I have done the test
(playing cards an inch apart in depth) and usually wind up with the
best focus on the target or the card BEHIND the target. If I read
it correctly, the test results for a bad Manual Focus show up as
best focus on a card 10 inches IN FRONT of the target. Is that
correct?

Click to expand...

Hi,

I did make another test to day. I placed 8 AA batteries on a table spaced 6 inches apart, placed the camera on a tripod about 4 feet away from the first battery and about 20 degrees to the side from the straight line, and shot at full aperture focusing on each one by one. I used the eyepiece(which I think is more difficult) and not the LCD to focus. All were right on target except the 5th one. IT might have been my misjudgement and not a fault in the camera.

I think one should practice focusing a lot before giving fault to the camera. I do not think that shooting one photo at a dealer before buying, as was said in another thread, should be enough to judge if a camera has a focusing problem.

Michael

David Meyers said:

Please view the other (earlier) thread titled "Manual Focus".

My suggestion is to get out there and take as many photos as you
wish under different lighting conditions. Keep in mind that
depending on the conditions, and the aperture setting, the ease of
manual focus can be quite different. With aperture wide open
(shortest shutter duration) the short depth of field will make
manual focus very touchy. Expect to mis-focus a few shots, but
recall and understand the conditions, aperture, shutter speed.

In the other thread, I mention the behavior of the color LCD
display when used to compose and manually focus a subject. The LCD
display appears very grainy when the camera is optimally focused.
I suppose you could compare the LCD image to what you see in the
E-10 viewfinder. Using a TV monitor plugged into the E-10 produces
the same behavior, allowing you to view what the CCD sensor 'sees'
as you adjust manual focus.

My personal experience with my E-10 has been excellent- no problem
with focus unless I misjudged something.

Hope this info helps!

• David

Bruce Kolber said:

I recently purchased an E-10 and have a few questions regarding the
Manual Focus Problem. I have searched the forum and am unsure of
the depth (specifics) of the problem. I have done the test
(playing cards an inch apart in depth) and usually wind up with the
best focus on the target or the card BEHIND the target. If I read
it correctly, the test results for a bad Manual Focus show up as
best focus on a card 10 inches IN FRONT of the target. Is that
correct?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Michael,

Were the batteries Alkaline or NiMH? This could alter the results......I think.

Michael Camilleri said:

I did make another test to day. I placed 8 AA batteries on a table
spaced 6 inches apart, placed the camera on a tripod about 4 feet
away from the first battery and about 20 degrees to the side from
the straight line, and shot at full aperture focusing on each one
by one. I used the eyepiece(which I think is more difficult) and
not the LCD to focus. All were right on target except the 5th one.
IT might have been my misjudgement and not a fault in the camera.

I think one should practice focusing a lot before giving fault to
the camera. I do not think that shooting one photo at a dealer
before buying, as was said in another thread, should be enough to
judge if a camera has a focusing problem.

Michael

David Meyers said:

Please view the other (earlier) thread titled "Manual Focus".

My suggestion is to get out there and take as many photos as you
wish under different lighting conditions. Keep in mind that
depending on the conditions, and the aperture setting, the ease of
manual focus can be quite different. With aperture wide open
(shortest shutter duration) the short depth of field will make
manual focus very touchy. Expect to mis-focus a few shots, but
recall and understand the conditions, aperture, shutter speed.

In the other thread, I mention the behavior of the color LCD
display when used to compose and manually focus a subject. The LCD
display appears very grainy when the camera is optimally focused.
I suppose you could compare the LCD image to what you see in the
E-10 viewfinder. Using a TV monitor plugged into the E-10 produces
the same behavior, allowing you to view what the CCD sensor 'sees'
as you adjust manual focus.

My personal experience with my E-10 has been excellent- no problem
with focus unless I misjudged something.

Hope this info helps!

• David

Bruce Kolber said:

I recently purchased an E-10 and have a few questions regarding the
Manual Focus Problem. I have searched the forum and am unsure of
the depth (specifics) of the problem. I have done the test
(playing cards an inch apart in depth) and usually wind up with the
best focus on the target or the card BEHIND the target. If I read
it correctly, the test results for a bad Manual Focus show up as
best focus on a card 10 inches IN FRONT of the target. Is that
correct?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Hi Michael!

After posting this topic a few times today, I went away and did nearly the same experiment as you! I shot the back cover of a paperback book, using the bar code printed on the back as a focus point. The book was placed on a flat patterned surface (squares), to give some measurement capability along the "z" axis. The angle from the E-10's lens above the subject was about 25 degrees at a distance of 5 feet. Ambient room lighting was used, NO flash, requiring 1/8 sec shutter and 2.4 aperture ('wide open'). Additionally, I zoomed to full 36mm.

Under these conditions, I took 10 shots, each attempting sharp manual focus on the book's bar code. Between shots, I skewed the camera out of focus by turning the focus ring several times in either direction, then manually focused on the book's bar code again. Half of the photos were taken using the color LCD display, adjusting for optimal grainy appearance of the bar code. The other half were taken 'eyeballing' focus through the viewfinder.

The results: every one of the color LCD focused shots achieved sharp focus. However, through the viewfinder shots produced 2 (of 5) out of focus shots. Interestingly, focus was just behind (about 3 inches) the desired point. I must be prone to far-sightedness??? =8-o

Investigating further, I found adjustment of the focus ring to be amazingly sensitive! Rotating the focus ring very slowly, the focus motor can be heard to actuate in short bursts. Each motor burst produces a noticeable abrupt change in the focus observed through the viewfinder. I found that under my evaluation conditions, each motor burst moves the focus point by just under two inches.

Now having performed this exercize, I want to state that these results do not surprise me! That 'big lens' produces very different behavior from what I've cut my teeth on. Indeed, I now have a better knowledge of the E-10's behavior under wide aperture conditions. Gosh, there is still much more to learn about this equipment!

Best wishes,

• David

Michael Camilleri said:

I did make another test to day. I placed 8 AA batteries on a table
spaced 6 inches apart, placed the camera on a tripod about 4 feet
away from the first battery and about 20 degrees to the side from
the straight line, and shot at full aperture focusing on each one
by one. I used the eyepiece(which I think is more difficult) and
not the LCD to focus. All were right on target except the 5th one.
IT might have been my misjudgement and not a fault in the camera.

I think one should practice focusing a lot before giving fault to
the camera. I do not think that shooting one photo at a dealer
before buying, as was said in another thread, should be enough to
judge if a camera has a focusing problem.

Michael

David Meyers said:

Please view the other (earlier) thread titled "Manual Focus".

My suggestion is to get out there and take as many photos as you
wish under different lighting conditions. Keep in mind that
depending on the conditions, and the aperture setting, the ease of
manual focus can be quite different. With aperture wide open
(shortest shutter duration) the short depth of field will make
manual focus very touchy. Expect to mis-focus a few shots, but
recall and understand the conditions, aperture, shutter speed.

In the other thread, I mention the behavior of the color LCD
display when used to compose and manually focus a subject. The LCD
display appears very grainy when the camera is optimally focused.
I suppose you could compare the LCD image to what you see in the
E-10 viewfinder. Using a TV monitor plugged into the E-10 produces
the same behavior, allowing you to view what the CCD sensor 'sees'
as you adjust manual focus.

My personal experience with my E-10 has been excellent- no problem
with focus unless I misjudged something.

Hope this info helps!

• David

Bruce Kolber said:

I recently purchased an E-10 and have a few questions regarding the
Manual Focus Problem. I have searched the forum and am unsure of
the depth (specifics) of the problem. I have done the test
(playing cards an inch apart in depth) and usually wind up with the
best focus on the target or the card BEHIND the target. If I read
it correctly, the test results for a bad Manual Focus show up as
best focus on a card 10 inches IN FRONT of the target. Is that
correct?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Jim,
)
Michael

Jim N' AZ said:

Michael Camilleri said:

I did make another test to day. I placed 8 AA batteries on a table
spaced 6 inches apart, placed the camera on a tripod about 4 feet
away from the first battery and about 20 degrees to the side from
the straight line, and shot at full aperture focusing on each one
by one. I used the eyepiece(which I think is more difficult) and
not the LCD to focus. All were right on target except the 5th one.
IT might have been my misjudgement and not a fault in the camera.

I think one should practice focusing a lot before giving fault to
the camera. I do not think that shooting one photo at a dealer
before buying, as was said in another thread, should be enough to
judge if a camera has a focusing problem.

Michael

David Meyers said:

Please view the other (earlier) thread titled "Manual Focus".

My suggestion is to get out there and take as many photos as you
wish under different lighting conditions. Keep in mind that
depending on the conditions, and the aperture setting, the ease of
manual focus can be quite different. With aperture wide open
(shortest shutter duration) the short depth of field will make
manual focus very touchy. Expect to mis-focus a few shots, but
recall and understand the conditions, aperture, shutter speed.

In the other thread, I mention the behavior of the color LCD
display when used to compose and manually focus a subject. The LCD
display appears very grainy when the camera is optimally focused.
I suppose you could compare the LCD image to what you see in the
E-10 viewfinder. Using a TV monitor plugged into the E-10 produces
the same behavior, allowing you to view what the CCD sensor 'sees'
as you adjust manual focus.

My personal experience with my E-10 has been excellent- no problem
with focus unless I misjudged something.

Hope this info helps!

• David

Bruce Kolber said:

I recently purchased an E-10 and have a few questions regarding the
Manual Focus Problem. I have searched the forum and am unsure of
the depth (specifics) of the problem. I have done the test
(playing cards an inch apart in depth) and usually wind up with the
best focus on the target or the card BEHIND the target. If I read
it correctly, the test results for a bad Manual Focus show up as
best focus on a card 10 inches IN FRONT of the target. Is that
correct?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

No, one photo at the dealer is NOT enough. It took from April til June to convince me that the camera had a problem and not me. Once repaired and returned, it only took 3 shots to see that it was "fixed". Like others have said, go out, take pictures and if you can track any OOF pics to the camera, and not you, by all means send it in for a check before the warranty runs out. Manual focusing is VERY touchy, so it's easy to be mislead. It sounds like your battery shots showed all in focus but the one, so if you had a focus problem, you should have seen it in ALL the photos, ie; focus on battery three and two is in focus. Take a bunch of pics then see what you think!!

John

Michael Camilleri said:

I did make another test to day. I placed 8 AA batteries on a table
spaced 6 inches apart, placed the camera on a tripod about 4 feet
away from the first battery and about 20 degrees to the side from
the straight line, and shot at full aperture focusing on each one
by one. I used the eyepiece(which I think is more difficult) and
not the LCD to focus. All were right on target except the 5th one.
IT might have been my misjudgement and not a fault in the camera.

I think one should practice focusing a lot before giving fault to
the camera. I do not think that shooting one photo at a dealer
before buying, as was said in another thread, should be enough to
judge if a camera has a focusing problem.

Michael

David Meyers said:

Please view the other (earlier) thread titled "Manual Focus".

My suggestion is to get out there and take as many photos as you
wish under different lighting conditions. Keep in mind that
depending on the conditions, and the aperture setting, the ease of
manual focus can be quite different. With aperture wide open
(shortest shutter duration) the short depth of field will make
manual focus very touchy. Expect to mis-focus a few shots, but
recall and understand the conditions, aperture, shutter speed.

In the other thread, I mention the behavior of the color LCD
display when used to compose and manually focus a subject. The LCD
display appears very grainy when the camera is optimally focused.
I suppose you could compare the LCD image to what you see in the
E-10 viewfinder. Using a TV monitor plugged into the E-10 produces
the same behavior, allowing you to view what the CCD sensor 'sees'
as you adjust manual focus.

My personal experience with my E-10 has been excellent- no problem
with focus unless I misjudged something.

Hope this info helps!

• David

Bruce Kolber said:

I recently purchased an E-10 and have a few questions regarding the
Manual Focus Problem. I have searched the forum and am unsure of
the depth (specifics) of the problem. I have done the test
(playing cards an inch apart in depth) and usually wind up with the
best focus on the target or the card BEHIND the target. If I read
it correctly, the test results for a bad Manual Focus show up as
best focus on a card 10 inches IN FRONT of the target. Is that
correct?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...