IMPORTANT!! (New? info) When determining HAF OOF syndrome

Alexander M

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THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE IF YOU ARE TESTING YOU HAF SYSTEM! I THINK (but I could be wrong of cause) A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE DOING IT WRONG. They are reading bad focuses while they are actually right!

After recent post and lots of threads reading because my camera’s focus was totally off I discovered that I was reading/doing it all wrong!

I can imagine that a lot of other 717 owners are doing it the wrong way also since I couldn’t find this anywhere in previous threads.

When in auto focus the 717 (like digital video camera’s) adjusts it’s focus automatically to get a rather sharp image on the LCD or EVF. So if you half press the shutter to achieve focus, as soon as you release the shutter it is achieving a new focus automatically.

This is where it went wrong for me! I got constant different readouts while the actual auto focus system worked correctly.

The way to read the achieved auto focus is to half press the shutter and then switch to manual focus to WHILE HOLDING DOWN the shutter all the time. The value read than is exactly the focus value determined by the auto focus system.

Maybe the procedure above was common sense for most of the users on the STF, but not to me. So for others who also didn’t know, I hope the read this post, which might prevent them from ‘thinking’ they had an HAF OOF syndrome while actually they had not! Like me!

My (wrong) previous procedure was to half press shutter in auto focus, release it, switch to manual focus, half press again and read the focus. If you were doing it like this you get a different (unfocused) reading all the time.

Hope this helps! Alex.

Btw. If anyone is using the wrong procedure but get constant results, I would like to know since than something else is different with my cam.

--
Alex
  • DSC-F717
 
Hi,

you are right! .. you have to keep holding shutter in half way when switching manual/auto focus - other way camera is still focusing as you described. Unfortunatelly I get different distances even I do it right way.

Petr
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE IF YOU ARE TESTING YOU HAF SYSTEM!
I THINK (but I could be wrong of cause) A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE DOING
IT WRONG. They are reading bad focuses while they are actually
right!

After recent post and lots of threads reading because my camera’s
focus was totally off I discovered that I was reading/doing it all
wrong!

I can imagine that a lot of other 717 owners are doing it the wrong
way also since I couldn’t find this anywhere in previous threads.

When in auto focus the 717 (like digital video camera’s) adjusts
it’s focus automatically to get a rather sharp image on the LCD or
EVF. So if you half press the shutter to achieve focus, as soon as
you release the shutter it is achieving a new focus automatically.

This is where it went wrong for me! I got constant different
readouts while the actual auto focus system worked correctly.

The way to read the achieved auto focus is to half press the
shutter and then switch to manual focus to WHILE HOLDING DOWN the
shutter all the time. The value read than is exactly the focus
value determined by the auto focus system.

Maybe the procedure above was common sense for most of the users on
the STF, but not to me. So for others who also didn’t know, I hope
the read this post, which might prevent them from ‘thinking’ they
had an HAF OOF syndrome while actually they had not! Like me!

My (wrong) previous procedure was to half press shutter in auto
focus, release it, switch to manual focus, half press again and
read the focus. If you were doing it like this you get a different
(unfocused) reading all the time.

Hope this helps! Alex.

Btw. If anyone is using the wrong procedure but get constant
results, I would like to know since than something else is
different with my cam.

--
Alex
  • DSC-F717
 
Hi Alex,

It has already been explained with detail (including the fact that you need to hold the shutter when turning to manual). This is just one of the threads I found with a search:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=3630371

The best "test" you can do is searching the HAF S/N list to see if yours falls within.

Regards
Abraham
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE IF YOU ARE TESTING YOU HAF SYSTEM!
I THINK (but I could be wrong of cause) A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE DOING
IT WRONG. They are reading bad focuses while they are actually
right!

After recent post and lots of threads reading because my camera’s
focus was totally off I discovered that I was reading/doing it all
wrong!

I can imagine that a lot of other 717 owners are doing it the wrong
way also since I couldn’t find this anywhere in previous threads.

When in auto focus the 717 (like digital video camera’s) adjusts
it’s focus automatically to get a rather sharp image on the LCD or
EVF. So if you half press the shutter to achieve focus, as soon as
you release the shutter it is achieving a new focus automatically.

This is where it went wrong for me! I got constant different
readouts while the actual auto focus system worked correctly.

The way to read the achieved auto focus is to half press the
shutter and then switch to manual focus to WHILE HOLDING DOWN the
shutter all the time. The value read than is exactly the focus
value determined by the auto focus system.

Maybe the procedure above was common sense for most of the users on
the STF, but not to me. So for others who also didn’t know, I hope
the read this post, which might prevent them from ‘thinking’ they
had an HAF OOF syndrome while actually they had not! Like me!

My (wrong) previous procedure was to half press shutter in auto
focus, release it, switch to manual focus, half press again and
read the focus. If you were doing it like this you get a different
(unfocused) reading all the time.

Hope this helps! Alex.

Btw. If anyone is using the wrong procedure but get constant
results, I would like to know since than something else is
different with my cam.

--
Alex
  • DSC-F717
--
Sony DSC-F717
Canon S100
 
Hi~. Alexander.

Thanks for you info.

I did same test with my 717 using 'the wrong procedure' and got constant foucs reading results.

I did

1. put my 717 around 1m away from the object (of coures, on tripod).

2. half-press shutter in auto/P-mode. And Release!

3. flip to manual focus and read the focus distance with half-pressing shutter.

4. get almost (7~8 / 10) same focus results

I know what you mean about 'Half-pressing shutter and holding it'. However, it seems to me that my 717 keep the same focus-distance reading whether i hold the shutter or not(after release the shtter). Is my 717 stange?

Regards.
 
That's something I try to figure out too. How should the 717 behave? Remaining the same focus when shutter is released or adjust it automatically? And why is it doing that?
shtter). Is my 717 stange?

Regards.
--
Alex
  • DSC-F717
 

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