828: Focus and Purple

Hi again all,
Other than my 828 generating a lot of purple
I seem to have a trouble getting images in focus.
It's pretty hit or miss.

I have read on the forum from others how wonderful
the 828 focuses.

Is it possible that focus issue and purple fringe
go hand in hand?

Anyone?

Or maybe it's just me.

John

Yes, the camera has a really nice focus. If you can reproduce out of focus situations then your camera is defect. Call sony and then send it to the sony service, they will readjust the auto focus. The purple fringing may also be a question of the adjustment, maybe they can reduce this too.

If you can return the camera, then do so and buy another one.

Best regards
Rainer

John Colombo said:

Hi again all,
Other than my 828 generating a lot of purple
I seem to have a trouble getting images in focus.
It's pretty hit or miss.

I have read on the forum from others how wonderful
the 828 focuses.

Is it possible that focus issue and purple fringe
go hand in hand?

Anyone?

Or maybe it's just me.

John

Click to expand...

Can you be more specific?

John Colombo said:

Hi again all,
Other than my 828 generating a lot of purple
I seem to have a trouble getting images in focus.
It's pretty hit or miss.

I have read on the forum from others how wonderful
the 828 focuses.

Is it possible that focus issue and purple fringe
go hand in hand?

Anyone?

Or maybe it's just me.

John

Click to expand...

John...Wow, am I glad to see your post. I have had my 828 almost three weeks. I knew I had CA but was willing to live with that, considering all the other positive things about the camera. Colors are great.

But the focus has been driving me nuts! I've been thinking it is my fault. And folks here give me excellent tips for improvement (use Center AF instead of Multipoint, etc.), and that helped. But I keep getting the occassional OOF, and mine aren't as crisp & sharp as many of these posts. I set up an elaborate test in the basement setting signs with small print at varying distances, practiced and experimented. Thought I had it down pat, but just today, for example, we had a bunch of blue birds in the yard, and out of 50 shots, only 5-6 came out sharp. Something was always in focus, but not the bird.

--
Jim

I've been mostley shooting in Monitor mode,
with metering in the wide mode, forget what it's called.

After I posted this I switched over to continous mode
and snapped as fast as I could as an experiment
(this is only day 4 for me with the camera)
In Continous mode metering is locked at center,
this seemed to work well, however the first
day I had the camera it did not work as well.
I may just have a lot of learning to do moving up from
as s85.

The main problem I have been having is shooting peoples
faces while they are standing still in front of me.
They look in focus when I press the shutter down
but are horrible out of focus when I view the photo.
Tomorrow I am going to shoot outside, I hope.
It just turned bitter cold here (Pittsburgh)
Plus we've not had much sun, hoping for some light.

So it's really hard for me to be specific yet, except that
I have purple dots and fringing and my focus is often off.
I need more time to check all this out, just wanted to see
how common all this was.

John

Of course the two can be related. Out of focus images can certainly exhibit color aberations under the right conditions. With digital cameras long exposures and movement can result in false color areas just as easily as it can produce traditional bluring. CCD sensors are not film, they respond differently to difficult lighting conditions and movement over time. This problem has always existed for those of us who have worked with high resolution scanning equipment. It has always been evident when enlarging traditional photos as well. It is just that most cameras havent been able to produce this kind of resolution before, and we have seldom looked at poorly exposed and focused images enlarged this big. Try this test if you don't believe me. Scan a dollar bill on your scanner. Crop a small detail and double the resolution. If necessary zoom in on the smallest details, crop and double the resolution again. I bet you will see chromatic aberation all over the place.

Then again, maybe the answer is that Sony made the CCD in your scanner as well ;-)

We may not be getting top notch pictures
yet, but we're sure learning a lot.

On a side note about the purple, I see it in my head when I close
my eyes.

John

I upgraded from S70 to F828 and am still learning.

If you are shooting people and want to ensure their face is in focus, you may consider NOT using multi-point AF, nor Center AF, but use flexible-spot AF.

Move your lens/camera so that the little [ ] thing overlaps with the face of the portrait you want to focus, half press shutter, and when focus lock is obtained, compose your picture WITH the shutter still half pressed. When finished composing, press the remainder half of the shutter.

I have this excellent tool for 2 weeks, took 1,300 pictures, worked great using this method. Very few pictures mis-focused (and those badly focussed ones were caused by the person typing this paragraph).

My 2 cents worth...
FM2.

John, when you take a picture, half-press the shutter button, watch for the blinking light to settle (if you see the hand, you know it means there's a chance of camera shake), then just give it a breath more before you fully depress the shutter button. Don't move the camera with the shutter See if that helps your OOF situations?

John Colombo wrote:

John

I would have the 828 checked out if I were you. What you are describing is similar to my experience with my 717, which I've had for more than a year. In the end I decided this is what the 717 was like and I have to live with it – until I got the 828. Of the 500 photos I've taken so far, two or maybe three are out of focus, and those are due to error on my part. The focus on the 828 is really fast and accurate (in all lighting conditions). As far as the CA is concerned – I really have to look for the problem to see it. I only see it in circumstances where the 717 would also produce CA, although a bit more pronounced than on the 717 then. From what I read on this forum, I'm sure there are some 828's with and others without the problem. I could never understand why ppl think the 717's focusing abilities are that good and only now realize that there has to be something wrong with my particular camera (I returned it to Sony with the initial recall, without much improvement). I can honestly say that I am a very happy 828 owner and in my view, as far as the bigger picture is concerned (no pun intended), the 828 is a far better camera than the 717. (Speed, feel, focus, picture quality, etc). I have to confirm this yet, but it seems to me as if the 717's onboard flash is stronger than that of the 828 – but I'm not sure of this.

John,

In the video mode: When I pan the camera VERY slowly, the lens continues to go in and out of focus. Regarless of the AF settings. When I pause briefly on a spot, it continues this in and out of focus, sometmes locking on to OOF! Maybe that's what it's doing for stills as well...just when we think it's in focus and locked in, it changes. Not always, but frequently?

--
Jim

Hi Jim
I tried this for you and mine did alright.
It only seemed to have a bit of a focus lag
when I hit a dark spot in the room,
but not enough to be considered a problem
by me.

John

Looks like I may have a problem then.

--
Jim