jml@drutx.UUCP (LeonJM) (07/25/85)
I have decided to jump on the band wagon and buy a video camera. I have pretty much decided on a camcorder (all in one camera/recorder). I anticipate using it the way my father used his old movie camera, i.e. recording family events, the kids and my own sports etc. and not making theatrical productions. I have compared 8mm and VHSMovie camcorders and the VHS ones seem very bulky and heavy. I am not considering Beta. The 8mm ones seem pretty much the same except the new Sony CCD-V8. The picture and sound are great but, it doesn't have auto focus. I have this nagging feeling that I would like auto focus. So, the question is, for those of you that have video cameras with and without auto focus: How valuable, useful, convienient, etc. is auto focus? Could you live without it? Should I hold out for it? Do you consider the picture and sound differences between 8mm camcorders (including the Sony) close enough that a coin toss is in order? John Leon AT&T ISL Denver ihnp4!drutx!jml
heneghan@ihu1m.UUCP (Joe Heneghan) (07/26/85)
> > I have decided to jump on the band wagon and buy a video camera. I have > pretty much decided on a camcorder (all in one camera/recorder). I anticipate > using it the way my father used his old movie camera, i.e. recording family > events, the kids and my own sports etc. and not making theatrical productions. > > I have compared 8mm and VHSMovie camcorders and the VHS ones seem very bulky > and heavy. I am not considering Beta. The 8mm ones seem pretty much the same > except the new Sony CCD-V8. The picture and sound are great but, it doesn't > have auto focus. I have this nagging feeling that I would like auto focus. So, > the question is, for those of you that have video cameras with and without auto > focus: How valuable, useful, convienient, etc. is auto focus? Could you live > without it? Should I hold out for it? Do you consider the picture and sound > differences between 8mm camcorders (including the Sony) close enough that a > coin toss is in order? > > John Leon AT&T ISL Denver ihnp4!drutx!jml I have found that auto focus is more of a gimick than a useful feature. There are shortcomings too, like the auto focus mechanism not knowing what to focus on. Say you're at a park and you're trying to focus on a bird in a tree about 100 ft. away. You have to aim through a tree to get to the tree you want and the auto focus focuses on the nearer tree. So, you switch to manual and use your eye instead.
jans@mako.UUCP (Jan Steinman) (07/30/85)
In article <558@ihu1m.UUCP> (Joe Heneghan) writes, quotes: >> I have decided to jump on the band wagon and buy a video camera... >> ...the question is, for those of you that have video cameras with and >> without auto focus: How valuable, useful, convienient, etc. is auto focus? > >I have found that auto focus is more of a gimick than a useful >feature. I have found auto-focus to be ESSENTIAL for indoor (family, home-movies type) shooting. With indoor lighting, the iris opens up, depth of field goes away, and indoor shooting distances mean you are ALWAYS fiddling with the focus. The tiny B&W viewfinder is not the greatest focusing screen, either, so the errors in manual focus on a 19" color screen are embarrasingly apparent. >There are shortcomings too, like the auto focus mechanism not knowing what >to focus on. Say you're at a park and you're trying to focus on a bird in a >tree about 100 ft. away. In my experience, a bird 100 ft away isn't going to be much to look at anyway, even with the zoom all the way out. When doing outdoor, distance shooting, use fixed focus at infinity. Outdoor light stops down the iris, giving reasonable depth-of-field. >You have to aim through a tree to get to the tree you want and the auto focus >focuses on the nearer tree. My camera (Panasonic clone, a.k.a. Olympus) doesn't get fooled unless the close object is close to the center of the frame. It comes down to this: can you get decent composition and have auto-focus, or do you regularly need to use selective focus, which is necessarily manual in nature? >> Could you live without it? Should I hold out for it? Since most of my camera work is for teaching skiing, I could probably live without it, since I do most shooting at infinity. I sure would miss it when shooting the family at home, though. -- :::::: Jan Steinman Box 1000, MS 61-161 (w)503/685-2843 :::::: :::::: tektronix!tekecs!jans Wilsonville, OR 97070 (h)503/657-7703 ::::::
heneghan@ihu1m.UUCP (Joe Heneghan) (08/02/85)
I still beleive auto-focus is a gimmick but Jan, you do make some good points. One other thing that I've noticed with "auto focus" users is that they rarely use the zoom. If you're in a room with a lot of people and you're taping, try zooming in when someone is smiling and see what a difference it makes. A camera is like a tool and you should try to be creative and not just focus on something.