odklizec":33rl2gsp said:
... What would be great would be faster to use MF. The need to rotate the ring several times to move focus from 30cm to Infinity is simply frustrating. What we need is an "Fast MF" mode that would make the response of focus ring 2x or even 4x faster. Just the speed that would allow us to focus between the 30cm and Infinity with just one turn of the focus ring (instead of several turns).
The workflow could be as follows...
- Turn the focus ring to start the MF (at normal speed)
- Now at any time of MF press and hold a defined button with assigned "Fast MF" function (FN1/FN2, zoom button or any other easy to reach button) >> this should increase the speed of MF. Releasing the button should return the speed of MF to its original speed (with finer steps).
DM: How about a MF control-ring "velocity" sensor"? A rotation of the ring
greater than a certain "threshold" (of some fairly small number of degrees per unit time) could automatically increase the scale-factor (the rate per unit time) that the MF focus-distance increases by. At any time following the original "triggering", a manual rotation of the ring by the user (by an amount
smaller than this same "threshold") in either direction on the part of the user would return rate at which the MF focus-distance changes to the original (default) rate. Thus, the user could "slew" upwards/downwards in MF focus distance by rotating the control ring by an amount (somewhat) greater than a typical "fine MF focus tuning", and then slow back down to the normal "fine-tuning mode" by simply rotating the MF control ring by a slight amount (in either direction). Then (once close to the target MF focus-distance), the MF distance could be (normally, as before) "fine-tuned" to the target adjustment value ...
The only possible "down-side" might be if the user (mistakenly) exceeds the "threshold", causing the MF distance to suddenly "zoom" off to unwanted settings. A (short) "waiting-period" (prior to the beginning of such a suggested "rate-change") could be implemented. If the user (during the "waiting period") adjusts the focus-ring in the
opposite direction from the original (possibly unintended) direction, then the mode would not change - and the user (who is at such a time, presumably, near the MF focus-distance where they want to be) could continue to perform the MF "fine-tuning". If further changes in the position of the MF control-ring (during such a "waiting-period") were in the
same direction as the original movement, the camera would assume that the user does (in fact) wish to proceed with such an "expedited" process as is described above. Once the MF focus-distance adjustment rate has switched into the "fast" mode, any small adjustment (in either direction) would defeat the "fast" mode, and return the MF focus-distance to the normal ("fine-tuning") mode ...
odklizec":33rl2gsp said:
Of course, the "Fast MF" option would make the manual focus less precise, but much faster when one needs to jump between two too far focus distances.
DM: It seems like this would not be the case if the above proposal was implemented. It would be the "best of both worlds".
odklizec":33rl2gsp said:
Another "nice to have" feature would be an option to switch the camera to MF mode by rotating the MF ring. In other words, without the need to switch the camera to MF before using the ring.
DM: That sounds good ... but what about unintended "nudges" that were not intended to switch the camera into "MF mode"?
odklizec":33rl2gsp said:
And in addition to the previous feature wish, it would be nice to have also automatic enlargement of the central part of screen (when rotating the MF ring). And with an option to set the scale of central part of screen to 200% (current value) and 400%, maybe even 800%. This would be a great helper for manual focusing. 200% scale is often not enough.
I think all these options will greatly improve the usefulness and easy of use of MF mode? What do you think?
DM: On my Panasonic DMC-FZ30 and FZ50, I always set it up to enlarge the small rectangular focus-rectangle to full-frame (which is far more than 200%). The other option is simply not at all sufficient to be able to really get the focus right. Now, the FZs only have a 2.0 Inch diagonal LCD, but (even in the case of a 3 Inch LCD) I would think that the same would remain true. I always use my times 1.5 magnification reading glasses when doing this on the FZs (thus, optically equivalent to a 3.0 Inch LCD), and I would say that the magnification of the focus-rectangle to full-frame it the minimum "zoom magnification" necessary to tweak the manual focus distance (with the 10 Mpixel image-sensor on the FZ30/50). The "pixelization effect" at that rather high magnification factor actually
helps me to find the highest resolution setting of the FZ30/50 manual focus ring ...
