On 01-Oct-98 06:13:31, you wrote:
GL> After I posted my question on XL-1 sources, received a very intriguing
GL> email from someone on the list warning me about focusing problems:
GL> 1) not focusing well at wide angle and large apertures, what he referred
GL> to as 'back focus'.
GL> 2) losing focus during zooming with auto focus off.
There are many strengths to the XLI, but this has to be it's major
operational flaw, especially when shooting "realtime" events like
weddings etc, where focus and zooming (reframing) must often be done in
haste during important activities.
Telephoto produces good focus. Pull out to wide and go back in to
telephoto will return to the original focus. So far so good. However, as
you zoom out to wide, the picture will definately soften. A press of the
Auto-Focus button will show a distinct improvement.
The operational workaround is either to return to full auto-focus or press
the auto-focus button (while in manual focus mode) while making such
adjustments to the depth of field. If done slowly, the autofocus does a
very good job of keeping focus all the way through the adjustment.
Of course, this workaround cannot be applied in all situations, since
auto focus has severe limitations when trying to pick a specific depth of
field out of a busy scene, or a scene with lots of conflicting movement.
The best means I could hope for to improve this situation with this style
of camera, is for Canon to include a view-finder readout of the current
depth of field (switchable between feet and metres). Still not perfect,
but if possible, would at least allow greater manual focusing capability
with these lens/view-finder combinations that I doubt will ever be allowed
to compete with pro configurations for fast and accurate manual
adjustment.
Regards,
Mark
--- mpa@iig.com.au - Ph:+61-7-4033-2930 - Cairns Wishful Vision - Fx:+61-7-4033-2931 - Australia---