Panasonic VFX1 - Focus weighting?

Uncle Toad

Hi folks

I recently got myself one of the new Panasonic HC-VFX1 4K camcorders.
It works great, but I've run into a perplexing issue.

I went for a walk and spotted an interesting bunch of thistles in the grass.   I thought that they would make an interesting video clip, so I zoomed in the camera at a couple of the plants.  However the camera insisted on focussing on the plants in the background, leaving the plant in the centre of the image blurry.  I had to zoom back out fully before it would focus. If I zoomed in close again, the interesting plant got blurry but the plants behind it stayed in focus.

I could have switched to manual focus to force to focus on the plant I wanted, but it's so fiddly that I couldn't be bothered.

I've been through all the camera's settings menus to try to find a setting that would give centre weighting for focus rather than taking an average of the entire image (which is what I think it is doing).     However I have been unable to find such a setting.

So how do I tell the camcorder to focus on on the image in the centre of its display rather than the entire image?   My Panasonic DSLR camera has several settings to set focus priority, but it seems to be missing from the camcorder.  Or is there a more advanced hidden menu somewhere that allows this?

thanks

Paul

stearman65

Tried to download the manual for your camera from panny, could only find foreign language versions so I gave up. Read a review which mentioned the focussing problem when subjects are close together, maybe you need to query Panny themselves?

Terfyn

Go to Panasonic UK, choose the camera and go to Support. Follow through for the user manual download. It covers V800, VXF1 and VX1

stearman65

Done all that, no joy, a link would be nice?

Uncle Toad

The full user guide is disappointingly vague about the focus options, apart from giving the option for manual focus. But has nothing about setting centre priority or any other options.
You can find the manual on their website, here:
Downloads
The model number to choose is HCVXF1EB

Let me know if you spot anything!  (such as Spot focus!)

Paul

Emerton

Set AF/AE tracking and touch the area of the LCD screen you want to focus on.

stearman65

Have a look at page 60 re AWB?

Uncle Toad

Yes! It looks like AF/AE Tracking would do the trick!
Thank you.

Paul
PS. Page 60 seems to be mainly about using the sub camera, which my model doesn't include

John7

Maybe you were closer than the camera's minimum focus distance and the background plants (being further away) were within the minimum focus zone?

Uncle Toad

Here is a sample of the problem. Using the still photo option,  I was trying to get the camcorder to focus on the thistle in the centre of the screen. But it is blurred, yet other plants nearby are in focus!

Or was I simply trying to zoom too close to it?

Paul