Critical focus while shooting

[William Dempsey]

Hi All,

Just curious what folks are using to maintain critical focus while shooting. I've used optical viewfinders for years so if I wanted to make an adjustment while shooting I could do it visually. The 5" viewfinder just doesn't seem to work well for this in full frame mode and I recently read here that there will be no 1:1 magnification while shooting. I've found that using my old 4x5 camera loupes helps get close but if I go to magnify mode the image to check focus it is still is not critically sharp. I can shoot wide lenses or stop down to obtain deeper focus but I'd prefer not to have to always shoot at 5.6 or higher. Some shots can be preplanned for follow focus but in spontaneous shooting what are you guys doing when focus is critical?

Thanks,

[Bob Gundu]

You can use an external SDI/HDMI monitor with 1:1. Some monitors have focus in Red which is helpful too. Focus Peaking on the RED 5" isn't to bad either.

[Marie Turock]

+1 on the focus peaking available on the Red 5" monitor. It really is quite good.

[William Dempsey]

I have used the focus peaking and it is very helpful but when testing with it and using the 1:1 magnification after setting focus I find that the image is still a bit off. In fact I found that the autofocus even works better in 1:1 compared to full frame . This surprised me.

[Maik Müller Menendez]

The focus-tool is good enough for me, i can get good focus with it, even without magnifying. Well it would be great to be able to adjust the color, sometimes the yellow doesn't "pop" enough, especially outdoors. I also find the edge-tool (tron-view) very nice and helpful. AF often doesn't do what i want... The manual controls of the stills lenses i use currently bug me a lot more than focus-tools on my Scarlet. I'm actually happy with the provided set, well AF is a mixed experience so far.

I think i'll get the 9" LCD sooner or later, the size and higher resolution will make a difference. Using both LCDs (with the +1 module) together could be cool too, well of course the most interesting combination (1:1 on one screen and fullframe on the other) isn't doable. We will see what RED can get out of this.

Oh and yeah, that reminds me, i have to try the Bomb-EVF one day. ;)

So that are the options we have: RED 9"-LCD, RED Bomb-EVF, 3rd-party monitors (the new SmallHD DP7 look interesting).