Camera Looses Focus During Zoom

[Habby]

Lately I have noticed that my Sony VX 2000 Camcorder goes slightly out of focus during zooming. I always use auto focus so I am not sure if set on manual it will do it. Has anybody heard of this? It goes back in focus when zoom is released. Is my camera messing up or do other cameras do this?

[redwudz]

It has to have enough light to do the autofocus. Some use a infrared beam to help in lower light situations. Also autofocus, I believe, works better if it has some vertical lines to use to set the focus. Poor lighting or a bland background make it harder. Moving subjects, even harder. If you know your camera and it's focus zones, you can do it manually, probably better than autofocus. It may have a chart of the depth of field at different lens apertures that might assist, or you can work it out yourself. This might give you an idea where the focus should be set. Usually, the more light the better.

[edDV]

Lately I have noticed that my Sony VX 2000 Camcorder goes slightly out of focus during zooming. I always use auto focus so I am not sure if set on manual it will do it. Has anybody heard of this? It goes back in focus when zoom is released. Is my camera messing up or do other cameras do this?

Are you watching the camcorder direct playback or an encoded DVD?
Are your zooms done slowly from a tripod or quick while handheld?

Zooms and pans stress a MPeg2 encoder unless done with care.