Re: dmc-fz30, fz50 video out

On 30 May 2007 13:16:28 +0800, Graham Evans wrote:

One slight thing I am worried about is whether the zoom is reset every
time the camera turns on and off even if the lens body itself is non-
extending.

In the S5500 you can set the zoom to 'resume' as I assume you can in the
s5600 but the problem is that it returns to a zero point when you switch
off and then moves back to the original position when you turn back on.
This could easily cause some lack of precision with the moving zoom
elements even if the body of the lens is fixed...

While this would be theoretically unneccessary with the fixed body lens I
am worried it might happen anyway.

Can you advise on this?

The S5200/S5600 operates the same as the S5100/S5500. I played
with the S5200 at B&H, and the front lens element never moves,
whether zooming, powering down or powering on, and I guess that's
why its power on time is quicker than the S5100. But I have the
S5200's PDF manual, and it has the same Reset/Resume menu option,
where the manual states :

Zoom Position Specifies whether the position of the lens is recorded when
the camera is turned off. The lens moves to the recorded
position when turning the camera on again.

I don't know how precise it would be, but as most (or all?) of the
P&S cameras have a fixed number of zoom steps or positions, I'd
think that getting back to the same zoom position would be fairly
repeatable and accurate. What I'd have less confidence in is
whether the lens would be focused at precisely the same distance
when it was turned on again. I just tried it with the S5100 at 6
different zoom positions, and when focusing, turning the camera off
and back on again, the focus appeared to be unchanged except for
when the lens was almost completely extended towards the maximum
zoom position. Then it needed to be refocused.

I just thought of something though. Even if the zoom position and
focus couldn't be returned to the exact same position and distance,
if it's highly repeatable with good accuracy, there might be a
useful workaround. Suppose you have everything set up where the
camera to subject distance is exactly 10 feet, but when you power
up, the lens focuses 6 inches closer. If you then move the subject
6 inches closer to the camera, every time you power on the camera,
the focus point might return to the exact same distance of 9 1/2 ft.

.

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