Panasonic AG-HMC40 User Manual - Page 41

Using focus assist Pressing the FOCUS ASSIST button enlarges the center of the viewfinder and LCD monitor screens, or displays a bar at the bottom center of the screen. These displays make aligning the focus easier and are particularly useful in manual focus mode. The display that appears when the FOCUS ASSIST button is pressed can be configured with the FOCUS ASSIST SW item in the setting menu SW&DISP SETUP screen. (Page 106) FOCUS ASSIST button EXPANDED: The central part of the screen will be enlarged by a factor of about 4 in the vertical direction and by a factor of about 6 in the horizontal direction. A blue box will appear in the viewfinder and LCD monitor screens during expanded display. Only the operation status display and counter will appear on the screen. • The center of the angle of view is shifted slightly from the center of the LCD monitor. BAR: A bar will appear at the bottom center of the viewfinder and LCD monitor screens, indicating the level of focus alignment with its length. The peak hold mark (▼) appears over the bar, and the bar expands to the right as focus is aligned. Focus not aligned Bar expands to right as focus is aligned BOTH:  Displays both the expanded display and focus bar. • This function cannot be used while the digital zoom function is in use. • Press the FOCUS ASSIST button again to return to the original screen. Setting the aperture and gain IRIS dial 1 Use the AUTO/MANUAL switch to set to manual mode. (Page 40) 2 Press the IRIS dial to switch the method of adjustment for the aperture of the lens. The method switches to AUTO IRIS or MANUAL IRIS with each press of the dial. AUTO IRIS: Adjust the iris automatically. MANUAL IRIS: Adjust the iris manually. 3 Turn the IRIS dial to adjust the aperture of lens when in the manual iris mode. • In the auto iris mode, the lens iris can be corrected using this dial. • Increase in brightness beyond the maximum aperture (OPEN) is performed via gain adjustment (CAMERA mode: 0 to 24 dB; PHOTO mode: 0 to 18 dB). • If further gain adjustment is necessary, assign HIGH GAIN to one of the USER buttons 1 to 3. The gain mode switches between normal and high with each press of the button. Gain can be set to up to 34 dB in high gain mode. In PHOTO mode, switching to high gain mode is disabled. • Set the direction of the IRIS DIAL and aperture control in the setup menus, SW&DISP SETUP screen, IRIS DIAL. • The lens aperture can be adjusted in the focus ring by setting the RING switch to IRIS. The relationship between the direction of rotation and aperture control is based on the IRIS DIAL setting in the SW&DISP SETUP screen. However, as this will make it impossible to adjust the focus in the focus ring, please set the focus control method to A (AUTO) with the FOCUS switch. Zoom control can also be assigned to the FOCUS ring.(Page 40) • As you shrink the aperture to a near closed state, resolution will decrease due to light diffraction. You can prevent this by adjusting the shutter speed and increasing the aperture size. 41 Shooting