How does the zoom in work for focusing?

[AndreasOberg]

As I understand you can zoom in when filming to verify focus.
Can anyone elaborate how this works.
How much is the zoom is it to the full 8k or is it 4k?
Do you have settings? Is it easy to move around in the screen?
Also is the focus peaking better than in DSMC2?

I always thought verifying focus was very hard with our Helium so any improvements would be great.
Cheers,
Andreas

 

[Vicky Marie Marks]

Its just a toggle, Magnify On/Off. No levels.
It works during recording.
On/Off very little delay - unlike dsmc2 which was horrible delay as you know.
Its selectable between outputs - DSmc3 Touch can have zoom toggled on while SDI 1 is normal, etc.
Dsmc3 touch has its own zoom as well like all smallhd monitors, but its just a digital image zoom so not very useful.

Raptor currently seems limited to Half Resolution real time debayer and output.

Camera set to 8k DCI, SDI output set to 4k DCI - the 4k output on a 4k monitor looks soft and not so great.

This effects the magnify tool, 8k DCI project, 4k DCI SDI = No Zoom at all.
8k DCI project, 1080 SDI output - roughly 100% zoom

It is not a 1:1 pixel zoom due to this debayer limitation, but it is enough to check critical focus on a 1080 monitor - yes it could be better but its a welcome improvement over dsmc2.
It works well when using the Blackmagic EVF.

Maybe in the future they can make it a full quality debayer, but its probably a hardware limitation that limits it to half quality - probably why in-camera prores does not look very good either.

 

[AndreasOberg]

Hiya Vicky. That is really interesting, thanks for explaining.
So it sounds like 4k that is rendered by half debayer so a softer 200% zoom.
I have found that the digital zoom can still be useful. For a while I had to screens one with 100% and then a smallhd next to it wih 200 or even 400% focus. It did improve my focus. Were filming gannets on the coast.

Also does the camera give any focus indications? Like do you have a bar or something that can tell if a target is in focus or not. DSMC2 can do it, but I never trusted it, but Raptor has more advanced focus sensors, right?

 

[Vicky Marie Marks]

Other thing that are missing from dsmc2 regarding focus

the auto peaking/sharpness - when if enabled when you adjusted focus on the lens it could turn on the sharpness or peaking and then off when you stop - not available on raptor

and no sharpness adjustment on sdi outputs

If you turn on Auto Focus, then you get a green/yellow indicator box for focus when you manual focus - like dsmc2. Its using the senor's PDAF unlike dsmc2 which was just contrast, so it should be better - but the "small" box option is still giant - so I dont find it useful at all. Its still listed as "beta" - so this could be improved greatly if they get requests I think.

For example, the manual focus indicators on the Canon R3 are awesome, also using pdaf, little triangles that converge and show direction of focus point - and I've found it to be very accurate.

 

[Russ Fill]

Its just a toggle, Magnify On/Off. No levels.
It works during recording.
On/Off very little delay - unlike dsmc2 which was horrible delay as you know.
Its selectable between outputs - DSmc3 Touch can have zoom toggled on while SDI 1 is normal, etc.
Dsmc3 touch has its own zoom as well like all smallhd monitors, but its just a digital image zoom so not very useful.

Raptor currently seems limited to Half Resolution real time debayer and output.

Camera set to 8k DCI, SDI output set to 4k DCI - the 4k output on a 4k monitor looks soft and not so great.

This effects the magnify tool, 8k DCI project, 4k DCI SDI = No Zoom at all.
8k DCI project, 1080 SDI output - roughly 100% zoom

It is not a 1:1 pixel zoom due to this debayer limitation, but it is enough to check critical focus on a 1080 monitor - yes it could be better but its a welcome improvement over dsmc2.
It works well when using the Blackmagic EVF.

Maybe in the future they can make it a full quality debayer, but its probably a hardware limitation that limits it to half quality - probably why in-camera prores does not look very good either.

Did you say Black Magic EVF..??? so do that work with the Raptor??

 

[Vicky Marie Marks]

Black Magic EVF - Sure its SDI in, works great - just changed the dc in to a safetap, and updated the firmware so the auto on/off works properly.

 

[Russ Fill]

How does it work... Good colors and resolution and powers from a D tap or some 2 pin lemo?? Kind of in the market for a EVF for my Raptor and don't really see anything that interests me.. Maybe the small egg size Zacuto but not sold on any right now.

 

[AndreasOberg]

For example, the manual focus indicators on the Canon R3 are awesome, also using pdaf, little triangles that converge and show direction of focus point - and I've found it to be very accurate.

Yes, I really like those little triangles too in Canon. I almost never use auto focus but I like have a clear indication if an area is in focus or not.

 

[Vicky Marie Marks]

How does it work...

BM EVF - I would say the colors are accurate for rec709, but my main use is to have the smallest/lowest power and usable display when going to remote areas - and most important to me is to be able to focus accurately with it. For normal work I always have a monitor on the body in addition to the EVF. It normally has an xlr for dc power from the Ursa, I removed this and added a safetap/dtap - but you could use a dtap/lemo to xlr dc cable if your didnt want to modify it. It works at 1080p/24 or 1080p/30 - it does not work at 1080p/60 from the Raptor - and as you can imagine BM is not so motivated to help use it on a Red camera. See the other thread on EVFs, some people prefer the zacuto, It does work at 1080p/60 but I dont like the optics or image at all.