Sony’s focusing dial – why not put it on the remote?
I don’t know if anyone’s used a HD camcorder from Sony’s HDR-SR11/12E range. These are AVCHD cameras that record 1080i (proper 1920 at that) with all the trimmings, and in my time using them as a stand-in for a pro camera server perfectly, right up to the point you want to do anything creative with the focus (a nice focus pull, for example).
For reasons best known to Sony they’ve dispensed with a “manual” control ring in favour of a much fiddlier knob beneath the lens which means any manually adjusted focus mid shot requires the camera to be welded onto a 50-ton tripod. Anything less and you’re bound to cause enough shake to make the shot unuseable.
Which got me thinking… it’s not a physical control mechanism anyway, it’s just a digital dial, like the focusing ring on other compact camcorders, or the jog-dial on phones and SLRs. So there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be a mechanism to control it via IR-remote, just as you can the zoom. I’ve never come across this on a camcorder, but why not? Or, failing that, make the Fold out LCD (which also has all these controls via touchscreen) removable with a short cable so that creative controls can be made without moving the camera?
It’d be brilliant. Simple and brilliant. I’d buy that camera straight away.