PZ 16-35mm F4 G lens issue on A7S3 body

[lunag]

Recently I have acquired the PZ 16-35mm F4 G lens, and noticed some focus jump/focus pulse too fast while using this lens with Autofocus enabled on my A7S3 body. I have actually tested this lens at the Sony Store before acquiring this lens, and did not particularly notice this matter, only after when I got it and used it for actual shooting work.

 

It seems to have the issue when I use gimbal to go in closer to the subject's face, it seems to have that 'zoom pump', but it is actually the focus going error for a very fast milliseconds (or looks like focusing the back of the subject in mine), and then slowly focus back to the subject, and it is quite frequent.

 

Or sometimes it would just make that whole scene to have the shaking stutter effect for a millisecond.

 

- The aperture and shutter speed settings are in manual

 

- Subject Shift Sensitivity and Focus Speed Settings are set to the lowest already

 

- Camera settings is in Autofocus mode.

 

Kindly take a look at some of the sample videos that I have attached from google drive link as below, please download and have a look: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oCVRqcoZ1HzupOi44-CK0HlbLBRyvNF7?usp=sharing

 

For the filename 'sample video 1', please look closely at the table at the lower bottom right. The table was in focus for a few seconds, and then suddenly the focus is throwed off, which makes the whole scene look like stuttering for a few milliseconds. Kindly take note that this particular video clip is not mine, but I manage to find another sample same issue with mine for easy explanation.

 

For the filename 'sample 2' at timeline 0:26 - 0:29 AND 1:07 - 1:21, the entire screen is actually shaking because the focus seems to jump in and out. It is very obviously seen by comparing with the background and the foreground.

 

For the filename 'sample 3' at timeline 1:04 - 1:07, the same thing as mentioned (whole screen shaking caused by the focus pump/focus jumping too fast)

 

For filename 'sample 4' at timeline 3:07 - 3:13, when I pan out of the subject, the whole scene screen is stuttering/shaking and you can the background seems to do that focus pump/focus pump. Same thing when I pan in closer to the subject as well.

 

Have anyone here met with this kind of issue before? As I am not sure if this is the problem of the lens/body or not anymore. I have searched online and not much people seem to talk about this, or have a solution on it.

 

Also not forgetting that sometimes when I use the gimbal to dolly go close up to the subject's face OR dolly out away from subject's face, the subject face seems to have a bit of soft focus (defocus?) before focusing back clearly again each time.

 

Some people are saying the A7S3 firmware 3.01 update might help to solve this problem, but I am not sure if the latest firmware would still remain to having this issue, or even cause other problems to arise after updating? For your information, my A7S3 body firmware version is 2.11, and the PZ 16-35mm F4 G is currently only one version anyway, so there is no new firmware on the lens at this moment.

 

Thank you for your replies, much appreciated.

[lunag]

How wonderful that I am the only one with this issue.

[Cameratose]

Maybe try a busier forum. I don't own the lens. 

[lunag]

Just now, Cameratose said:

Maybe try a busier forum. I don't own the lens. 

Do you know of any other forums that are busier? Thank you

[Pieter]

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/board/56/

[Cameratose]

Cameradrie

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