SmallHD User Guide

Focusing Tips

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Manually focusing a camera with accuracy can be difficult, thankless, and if unchecked can lead to a surprise of the worst kind in post-production.  Use SmallHD's industry-leading focusing toolset to help achieve razor-sharp focus every time and to free you up for other on-set tasks.

Pixel Zoom

Pixel Zoom lets you quickly 'push in' to your image to make careful judgements over any details and to check for accurate focus before rolling.  Because you're seeing the actual image up close you can be extra confident making decisions using this tool.

Pixel zoom is unique in that it isn't added to a page like other tools but is accessible from any time by pushing up on the joystick or using pinch-to-zoom on touchscreen monitors.

Focus Assist

Focus Assist is a filter that looks at your image for areas of dense contrast and highlights those areas with a color of your choosing.  This represents the 'in-focus' portion of your image which can be seen clearly in a wide variety of viewing conditions.

If you need the fastest, most apparent view of what's in focus, for example when shooting with a gimbal where you can't get a close view of the screen, Focus Assist is a great option.

Peaking

Peaking is essentially the 'sharpness' filter turned all the way up -- meaning in-focus edges highlight similarly to Focus Assist, but it doesn't alter the image as drastically which can be helpful when used in combination with other tools.

If you need to manage several aspects of your image at once while still focusing, Peaking may be the correct tool for the job since it doesn't mess around too much with the integrity of the original image.

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