Focusing and Leveling the SAVS Camera
 

SAVS Owners,
I've seen a lot of videos that look like the camera's out of focus. Although the SAVS lens has infinite depth of field, mine came from the factory badly out of focus. Also there's nothing more frustrating than finding out the horizon line was off-kilter after a day's worth of shooting. Here's how to focus and level the SAVS camera.

Picture #1 shows the focus ring on the camera. If you carefully grasp the end of the camera lens barrel between your thumb and forefinger, you will find it turns fairly easily without rotating the rest of the camera body. Make sure you don't pinch any of the foam support when you're focusing the lens.

Picture #2 shows the test setup to allow instant feedback for focusing. I found that there was a delay in the DVR monitor which made it hard to focus the camera, so I got a small B&W TV from Radio Shack for $29, to use as a real-time monitor. When you focus the camera, don't worry about the horizon line getting off - just get the focus dialled in as best you can. I like to use a pole or post at a distance as an indicator.

Once you've got the focus done, level the horizon line. Take your thumb and forefinger and pinch the camera on the rubber gromet where the focus ring and the camera barrel meet. This will ensure that the focus setting does not change. Also pinch a bit of the foam sphere, and turn the whole camera and support foam at once. The four holes in the foam are obviously intended to accommodate some kind of tool for this purpose. You'll find that a tiny amount of rotation seems to make a huge difference on the horizon. I've found that if you're careful, you can gently re-adjust the focus without affecting the horizon level if you need to.

Picture #3 is the B&W Sylvania TV from Radio Shack. It's hard to see in bright conditions, but for the price it makes a pretty good little monitor!

Cheers,
Bruce

RE: Focusing and Leveling the SAVS Camera
 

All of my cameras came focused with shrink wrap around the barrel to prevent it from being accidently changed. For those that aren't, once the focus is set, I would either tape or shrink wrap it to not have to worry about it again.

Yes, the horizon adjustment is very important. There's one thing that you didn't mention that is very critical to proper alignment. After finding a good horizontal straight edge for calibration, you should allow the ball to hang over the edge of whatever the DF is sitting on and then let it settle because that's how the ball will actually be in flight. As you mentioned, very slight rotation of the camera in the ball is an exponential move to the image and so is the difference of the slight angle of the ball when resting on a surface and when hanging on it's own weight when floating. In other words don't calibrate the horizontal level while the ball is resting on a flat surface because it's not the camera's actual position while in flight. Once I have calibrated the level, I make a small mark on the foam and the ball housing and simply make sure those marks are aligned before each flight to ensure a good level horizon.

That's a good idea but those holes are actually for ventilation. The first generation camera ball did not have vent holes in the rear as it does now and the foam didn't have holes either. The problem was that the camera's circuit board was overheating inside the ball and causing the image to go static. I mean it got really hot and that's not good for the electronics or that foam because it is very flammable! I have noticed small pieces of charred and deformed foam in mine where the board sits.

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RE: Focusing and Leveling the SAVS Camera
 

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RE: Focusing and Leveling the SAVS Camera
 

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