I just got the Panasonic SDR-H200 camcorder and I seem to have an auto focus issue. I tested it out on a rose outside and the rose was not as sharp as I thought it would be but the sidewalk behind it was clear. I was about 10 feet away from the rose. I made sure the rose was in the center and the lighting was ok. Why do you think the rose was not clear? I thought the object in front would be clear and the back ground not as clear, instead I got the opposite.

it might depend on how much of the screen real estate the rose takes up... if only 25% of the picture is sidewalk, the focus point should be on the rose.

modern cameras and camcorders should be utilizing multiple focus points...

if you have manual focus, like the hf11 does, you can zoom in on the rose with autofocus set, then switch to manual focus, and zoom back out... the rose would stay in focus no matter how much of the screen real estate it took up, because the focus point has not changed.

i don't know about the panny, but if you have a consumer camcorder like the sony, you may not be able to do that??