I need help with focus !

I have a Canon XM1 camera and am having trouble with the focus. I seem to be able to do things one of two ways. Deep Focus, or No Focus.

The only way I can have something in the foreground in focus while everything behind it is a blur, is if the object is RIGHT UP AGAINST THE CAMERA.

I've tried messing around with the manual focus but have had no luck.

So, to clarify are you saying that you want a shallow depth of field?

If you want less depth of field use a low F-number and /or add Neutral Density filters to reduce the light, thereby forcing the F-number lower (less depth of field).

Move the camera closer for less depth of field, further away for more. Using the zoom on the camera will also affect the depth of field - can't remember which way around it is but you either want to be fully zoomed in or fully zoomed out to get the shallowest depth of field.

Put the camera in Av mode so that you can manually adjust the F-stop while the camera automatically adjusts shutter speed. Then open up the lens to 1.6.

Corey