AF vs Manual - When do YOU use it?

[bribrius]

I use AF most of the time with most lenses. One AF lens that I find myself using manual focus with pretty often is my 80-400 VR AF-D, which is easily confused in many types of situations. I will often MANUALLY focus it to the right distance, then turn the non-locking M/A ring to the un-locked, just-engaged A position, then allow AF to fine-tune the job I started.

With most AF-S lenses, manual focus is not needed except in the kind of situations KmH and astroNikon mentioned above. As was mentioned, close-up and macro are almost always manually focused for me.

With the good, 51-point Nikon AF systems, autofocus works VERY well under a LOT of conditions.

View attachment 71299


photo of my daughter the other night. 7100 wouldn't focus on her. maybe you could tell me why. tried afa, afs, manually put the square straight on her head. nada. wouldn't do it. 18-140 mm taken at 48mm. im thinking the light through it off, just curious.

 

[AmberAtLoveAndInk]

I use AF about 90% of the time. 75% of that is done with single point focus. I only use manual when I am unable to get exactly what I want into focus, that happens usually when I'm doing an extreme close up. I feel like AF & M focus preferences are similar to M & Auto camera usage. Many prefer to stick to M when they've got it down, others stick to Auto for ease.

 

[JerryLove]

View attachment 71299


photo of my daughter the other night. 7100 wouldn't focus on her. maybe you could tell me why. tried afa, afs, manually put the square straight on her head. nada. wouldn't do it. 18-140 mm taken at 48mm. im thinking the light through it off, just curious.

First guess? Too little light to the phase sensor.

The biggest single selling point for me for the 6D over it's similarly priced competition was that it wold AF in less light than any other DSLR (-3EV).

When do I use MF?
- When there's too little light for AF to lock (which usually means I'm using liveview).
- When I have a non-moving subject and feel like hyper focus control (esp focus on a small spot on a target that may be smaller than the AF sensor).
- When I want to try multiple focuses.

I'm sure there's some others I'm not thinking of.

 

[nzmacro]

Don't own any AF lenses so MF it is. That might change if my eyesight starts playing up, but fine as is. Personally, it just feels right and love the challenges it brings.

Danny.

 

[bc_steve]

For landscapes I can do a better job with live view and MF than my camera can with AF. Usually I AF because this is where the cameras auto is superior to my abilities. I am slow andinnaccurate with the viewfinder.

 

[bratkinson]

99.99% of the time, I am using center focus point only AF. Works flawlessly from my experience. When letting the camera choose from a number of possible focus points, it may not choose the one I want, or, seeing that, I have to try achieving focus again to get the one I want, thereby losing 'the moment'. Forcing the camera to have but one choice - center only - I get what I want every time. If needed, I can always crop it in post to get the framing I really want such as moving the subject a bit right or left in the frame.

As for the other 0.01% of the time, it's when I want to do 'focus bracketting'. Think of exposure bracketing, but moving the focus ring instead. In most of those instances, if the camera can lock in, I let the AF pick the point and shoot at that AF, then switch to MF and go about 5-10 degrees of focus-ring 'twist' each direction and shoot, and another 5-10 degrees of twist and shoot again. If the camera can't lock on to start with, then I'll start from as best as I can see in the viewfinder, and go from there.

The problem with using manual focus these days is the lack of a split ring or Fresnel focusing area that was the primary methods in the 35mm days. Everyone was adept at simultaneously composing/zooming/focusing/shooting, even for fast moving subjects.
While zooming in with LiveView is a good way to manually focus on a DSLR, unless the camera is on a tripod and the subject stationary, it doesn't work so well. One alternative would be to put a split ring focus screen into your camera (Katz-Eye comes to mind). I've considered doing just that, the rare need I have doesn't justify the expense.

 

[nzmacro]

99.99% of the time, I am using center focus point only AF. Works flawlessly from my experience. When letting the camera choose from a number of possible focus points, it may not choose the one I want, or, seeing that, I have to try achieving focus again to get the one I want, thereby losing 'the moment'. Forcing the camera to have but one choice - center only - I get what I want every time. If needed, I can always crop it in post to get the framing I really want such as moving the subject a bit right or left in the frame.

As for the other 0.01% of the time, it's when I want to do 'focus bracketting'. Think of exposure bracketing, but moving the focus ring instead. In most of those instances, if the camera can lock in, I let the AF pick the point and shoot at that AF, then switch to MF and go about 5-10 degrees of focus-ring 'twist' each direction and shoot, and another 5-10 degrees of twist and shoot again. If the camera can't lock on to start with, then I'll start from as best as I can see in the viewfinder, and go from there.

The problem with using manual focus these days is the lack of a split ring or Fresnel focusing area that was the primary methods in the 35mm days. Everyone was adept at simultaneously composing/zooming/focusing/shooting, even for fast moving subjects.
While zooming in with LiveView is a good way to manually focus on a DSLR, unless the camera is on a tripod and the subject stationary, it doesn't work so well. One alternative would be to put a split ring focus screen into your camera (Katz-Eye comes to mind). I've considered doing just that, the rare need I have doesn't justify the expense.

Or you could use a camera with an EVF that has "focus peaking" as one of the features. Very useful feature that one combined with MF lenses.

All the best.

Danny.

 

[Steve5D]

I almost never use manual focus...

 

[runnah]

Only when I am out taking long exposures or start photos. But i use live view so that might be cheating.

AF all the other times, when I need to do work it's fast paced and I will miss stuff if I am farting around with the focus ring.

p.s. I don't see using MF as some kind of badge of honor. Short of not having an AF lens, it's pretty silly to use MF unless in extreme circumstances.

 

[astroNikon]

FYI, I tend to have focusing issues using Live View in MF. I always use the viewfinder.
Would love to get one of those Katz eyes split focusing screens but haven't pulled the $105 trigger to get one for my d7000.

 

[runnah]

FYI, I tend to have focusing issues using Live View in MF. I always use the viewfinder.
Would love to get one of those Katz eyes split focusing screens but haven't pulled the $105 trigger to get one for my d7000.

Really? I love it on my MKIII. I use the zoom in tool to get an object sharp and let er rip.

 

[astroNikon]

FYI, I tend to have focusing issues using Live View in MF. I always use the viewfinder.
Would love to get one of those Katz eyes split focusing screens but haven't pulled the $105 trigger to get one for my d7000.

Really? I love it on my MKIII. I use the zoom in tool to get an object sharp and let er rip.

could be because of my eyes ... I have my diopter set for my eye fuzziness.
My eyes tend to waver and are in even waver with glasses .... except just from the way I "focus" myself looking into a viewfinder it always seems to work best.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

AF most of the time,method depends on subject. That being said I have a thing for Nikon F Ai/Ais glass and have a few. The rangefinder feature works pretty well but I plan on a KatzEye screen when the $$$ is available. Oh and a couple of my AF lenses that have Macro setting requiring manual focusing,again the rangefinder comes in handy but is fickle up that close.

 

[480sparky]

Sometimes, I get a wild hair and use a manual-focus lens. Then it's kinda academic.

 

[nzmacro]

Only when I am out taking long exposures or start photos. But i use live view so that might be cheating.

AF all the other times, when I need to do work it's fast paced and I will miss stuff if I am farting around with the focus ring.

p.s. I don't see using MF as some kind of badge of honor. Short of not having an AF lens, it's pretty silly to use MF unless in extreme circumstances.

No way on this planet could I afford the newer AF versions of my lenses, so there is no choice. Well I could afford the lenses, but not the divorce settlement Not a badge of honour, its a necessity to survive and I bought the camera to suit the MF lenses. There was life before AF and there still is.

Danny.