Manual vs Auto Focus

[Derrel]

Manual focus is not that difficult for me using lenses from 50mm on up to 400mm, especially on a body with a pro-level viewfinder, like the single-digit Nikons, which have exceptionally clear, crisp viewfinders. I have pretty good results shooting baseball or track and field using the 400/3.5 ED-IF Nikkor, which was designed for action shooting and has a specially designed internal focusing system with two-level,adjustable focus tensioning. The 85/1.4 AF-D, 105mm f/2 AF-D , 135 AF f/2, 180/2.8 ED-AF--all those lenses focus manually quite well. I have difficulty with slow, wide-angle lenses like 24/2.8 or 20mm/2.8.

Modern d-slr camera bodies have viewfinder screens that are optimized for autofocusing; the best way to improve manual focus ascertainment is to install a third party viewfinder screen that has a wider "scatter angle", which will be slightly dimmer than a screen designed to maximize the brightness of slow, kit lenses, but MUCH more-contrasty and better able to show the more-limited depth of field of faster f/2.8 to f/1.4 lenses.

Last week I did a pretty extensive search on viewfinder focusing screens. Here's a very simple, basic primer on why factory-stock screens are not optimal for manual focusing. OptiBrite Brightness Enhancement - Katz Eye Optics

 

[Inst!nct]

that's going to sound stupid, but i use Manual Focus because i still didn't figure out how to focus your subject with Auto Focus if it is not in the center of the screen

sorry for double posting (and quoting myself :mrgreen but i just wanted to bring this to top instead of opening another thread. how do you use autofocus in such cases

well are you sure you dont have selective focusing on? Meaning only a certain focus point can be focused on? Worse case scenario, subject in middle of screen, half way press button, then move to put subject wherever you want, without refocusing, and boom, properly focused

 

[Pugs]

that's going to sound stupid, but i use Manual Focus because i still didn't figure out how to focus your subject with Auto Focus if it is not in the center of the screen

sorry for double posting (and quoting myself :mrgreen but i just wanted to bring this to top instead of opening another thread. how do you use autofocus in such cases

You can focus with your subject in the center of the screen. After the focus locks on that subject, you then move the camera so that the shot is composed the way that you want in the frame. Your camera needs to be able to lock the autofocus in order to do this, though.

 

[Inst!nct]

that's going to sound stupid, but i use Manual Focus because i still didn't figure out how to focus your subject with Auto Focus if it is not in the center of the screen

sorry for double posting (and quoting myself :mrgreen but i just wanted to bring this to top instead of opening another thread. how do you use autofocus in such cases

You can focus with your subject in the center of the screen. After the focus locks on that subject, you then move the camera so that the shot is composed the way that you want in the frame. Your camera needs to be able to lock the autofocus in order to do this, though.

look up one post

 

[Pugs]

Blech... That's what I get for getting distracted in the middle of composing a reply...

 

[Plato]

Without a split-image screen, manual focusing is very difficult for everyone, regardless of how good your eyes are. That's because your eyes can easily focus in front of or behind the screen and you never really know where your image is focused. Manual focus is a fun change if you enjoy tinkering, but only with the split-image. For anything action related, forget it. Manual focusing is extremely difficult.

ABSOLUTELY!

Also, using the green lamp focusing aid is foolish as you get the same results as auto-focus. The only difference is that your hand, instead of a motor, moves the lens focus mechanism.