what's better; manual or auto focus?

[Battou]

Manual focus, Yeah AF may be quicker in the hands of a novis, but a skilled hand is just as fast and a skilled eye is twice as relyable especially in low light or low contrast situations.

 

[passerby]

Auto focus is great, until it messes up. And I'll give it credit that it messes up less than I probably would, but its always good to have two options.

Prime example: I was driving down the road, and saw a deer. I put my camera to auto, and started shooting, only to find it focused on the tree behind the deer and left my subject blurry. I was really upset. If I had manual focused, I might have not gotten any shot at all (its slower), but at least if I did, it would have been correctly focused.

I blame my camera, but really I guess it just got confused. All it sees are patches of brown and green, it doesn't understand that the patch of brown deer is more interesting than the patch of green leaves behind it. Until then, we should all be glad our camera's have a switch to turn auto focus off.

It is the owner in the end who runs the show, very true. This little mechine is just a tool to produce the object intended in the photographer's mind. The more difficult the object being captured it should become the challenge for the camera owner regardless the time taken. That's where the fun is for me all about. But some people missed the idea of what enthusiast is all about.

 

[craig]

Manual focus would be great if it still had screens like split image. Or better yet Leica has the put two images together screen. Other then that I have to rely on autofocus and the handy beep. I have 16 points of focus so generally it works out well, but I still miss the manual focus days.

Love & Bass

 

[abraxas]

I've lost faith in my eyes of late.
I've been an autofocus guy since.

Wobbly vision is pretty much why I quit even trying to shoot moving targets. On landscapes I have my diopter reasonably set, then it's just the middle ground between out of focus one way or another. The cool thing to me is that I don't have to skootch the little bracket around the view finder or recompose. The slips I've made where the new camera goes into AF accidentally, I thought, "damn, that's good." But the light changes so fast sometimes I can't put up with the refocusing everytime I push the button halfway down to meter.

 

[Miaow]

I think (IMO) which is better depends on what your taking and when

Auto focus is better if you want a quick pic and dont have the time for a manual focus.

Manual focus for me is better when its getting dark (i hate that autofocus assist flash thing lol and i notice possums dont like it either hehe)

 

[Battou]

I think (IMO) which is better depends on what your taking and when

Auto focus is better if you want a quick pic and dont have the time for a manual focus.

Manual focus for me is better when its getting dark (i hate that autofocus assist flash thing lol and i notice possums dont like it either hehe)

and skunks won't hold still long enough for a long exposure no matter what focusing methed one uses :lmao:

 

[Garbz]

Autofocus without a doubt. Until it doesn't work. And then you're going to wish you knew how to properly manually focus.

AF is a tool. Like a light metre. I know someone who's fully manual camera doesn't have a light metre, outside he often guesses his exposure, inside he gets another light metre. It's nothing more than a tool to help you take the photo. If it doesn't work turn it off.

 

[reg]

What is better?

A question that has been asked for years. What is better? Newport or Kool? Coke or Pepsi? Tylenol or Advil?

The fact is that they aren't better or worse; they just are. They just are.

 

[Senor Hound]

Manual focus would be great if it still had screens like split image. Or better yet Leica has the put two images together screen. Other then that I have to rely on autofocus and the handy beep. I have 16 points of focus so generally it works out well, but I still miss the manual focus days.

Love & Bass

No doubt! On my dad's old 50mm Nikon, I didn't mind manually focusing, because it was easier and more accurate! The two split semicircles would line up and it was all good. Nowadays on manual you kind of have to guess if your focus is going to be 100% sharp, or just about 95%. Its really hard to tell that final 5% on new lenses, and sometimes that 5% is what makes an image go from, "cool," to, "WOW!"

 

[Iron Flatline]

I shoot with Rangefinders most of the time, so AF is not an option. When I do shoot with my Canon 5D, I have found that I turn AF off sometimes. I lose shots when the camera starts hunting for a focal edge. But sometimes AF is nice, esp. when shooting things like little kids at a birthday party.

 

[notelliot]

i like auto focus with manual override. best idea ever.

 

[JerryPH]

Well, if your lens front or back focuses, manual...lol

Kidding aside, the only reason I could think of where using manual focus has advantages over auto is in macro situations.

So the answer to me is a resounding... "it depends".

 

[Socrates]

You can manual focus? Is that legal?

Do it when no one's looking and keep your camera in a brown paper bag.

 

[skieur]

The obvious answer is auto focus, but is it really?

Auto focus is faster and more precise in some scenes but manual focus is necessary in scenes where the auto focus is constantly changing due to the movement of numerous small objects such as leaves, petals, blooms in the scene.

skieur

 

[Overkill-F1]

I use manual focusing on most of my shots. When I put the camera away, I leave the AF switched on in case I don't have much time the next time I use the camera.
I really, really liked my Nikon F2's focusing screen. It is so sharp and focusing is so easy to get spot on.
...Terry