what's better; manual or auto focus?

[whistule]

If all you have to is focus then manual focus would be better I think - once you develop a feel for it - but footering around with focus, aperture and shutter speed all at once can be a bit footery if you've not got long. One major plus for manual focus (on camera's with manual wind also) is that the battery can be tiny or even non existant; if you're spending time way out then you're camera just keeps going and going, and never gets altitude sick either.

 

[tedE]

I prefer Manual focus myself.

 

[Village Idiot]

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

Thank you Canon for USM.

 

[AndrewG]

I prefer manual everything and having to think about what I'm going to do with my shot-I also mostly shoot landscapes and figures so autofocus has no benefit for me.
I also prefer the feel of a solid, well engineered, metal camera and lenses.


Nikon F3HP x 2 bodies, Nikon FM2N, Nikkors 28 f3.5, 50 f1.8, 135 f3.5

 

[epatsellis]

I prefer manual, so much so that I only own a few AF lenses for my F4 and S2, I do have a couple of dozen other nikkors, all manual focus that I use on both as well as my F, F3's, FM, etc..

My Hasselblad, Mamiyas, and all my LF cameras are all manual focus as well. Back in the days of dinosaurs, some of us shot sports by prefocusing and anticipating the action. Seems today, most just fire away and pick later.


erie

 

[Shutter_Bug]

I generally use AF if I don't have time to use MF... such as when I'm riding in the car and see something.

There have been numerous times when AF messed up - and like somebody said, the camera does get confused.

I now find myself spending more time taking shots when I'm out, using both AF and MF.

 

[Alpha]

Manual focus is best for fast-moving subjects.

Auto focus is best for when you need to hyper-focus.

 

[GrfxGuru]

I use both, and find that most of the time I'm happy with Manual focus. The big thing that bugs me about auto focus is a lot of the time I find myself focusing then recomposing the shot and depending on what I'm shooting there is not enough time for all that messing about. And this would also bring forward the question of one shot or servo focus....servo has given me headaches when I forget that I have it set

Macro or close-up for me has to be manual without question.

Regards,
Peter Witham

 

[Sw1tchFX]

My eyes aren't good enough to manually focus unless i have a split-prism.

MY answer would be a resounding yes, AF is better when you know how to use it. I've found that most of the people who think manually focusing is better because AF hunts, or misses the mark is becuase they do not understand how AF works or how the AF works on their camera.

 

[waileong]

Is an auto car "better" than a manual car? Clearly, it's easier for new drivers to drive, and clearly auto cars outsell manual cars, but that does not mean it's better. And many experienced drivers actually prefer manual stick shift.

So autofocus is not "better", it's just the norm now. It's sometimes faster but sometimes not (eg in low light or with low contrast subjects, the autofocus can hunt back and forth and never get it). It can focus on the wrong area (depends on the lens, the no of focus points, the subject, etc). And it can also be less accurate than manual focus-- autofocus sensors are built to a tolerance, once the sensors return a value within the tolerance, it assumes it's in focus, whereas in actual fact, it can be a 5% or 10% off, depending on the tolerance.

You can google articles that compare the accuracy of autofocus sensors if you want.

 

[icassell]

Interesting question. I just got back into photography about a year ago after being out of it for nearly 20 years. I had no experience with AF in my old 35mm days and I bought my 30D. I still find myself using MF frequently ... it is so intuitive for me. I like AF when it works and I am learning to use it more often, but it frequently doesn't do it for me. I wish I had a split-prism on the 30D.

 

[sabbath999]

I guess I am just an old fart but I am tickled as punch that my camera has a built in light meter...

I come from back in the day when light meters were just being integrated into 35mm's, let alone all this fancy stuff like "auto exposure" or "auto focus".

I got along pretty well with my completely manual old Nikon F and a hand meter... so all this other stuff is just gravy to me.

 

[timelapseforum]

Sometimes, you don't have a choice. I do time lapse photography, and you pretty have to shoot in manual everything!

Other than that, my eyes aren't good, so I do autofocus.

 

[maytay20]

I agree with the main thing most of the other people have said. It all depends what I am shooting, certain situations calls for a certain type of focus.

 

[fightheheathens]

i am way faster in general with manual focus (thats because i have only ever used old film cameras with split prism screens) Shooting sports, i prefer auto focus, but that being said, i have done it with completely manual cameras before. i can actually focus, adjust aperture and shutter speed on a fully manual camera at the same time. (how does one focus and use an aperature ring at the same time? i dont know, but it is possible) however that makes me hot and sweaty from all that work