Does anyone miss split-circle focusing?

[Bevel Heaven]

I had the split ring forus on my Minolta X-700, I loved it. I have an astigmatisim [sp?] so that feature realy helped if I was outside in the full sun a long time..... I miss it now for sure, have missed it for a decade.

 

[Garbz]

You are talking about the people who bought their cameras because Ashton Kucher and Avril Leveine have one right....

Nah those people don't even know what those rings on their lenses are for, much less that their use could be improved.

But lets face it there are some of us on this forum who remember the good old days. Or others (my) who's first camera was from before my time, but even the vast majority of pro-sumers DSLR users have no desire for this feature. If they did the cameras would come with it. Nikon / Canon aren't stupid after all.

These days it's all liveview and videos.

 

[Don Simon]

Yes, I miss the split-circle focusing, but what I really miss is simply the size and brightness of the viewfinders in 35mm SLRs. That's one of the reasons I'll soon be upgrading my dSLR, and one of the reasons that "full frame" appeals to me (although not yet enough to justify the cost). Autofocus works well 99% of the time, but that 1% can be a major P.I.T.A.

 

[AlexColeman]

Never used it, never missed it.

 

[JustAnEngineer]

Yes, I miss the split-circle focusing, but what I really miss is simply the size and brightness of the viewfinders in 35mm SLRs. That's one of the reasons I'll soon be upgrading my dSLR...

Do you have a pentamirror or pentaprism viewfinder now? Are you using a slow f/5.6 lens or a fast f/1.8 lens?


Does the industry appear to be moving toward live view or electronic viewfinders using the imaging sensor, eventually making the SLR mirror and optical viewfinder unnecessary?

 

[Garbz]

Does the industry appear to be moving toward live view or electronic viewfinders using the imaging sensor, eventually making the SLR mirror and optical viewfinder unnecessary?

It does appear so, and there was a thread a while ago about Electronic viewfinder vs Optical viewfinder, and also a thread about the irrelevance of SLRs in the digital world. A few members said they liked EVFs. Personally every experience with them has been stomach churning, so unless I get a very very high detailed electronic viewfinder with no lag and no blooming when looking at bright things I will bitterly cling to my SLRs with optical viewfinders.

 

[epp_b]

I just got a Nikon FM and, yes, I already miss having it whenever I use my D40.

I wish every camera should have a split-circle focusing screen! They're far better than some little LED dot in a corner telling you when the image is approximately in focus. The dot alone also isn't usually accurate enough for really wide apertures. When you have a dot and two arrows, it's a bit better, but still not as good as a split-circle focusing screen. Lining things up is just so easy.

...eventually making the SLR mirror and optical viewfinder unnecessary?

Optical viewfinders will never become unnecessary as long as there are pictures to be taken of things that move. Electrons have a finite amount of speed and circuitry can only be optimized so much, LCD screens will always lag with action.

 

[skieur]

Yes, on my Mother's Minolta... I was probably 13.

-Shea

Yes, on my second Minolta. I was probably 13 too.

skieur

 

[greyhoundman]

I use them on every camera. It was the first thing I made and installed on my two DSLR.