Tokina 11-16mm? Am I on the only one who manually focuses D40, D60, D3100 D5000

[2WheelPhoto]

I bought the 11-16mm today and love it. Am I the only one with a cam that requires manual focus? I don't want to replace my D5000 until the new version D300 comes.

Seems the green "in focus" dot allows a longggg depth of field? I can twist further than I'd expect in each direction while my cam says the lens is still in focus, is this normal and maybe because its "super-wide angle" lens? Should i target the middle of the "infocus setting" or assume anytime my green light is on its focused?

Thanks in advance

 

[Derrel]

Scale focusing with ultra-wide angles has been the norm for decades. Ultra-wides have very,very low image magnification,and even when the lens is out of focus, the circles of confusion presented to the phase detection system are "fairly close" to those present when the lens is focused perfectly. Ergo, the green AF confirmation syetm is indicating "in-focus" across a fairly wide range of focusing ring travel because, well, the lens is pretty close to in-focus, due to the deep depth of field that it has once it is focused beyond about 1 to 1.5 meters distance. You might just as well focus an ultra-wide angle by the marked distances on the barrel. If you can estimate distances like 1 meter, 2 meters, 3 meters, and four meters, you ought to be good to go. AND, If you ALSO have even a cursory idea of how far 50 feet is, you should be okay for just about anything. Don't sweat it too much. Focus manually by focusing from FAR to NEAR, briskly and quickly; that is the more-accurate way to turn the ring, from far, to near. When it looks good, stop turning.

 

[crimbfighter]

+1 for what Darrel said. In my experience with this combo, I find it takes me two swings of the focus ring to get acceptable focus. I first find the front and back end of where the focus indicator light it telling me I'm in focus, then set the lens approximately one third of the way in from the far end of the "in focus" area. It's a guess-timation, but an educated one, and it gets me pretty good focus most of the time. If it's a landscape, though, I just use the focusing window on the lens and either set it to infinity or the hyper-focal distance. I chose to rely on the focus indicator because the view finder in the D5000 is so small it can be impossible to even see a difference in the focus by looking at your subject when in fact it could be the difference between nailed focus or soft focus when you put the image on a computer screen. I've also found, if you have the time, review your shot and zoom in to check focus, then make fine adjustments and re-shoot. Or you can always focus bracket. The D5000 definitely wasn't make to manual focus, but if you use the tools you do have, the combo is perfectly capable of excellent focus.