Manual focusing!!

Galaxy66

Galaxy66

Jeremy Beadle
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I have recently acquired a Canon 1.4x tele extender and a Kenko Pro 300 2x extender. I knew all about the autofocus limitations regarding the lens and have been having a bit play with the kenko 2x on different lens.

Doesn't this manual focusing lark take some getting used to, we are well and truly spoilt with today's technology, we have it easy compared to a few years ago.
 
I really quite like MF, been messing around with an old MF lens and once you "get your eye in" its quite easy. Wouldn't fancy trying fast moving things but tbh with a decent viewfinder its not (that) hard.

Got these two yesterday, both MF.



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I find it a bit more more "fun" with an ancient MF prime sometimes :)
 
I used to photograph sport using manual focus, that's all that was available then. You do develop a technique and have a surprisingly high hit rate. I bet I couldn't do it now. :D
 
I think manual focusing a DSLR is very tricky.
Proper manual focus cameras were easy to use due to the correct focus screens, but I agree we are spoilt :)
 
It helps having a lens that was designed for manual focus as well.

Modern auto focus lenses aren't really.
 
I tend to use manual focus for about half my shots now; macro, landscape and street.
 
Galaxy66 said:
I have recently acquired a Canon 1.4x tele extender and a Kenko Pro 300 2x extender. I knew all about the autofocus limitations regarding the lens and have been having a bit play with the kenko 2x on different lens.

Doesn't this manual focusing lark take some getting used to, we are well and truly spoilt with today's technology, we have it easy compared to a few years ago.
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No luck with your siggy then ?:lol::lol:[nor me]
 
You can get replacement focus screens that help with manual focus Link. I was going to ask on here if anyone was 1. brave enough to fit one and 2. how they got on with it.
 
Yes. There are videos on youtube. It looks pretty straight forward, (for anyone who knows which end of a screw driver to hold etc etc) you'd have to be a real klutz to mess it up I think.

They do look really appealing, It's one of the things I miss most on my DSLR. Having ti look in two places at once in the viewfinder for the subject and the dot really sucks.
 
"you'd have to be a real klutz to mess it up I think."

Well you have just jinxed me there!
 
I use the EF-S screen on my 40D and find it helps.
 
Manual Focus? :lol:

to young for that kind of stuff

seems quite complicated though i must admit, had a brief go but it soon went back to AF, i guess like most things, given some time on it most people will find the best way and it will be easy within no time
 
I am I missing something here folks?

Focussing right??

Where you turn the twiddly bit on the lens until what you're looking at stops being blurry??

Now if we were talking about trying to check your DoF on a large format night shot at f42, I could see how it's a little bit tricky. :lol::lol:
 
Learn to manually focus on an insect in flight and everything else is easy ;)
 
pxl8 said:
Learn to manually focus on an insect in flight and everything else is easy ;)
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That statement reminds me of the money Karate Kid, where Master tried to teach the young Padawan (from Star Wars) how to grab a bug with Chopsticks! Not the best way to get about things; but if mastered I am sure it will make other stuff dead-easy.

I was glad to get AF, when it first came, but I am finding that I am enjoying my photography more with MF. So much so, that I'm hoping to get more of these. Dedicated MF lenses, though not necessarily cheaper than AF lenses, seem to give me better pictures :shrug:
 
I use to practice MF by switching focus between two points, say leaves on a tree, with practice you get a feel for the lens and how much you need to turn the ring so you can do it without thinking, but you have to put the hours in :thumbs:
 
A dumb question maybe, but to get the image sharp we are relying on our eyesight so you need to have good sight, is what the dioptre setting on the viewfinder is for?, something I have never adjusted on the 40D.
I don't normally wear glasses and have what I consider perfectly good sight for everyday use but I do have a pair for night driving, if I wear these during the day it is like adding a bit sharpening to my images, maybe I will have to wear them to manual focus.
 
I wish I could get AF confirm with manual focus on the thing I have to manual focus with. It would be so much easier, than using liveview at 10x and moving back and forwards until the thing I'm focussing on is a tight as possible. Nailing focus manually at minimum focus distance at 250mm on a flying Hoverfly was a doddle by comparison.
 
jgs001 said:
I wish I could get AF confirm with manual focus on the thing I have to manual focus with. It would be so much easier, than using liveview at 10x and moving back and forwards until the thing I'm focussing on is a tight as possible. Nailing focus manually at minimum focus distance at 250mm on a flying Hoverfly was a doddle by comparison.
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not sure what you mean John, what thing?
I have AF confirm on one of my adaptors, they are getting more common.
 
Galaxy66 said:
A dumb question maybe.....
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You know there is no such thing. :)

I have pretty perfect vision looking at the world but through a camera, it's whole other thing all together. I have all my cameras adjusted with as much - on the diopter dial as they'll give. From time to time though I end up with someone else's camera that has no adjustment or even worse, + dialed in.

It actually makes little difference to me for focusing as I'll just pick the least blurred point as focused and go with that. Works out OK. :)

You can usually tell if you need to adjust the diopter dial by looking at the display in the viewfinder. If it appears sharp, you're all good. If not, have a play and see if you can get it better.
 
Hmm. Do you know if you can get AF Confirm on a T fitting ? Focus is done with a rack and pinion by trying to turn a focus knob real slow....
 
A friend of mine has just started shooting with an old film SLR. I tried it out, and I'm hopeless! Kudos to those who can do it :thumbs:
 
Galaxy66 said:
A dumb question maybe, but to get the image sharp we are relying on our eyesight so you need to have good sight, is what the dioptre setting on the viewfinder is for?
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But in a real camera, the focusing screen uses a split prism- look it up. Basically what this means is you get a gauge of how far OOF your subject is, right on top of your subject, and when you turn the focus ring, the shot just 'snaps' into focus.

My DSLR has a dot in the corner, which indicates - 'yes focus in acheived' It's really flaky, and there is no leeway, I can't tell easily how out of focus it is, and being that it's in the corner and not on the image, I have to look in two places at once.

My manual K1000 (which I have misplaced somewhere) was lovely to use an manually focusing is not an issue, once you get the hang of it. :)
 
You can get different focus screens for most DSLR's, some of them are 3rd party and do have split prism although they work better with fast glass.
 
Wail said:
That statement reminds me of the money Karate Kid, where Master tried to teach the young Padawan (from Star Wars) how to grab a bug with Chopsticks! Not the best way to get about things; but if mastered I am sure it will make other stuff dead-easy.
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I once cut a wasp in half in mid flight with a pair of scissors (first shot!). I retired after that with a 100% hit rate :)
 
I once cut a wasp in half in mid flight with a pair of scissors (first shot!). I retired after that with a 100% hit rate
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I plucked his eyebrows with tweezers and he didn't miss a wing beat :p
 
OK guys, you're starting to pull my leg here :thinking: ...

... and how come you both are able to reply at such weird hours of the night :shrug:
 
Wail said:
OK guys, you're starting to pull my leg here :thinking: ...

... and how come you both are able to reply at such weird hours of the night :shrug:
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because was still up programming :) when I'm off I switch to late night late morning.
 
puddleduck said:
I really quite like MF, been messing around with an old MF lens and once you "get your eye in" its quite easy.
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I still can't get MF very well. I have been practicing with that 85mm lens I bought. The dot in the bottom of the view finder is not brilliant either. The old hemispheres from old film cameras were far better!
 
Don't the actual focus points light up when you get focus with a Nikon?
 
pxl8 said:
Don't the actual focus points light up when you get focus with a Nikon?
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Not sure what you mean. I actually started a thread about this myself as I just couldn't reliably get a manual focus. Basically in manual mode on my D200 a little dot appears when it is in focus. Sometimes it is not absolutely in focus when the dot is there other times the dot will just not stay on! Nothing else happens and the viewfinder is inadequate to tell if the image is actually in focus. Often it looks in focus across quite a range.

I would love to be able to get a manual focus every time as I have an Nikon AI-S 85mm f2.0 lens which I would like to get the most out of.
 
Manual focusing a film SLR wasn't too difficult. They were designed for it. But trying to manual focus my crop-format D-SLR is hopeless, honestly.

The viewfinder image is small and dark, depth of field is a lot greater than fuill frame which doesn't help, the lenses are slow (not very bright) and focusing rings appear to be an afterthought, often crude and hard to use. That all ads up.

But you can reverse all that with a full frame D-SLR, some fast glass and a decent focusing ring. These things do exist, at a very considerable price. So I'll stick with AF. It's not perfect but it's the best option for me by far.

Richard.
 
cowasaki said:
because was still up programming :) when I'm off I switch to late night late morning.
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That reminds me of the days when I was a student :p ... not so long ago, mind you. I used to go to sleep at about 9pm and wake up about 3am to start studying.



cowasaki said:
I still can't get MF very well. I have been practicing with that 85mm lens I bought. The dot in the bottom of the view finder is not brilliant either. The old hemispheres from old film cameras were far better!
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What MF cameras used to have is that prism that made it all too easy to get the sharp focus. You can get that with Katz Eye. Did you give that a try? Some people swear by it.
 
cowasaki said:
Not sure what you mean. I actually started a thread about this myself as I just couldn't reliably get a manual focus. Basically in manual mode on my D200 a little dot appears when it is in focus. Sometimes it is not absolutely in focus when the dot is there other times the dot will just not stay on! Nothing else happens and the viewfinder is inadequate to tell if the image is actually in focus. Often it looks in focus across quite a range.

I would love to be able to get a manual focus every time as I have an Nikon AI-S 85mm f2.0 lens which I would like to get the most out of.
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With Canon the actual AF points flash when they detect focus in MF, this is in addition to the confirmation light in the corner. This works with the 300D, 30D, 40D and 1 series and presumably all the Canon bodies.
 
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