Manual focussing for spectacle wearers

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almac7

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I wear spectacles now and find it hard to focus manually...are there any accessories to help?
 
Most spectacle wearers leave them on, as I have always done. Use the dioptric adjustment (on side of viewfinder) to get the image as clear as you can.

If you have an unusal prescription, then manufacturers provide attachments for this, or if it's very unusual, get your optician to have something made up for you.
 
Thanks Richard, maybe just need to get used to it. Old age doesn't come alone.
 
almac7 said:
Thanks Richard, maybe just need to get used to it. Old age doesn't come alone.
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Actually, I think I misread your question - it's manual focusing you're having trouble with.

Well, as above still applies, and I also wonder why you're wanting to manual focus anyway when modern AF is so efficient, but there are a couple of issues.

If you're using a crop-format camera, the image is inherantly smaller than a full-frame camera. That's just the physics. Then, because AF is so good these days, manufacturers often don't bother to make the viewfinder as bright as it could be, and they don't include manual focusing aids like split-image etc as they did with film SLRs. You may be able to get a different focusing screen that is better optimised for manual focusing.
 
Not sure about Nikon, but Canon bodies will show AF confirmation boxes in the viewfinder when you're focusing manually. If you're using legacy lenses, such as Olympus OM, you can get AF-confirm adapters with a chip allowing them to work in the same way.

TBH I find it a lot easier to focus manually by eye on Micro 4/3 than my 5D with the standard VF screen; not super-quick, but very accurate.
 
I find MF with AF lenses a right PITA! Partly because bodies designed for AF tend to have plain ground screens without any focus aids like split or micro prisms but also because AF lenses have a much shorter throw from close to infinity (presumably to speed up AF and reduce power usage), so a tiny tweak can overshoot what you were aiming for. Even with macro, although I usually switch to MF rather than AF, I set the magnification I'm after (or a vague focus distance) using the focus/magnification scale then move myself back and forth (or the camera on its tripod if tripod mounted) rather than rely on AF or MF for the minute adjustments needed.
 
That could help if I always had my reading glasses on me (they stay beside my reading chair) since old age is creeping up on me and I'm now a little long sighted, so my eyes have problems focussing close enough for live view screen peeping! It also doesn't help with the short focus throw of modern lenses.
 
Nod said:
I find MF with AF lenses a right PITA! Partly because bodies designed for AF tend to have plain ground screens without any focus aids like split or micro prisms but also because AF lenses have a much shorter throw from close to infinity (presumably to speed up AF and reduce power usage), so a tiny tweak can overshoot what you were aiming for. Even with macro, although I usually switch to MF rather than AF, I set the magnification I'm after (or a vague focus distance) using the focus/magnification scale then move myself back and forth (or the camera on its tripod if tripod mounted) rather than rely on AF or MF for the minute adjustments needed.
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This is exactly what I find with close up photography. I now use old manual focus lenses and your technique of setting the focus distance and then moving back and forth.
Strangely enough, although I have to use reading glasses now, I don't get on with them when using the camera (although "chimping" is a bit hit and miss:)), and my shots seem to be sharper when I don't wear them. I think this has something to do with light levels, and the fact that most of my photography is done in good light conditions, when the eye muscles are working fine.
 
almac7 said:
I wear spectacles now and find it hard to focus manually...are there any accessories to help?
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I can't see what camera you are using, but there is a company called KatzEye Optics that make split screen focus screens for a number of makes and models. I've used these is Nikon cameras before (D40, D90 and D300) and they can help.

www.katzeyeoptics.com

Hope that helps :)
 
There may be all kinds of reasons not to want one (none of which apply to me BTW!), but in this context one of the great things about Sony DSLT's is the manual focus aids you get as a function of their EVF; zoom in the viewfinder allowing you to very clearly see the spot you're focussing on, focus aid which puts a coloured outline around edges in focus (helps a lot when previewing DoF too), and much brighter viewfinder's than you'd expect from an APS-C camera normally.

Yep, some people hate EVF's, in which case you wouldn't buy a camera with one, but they do work well to solve this particular issue.
 
I wear varifocal specs, I use several MF lenses mounted on the D700, I have found the focus confirmation dot in the viewfinder to be accurate, but usually just rely on the image being in focus on the screen.

For critical stuff, wide open for example, live view is the best option.
 
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