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Manual focus vs Auto focus?


5 years 11 months ago #579873 by Alfonso Camil
Now I get it, I'm the newbie to photography.  But what is the attraction that I see with manually focusing?  If you can rely on technology doing this one part, so you can focus (no pun intended) on other parts of the picture taking process that are more important.  Why?

I've been reading about some buying retro lenses that are manual focus for this purpose.  

Just curious, that's all.  
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5 years 11 months ago #579892 by fmw
The main reason,  I suppose, is that older manual lenses are a bargain.  I use a mirroless camera system so the entire world of old manual lenses are available to me.  As an example I have a lovely Carl Zeiss 300mm f4 lens that I adapt for use on my cameras. This German made lens is a spectacular performer.  I paid around $220 for it in pristine condition.  The autofocus options for a lens with comparable performance are well over $1000 for my system.  I'm old enough that the majority of my photography occurred before autofocus was avallable so I'm quite comfortable with it.

Obviously autofocus is a convenience and can improve results with moving subjects.  That is why old manual focus lenses are available at bargain basement prices.
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5 years 11 months ago #579902 by garyrhook
Not every lens has AF. Witness Lensbaby and Venus for Nikon. Yeah, if the AF motor is in the body, then you're set; otherwise, you learn to manually focus.


Also, in certain situations the lens may not be able to focus properly. Very low light levels, stars, fireworks, shooting through. There are others.
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5 years 11 months ago #579910 by effron
You can manually focus auto focus lenses if you want. One used to have to do it all. My first slr was manual everything, although it had an internal light meter....It was revolutionary!
Myself, I've become a bit far sighted and when I get fatigued simply blind. AF has saved me a few times....Correct on the situations AF becomes useless...(night sky)
Why so serious?
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5 years 11 months ago #582799 by Jared-Weaver
Auto focus is useful and most accurate when you're shooting handheld in good light. Once it gets dark, autofocus becomes less accurate until it stops working all together.

I shoot landscapes so I use manual focus in a magnified live view way more often. Auto focus can be a hindrance to me when I want to capture a perfect moment as the camera searches for what it thinks is the ideal focus. It's better to have your scene composed and focused beforehand so you can wait on the perfect light.
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5 years 11 months ago - 5 years 11 months ago #582803 by Screamin Scott
Count macro as another instance where AF fails. I've been looking on eBay lately and it amazing how many AF lenses are for sale where the AF isn't working. So much for newer technology as most of these are lenses with built-in focus motors and the older generations of them can't be fixed as the parts are no longer available.. The problem with manually focusing newer AF lenses is that the newer lenses are hard to focus precisely. They have a shorter focus "throw" ( the distance the focus ring travels from closest focus to infinity) so as to be able to AF faster as opposed to precise focusing. Only true macro lenses still have a long focus throw among current offerings IIRC.
Scott Ditzel Photography

www.flickr.com/photos/screaminscott/
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5 years 10 months ago #583459 by Silver Fox
All good post here.  Nothing else to ad.  OP, are you good?
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5 years 10 months ago #583761 by Alfonso Camil
You guys are awesome, thank you for taking the time and leaving your thoughts.  Great food for thought!  
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