[Guide] - Manual Focus with your Nikon Camera using the Green DOT

[psychobiologist]

Realized that there are some people who dont know the existence of this green dot in the viewfinder...

if you manual focus, when its in focus, the green dot will be steady.. if it flickers, it means you are almost there but is shaking/moving forward/backward.. etc

i used to use a focus screen but now i've gotten rid of it.. prefocussing and the green dot gives me 95% spot on focus all the time..

so this is how it looks...

out of focus...



in focus!




so is this method good? well.. if you're used to it.. its possible to catch your focus pretty decently..

this is shot on a 50mm f1.2.. (a lens which i urge everyone to try if they have a chance too.. its.. erm. i dont know how to describe it. ethereal?.. after one copy i'm no longer looking at the 50 f1.4s/AFD/ais and what not)

5.6MP picture (not 10mp cuz i forgot to adjust file size)


100% crop

[glenncain]

hey a grado. MS-1 was it?

I'm using a triple fi 10 lol~


And so what do you mean by prefocussing? or is it simply frame it, and play with the focus ring until i see the dot?

[psychobiologist]

Originally Posted by glenncain hey a grado. MS-1 was it? I'm using a triple fi 10 lol~ And so what do you mean by prefocussing? or is it simply frame it, and play with the focus ring until i see the dot?

ya a MS-1. dont like the sound. but its for rough use anyway :P i've a pair of triplefi too. except modified with shure biflanges (cut from triple flange).. without that modification i cant get the earphone to fit properly.. sticks out too much


pre-focussing is to focus by the approximate distance that you believe your subject is.. i.e. within a meter etc...

[psychobiologist]

I forgot to add, that you have to manual focus on half-press of shutter, else the green dot will not appear.

[Randius]

I must say the focus dot really helps and prefocusing is very important to cut down on focusing time, especially for lenses with very long throw.

[alextgm]

Hi, thanks for sharing! Your tip comes timely as I'd just gotten an old Nikkor manual lense to experience and experiment abit.

With your help, now I have to get use to the following steps to take clearer pictures (which is shorter time than before I was enlightened by "the dot")

1. Manual focus until the picture looks clearer,
2. Adjust the focus until green dot appear (which is tricky because it comes and goes fast)
3. Adjust my body back and forth until the green dot stays
4. Snap!

Have a great day!

Best regards
Alex

Originally Posted by psychobiologist I forgot to add, that you have to manual focus on half-press of shutter, else the green dot will not appear.

[Randius]

Originally Posted by alextgm With your help, now I have to get use to the following steps to take clearer pictures (which is shorter time than before I was enlightened by "the dot") 1. Manual focus until the picture looks clearer, 2. Adjust the focus until green dot appear (which is tricky because it comes and goes fast) 3. Adjust my body back and forth until the green dot stays 4. Snap!

I don't think there is a need for you to adjust your body back and forth to fine tune the focus, right? You can do so by adjusting the focusing ring.

[marios_pittas]

Originally Posted by Randius I don't think there is a need for you to adjust your body back and forth to fine tune the focus, right? You can do so by adjusting the focusing ring.

I will have to agree with Alex on this one. Sometimes is easier to fine tune the focusing by moving the camera rather than the focusing ring (you can fine-tune within a couple of centimeters by moving the camera a few centimeters instead of a small focusing ring rotation resulting in ??? cm finetuning). Try it

I really wished Nikon would allow for the focusing confirmation to appear on the screen center though, rather than the green dot on the bottom right of the screen. Its been like this since the F-501 (admit ignorance what the F3AF had).. come on..

--Marios

[marios_pittas]

Originally Posted by marios_pittas I will have to agree with Alex on this one. Sometimes is easier to fine tune the focusing by moving the camera rather than the focusing ring (you can fine-tune within a couple of centimeters by moving the camera a few centimeters instead of a small focusing ring rotation resulting in ??? cm finetuning). Try it I really wished Nikon would allow for the focusing confirmation to appear on the screen center though, rather than the green dot on the bottom right of the screen. Its been like this since the F-501 (admit ignorance what the F3AF had).. come on.. --Marios

Errr.. bottom left

[Randius]

Originally Posted by marios_pittas I will have to agree with Alex on this one. Sometimes is easier to fine tune the focusing by moving the camera rather than the focusing ring (you can fine-tune within a couple of centimeters by moving the camera a few centimeters instead of a small focusing ring rotation resulting in ??? cm finetuning). Try it I really wished Nikon would allow for the focusing confirmation to appear on the screen center though, rather than the green dot on the bottom right of the screen. Its been like this since the F-501 (admit ignorance what the F3AF had).. come on.. --Marios

I had tried both and I prefer to fine tune using the ring most of the time. I move my body only when adjustment is very minor and the lens is placed horizontally.

If you move your camera (assuming you are using a prime), won't that affect the composition (though it may be minor)? What's more, if the lens is pointing upwards or downwards, you not only have to move back and forth, you have to heighten or lower the camera to achieve accurate focus + same composition. To me, that sounds like even more work for the minor adjustment.

[psychobiologist]

Originally Posted by marios_pittas Errr.. bottom left

soon it will be subconscious :P i.e. you just look and concentrate on how to compose the picture.. and in the corner of your eye you can "sense/see" the green dot come on :P

[unmtdrv]

@ psychobiologist > I pull out my manual glass immediately after reading this to try it out. Works very well! Great tip for those who have overlooked.

[glenncain]

oo a fellow triple fi lover!!! do you frequent jaben?



anyway while the manual focus steps with the dot is easy to comprehend, there are times when i eyeball my focus clarity, and the green dot covers a range of that clarity. which leads to think, how accurate is it? how much blur will be incurred being on the outside of the range than being right on the theoretical best focus?

[psychobiologist]

Originally Posted by glenncain oo a fellow triple fi lover!!! do you frequent jaben? anyway while the manual focus steps with the dot is easy to comprehend, there are times when i eyeball my focus clarity, and the green dot covers a range of that clarity. which leads to think, how accurate is it? how much blur will be incurred being on the outside of the range than being right on the theoretical best focus?

i frequent earphone solutions back then, cuz i had shipping discounts and tax exemption cuz its outta state.


actually if you focus pretty carefully, and if you're used to it, its almost 95% or more in perfect focus most of the time.. takes a bit of getting used to.. of course the further away the object, the higher the keep rate due to increase in DOF available when subject is further away at a given aperture.

its only those really close shots i.e. at min focus distance that needs a bit of fine tuning. usually shots at 45cm.. 50cm... i'll take a couple of shots.. i.e. you can estimate the green dot's left and right limits.. and hit it somewhere in the middle..

[David Kwok]

Originally Posted by glenncain oo a fellow triple fi lover!!! do you frequent jaben? anyway while the manual focus steps with the dot is easy to comprehend, there are times when i eyeball my focus clarity, and the green dot covers a range of that clarity. which leads to think, how accurate is it? how much blur will be incurred being on the outside of the range than being right on the theoretical best focus?

Other than D3, I personally feels manual focusing is not that accurate on other Nikon DSLR, pretty raw. But I still use it when the lighting gets kinda dark.
I find it more accurate if you adjust from front focus to on focus rather than back focus to on focus. The former normally get your subject in focus the latter seems to throw the subject slight out of focus. Tried that a feel times on my Sigma 30mm f/1.4 which at wide open aperture has a very narrow DOF. The former direction constantly gives me focused output.

There again... no need to try manual focus on AF lens unless the lens is buggy.

[psychobiologist]

Originally Posted by David Kwok Other than D3, I personally feels manual focusing is not that accurate on other Nikon DSLR, pretty raw. But I still use it when the lighting gets kinda dark. I find it more accurate if you adjust from front focus to on focus rather than back focus to on focus. The former normally get your subject in focus the latter seems to throw the subject slight out of focus. Tried that a feel times on my Sigma 30mm f/1.4 which at wide open aperture has a very narrow DOF. The former direction constantly gives me focused output. There again... no need to try manual focus on AF lens unless the lens is buggy.

did you swap your focus screen before? a slight mis-alignment of focus screen can also affect MF accuracy. at least for my current screen, i have more than 95% keepers.

i've been doing MF of my fav ais lenses on various nikon bodies with reproduceable results. the times when i do MF on AF lenses is when the subject is close, or complex, that every time you half press in the same position, the camera adjusts focus a tiny bit forward and backwards indecisively. the same for macro too, that although AF seems to be convenient, it just doesnt lock on the subject like i would have preferred it to.

at f1.2 lens at f1.2




f1.4 lens at f1.4

(NO this is not my calculator!.. my colleague's)

[photobum]

Originally Posted by psychobiologist f1.4 lens at f1.4 (NO this is not my calculator!.. my colleague's)

I it!

[vince123123]

One cannot talk and the other cannot hear? :P

Originally Posted by photobum I it! Ever heard of the 'Hello Kitty met Doremon' joke?

[vince123123]

Orh, why not tell us about it?

[lsisaxon]

Originally Posted by photobum It is rated R. Maybe not on a public forum.

PM us?

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