Manual Focusing for noobie

[yihang]

Hello, my dad just bought me a Carl Zeiss Planar T* ZF 50mm/f1.4 for my D80.....

And i seriously suck at MF-ing (lol, sounds wrong)....anyway, do you Pros have any Tips & tricks which you can teach me?


thanks a whole lot

 

[Bored Dad]

I'm not sure cause I'm a newbie, but wouldn't it be just turn or adjust the focus until you see the picture in the view finder clear and sharp enough?

I remember last the good old film camera that use manual focus, there is a circle at the center of the view finder, which is split into half horizontally, upper half and lower half, the general guide is to adjust the focus till the circle is 'matched' or 'fixed' as a full circle, then it's a sharp and clear focus already.

But not sure about the current series of manual focus lens on camera that have AF sensors.

 

[ExplorerZ]

I'm not sure cause I'm a newbie, but wouldn't it be just turn or adjust the focus until you see the picture in the view finder clear and sharp enough?

I remember last the good old film camera that use manual focus, there is a circle at the center of the view finder, which is split into half horizontally, upper half and lower half, the general guide is to adjust the focus till the circle is 'matched' or 'fixed' as a full circle, then it's a sharp and clear focus already.

But not sure about the current series of manual focus lens on camera that have AF sensors.

Do you know how small is the viewfinder of d80 compare to the MF film camera you use back then? :sweatsm:

 

[cullenjeremy]

actually i think you can pay for a split screen focusing thingy to be put into your camera. i'm not sure how much that would cost tho.

 

[mysum]

Hello, my dad just bought me a Carl Zeiss Planar T* ZF 50mm/f1.4 for my D80.....

And i seriously suck at MF-ing (lol, sounds wrong)....anyway, do you Pros have any Tips & tricks which you can teach me?


thanks a whole lot

Yeah er...

Have fun with sports photography.

 

[kyo86sg]

haha, if u not used to manual focusing i can X-change my Nikon AF 50mm F1.8 for urs and $100 kopi money.

 

[nightwolf75]

wow... first u asked abt cheap prime lens, cos u a student.
http://forum.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=297609

and then u have a dad to buy u a CZ prime?

darn... where do i find a daddy like this? :what: :sweatsm:

 

[psychobiologist]

since you are using a d80, use the green dot for a start, inside your view finder, rotate till almost in focus, and rely on the dot then...

its cool that your dad bought you a zeiss, cuz you will have to now manually decide the aperture, shutter speed, as metering doesnt work.

 

[ResourceNINE]

Hello, my dad just bought me a Carl Zeiss Planar T* ZF 50mm/f1.4 for my D80.....

And i seriously suck at MF-ing (lol, sounds wrong)....anyway, do you Pros have any Tips & tricks which you can teach me?


thanks a whole lot

your dad want to have another son ?

i no pro. but i can say. experience it. no point spoon feeding. experience the MF, and then CnC.

and nowadays with DSLR, u can see your mistakes directly from the LCD. why worry.

and how do you define "suck" at mfing. is it because you cannot focus or what ? be more specific too.

no offence either. but i feel that you should elaborate more.

 

[ExplorerZ]

your dad want to have another son ?

i no pro. but i can say. experience it. no point spoon feeding. experience the MF, and then CnC.

and nowadays with DSLR, u can see your mistakes directly from the LCD. why worry.

and how do you define "suck" at mfing. is it because you cannot focus or what ? be more specific too.

no offence either. but i feel that you should elaborate more.

yes having LCD is good, but its useless if you have missed some shots that cannot be shot again...

 

[cantaresg]

Well perhaps for a start, perhaps you can practise focusing on a newspaper? Just try to shoot a number of frames and review it on the computer. THat will give you a feel on how good your focusing is? I'm not sure about cz lens or Nikon system. Otherwise when I use my canon, even when MF, the focus confirm LED will light up when I am in focus.

 

[JoshSiao]

D80? Thats lucky already. I have tried manual focusing on the D70 and its viewfinder is so small compared to the D80. The D80 has even a bigger viewfinder than the Canon 30D (which I use). I primarily use manual lenses on my 30D and I still get Out of focus shots.

The nice thing about using D80 was the ability to stop down the lens automatically. However, theres the lack of metering. Well, you'll learn much more but then you'll have to have a very keen eye to focus just right.

I found that setting your lens to infinity focus first then focusing closer till the image just appears sharp produces more sharp pics than focusing from its closest focusing distance.

 

[yihang]

hhahaha.....he gave me surprise since i was starving myself to death to save up for a lens...lol

 

[denniskee]

Well perhaps for a start, perhaps you can practise focusing on a newspaper? Just try to shoot a number of frames and review it on the computer. THat will give you a feel on how good your focusing is? I'm not sure about cz lens or Nikon system. Otherwise when I use my canon, even when MF, the focus confirm LED will light up when I am in focus.

for canon af slr system
1) af confirmation led in the view finder will light up when a EF/EFs lens when manual focusing (when lens is in focus).

2) af confirmation led in the view finder will light up when a good old manual foucsing lens has the special chip installed onto the adaptor. but this chip doesnt work with d60 (tried at cam-x) but works fine with 30d. it also give a beep sound.

3) other than (1) and (2), the focus confirmation led in the view finder will not light up.

for other brand
correct me if i am wrong, but i think all other brand using af system works as per (1) and (3). but i am not sure about (2).

 

[Scaglietti]

Hello, my dad just bought me a Carl Zeiss Planar T* ZF 50mm/f1.4 for my D80.....

And i seriously suck at MF-ing (lol, sounds wrong)....anyway, do you Pros have any Tips & tricks which you can teach me?


thanks a whole lot

I hope that you have also realised that the lens also does not meter with D80.

BC

 

[ortega]

I will buy a brand new 50mm f1.4 AF and exchange with your 2nd hand CZ 50mm f1.4

sounds like a good deal?

 

[yihang]

nice joke......hahahahah


yea, i guess i have to tikum tikum the values then....hahahaha

 

[lastboltnut]

Wow good deal indeed!!! No wonder ortega is turning blue now a days....:bsmilie:

I will buy a brand new 50mm f1.4 AF and exchange with your 2nd hand CZ 50mm f1.4

sounds like a good deal?