the solitaire Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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philber wrote:
Actually, I would split manual focus lenses in two groups, based on which camera they are used with. On a DSLR camera, or a mirrorless. Not counting the specail brand of focusing which is manual on a rangefinder camera (Leica M).
On a DSLR, basically you use MF when you don't have AF because the lens won't AF: Zeiss Z* for Canon and Nikon, Vogtlānder, adapted alt lenses. Though some people prefer MF over AF in this category, claiming it gives them more control
On a mirrorless, you get considerable visual aids to focusing: LiveView magnification, focus peaking. Many users claim that, with these adids, focusing manually on a mirrorless becomes much easier than on a DSLR. And it opens up vast numbers of lenses which can be used with an adapter....Show more →
I would rather place the users in two groups instead of the lenses. The lens remains the same regardless of whether it is used on a mirrorless camera or on a DSLR or rangefinder camera.
Once you get down to really wide apertures it's no longer a matter of "claiming" better control. Tolerances in AF, misalignment of lens elements and/or focus module (within or outside of manufacturer tolerances) and the whole computational error thing becomes tricky with an 85mm f1,4 lens. Either it focuses slow and reliably (AF-S) or faster but less accurate due to mechanical tolerances (AF-D) but both will hunt a bit to aquire focus, worse when the lights go out.
When living in macro-world again you will notice that AF tends to hunt every so now and then or plain fails to aquire focus. Close up and handheld with wide open aperture the same thing.
So, not only availability of an AF alternative becomes a reason to choose to focus manually. Intended use also plays a big part in this choice.
I tried this whole focus peaking trick and never got to like it much. Live View is even worse. Both take the speed out of my photographic process. For landscapes on tripod I could imagine using live view if I would use something like a 10" external screen to compose the scape.
It is in the end all a matter of personal preference. As Leighton already mentioned, the way manual focus effectively prevents you to point&shoot and the tactile experience of using some of these beautifully crafted lenses really help some (including me) to enjoy photography as more then merely an image making process.
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