The AF on my Canon 28-105 II USM just bit the dust, and being a poor college student, I don't have the cash to send it in for repair for the time being. I decided to profit from these unfortunate circumstances by working on my manual focusing skills. I've been walking around pretending to be Ansel Adams or Edward Weston for a few days now...
However, I'm not sure what the best techniques are for getting sharp photos when using MF. I have a Canon EOS 10D, and aside from taking an actual measurement and looking at the distance on the lens itself, I can't seem to get as sharp as I'd like. I remember playing around with my father's old Pentax back in the day which had a nice split screen in the viewfinder, but obviously the 10D doesn't have this.
What tips and tricks have you found useful for manual focus and getting sharp, crisp images? Thanks so much for the feedback!
Focusing screens these days aren't really built for manual focusing, as you've already discovered. The best advice I can give is just to keep at it (but maybe there's a trick I don't know about).
You're in a tough situation. I used a third-party split-image focus screen from Haoda on my 20D with decent results; otherwise, but it's really difficult to get accurate manual focus with the standard focus screen in the relatively dim finder of a 1.6x CF camera. Of course, it's possible to get good results when you're doing landscape-style shooting from a tripod, with the "scale focus" technique, and stopped down to f/8 or smaller. I generally get fine results with the bright finders on my 5D and 1DII bodies (not that this helps you very much), but you can still use the basic MF technique - "rock" the focus a bit past and then a bit closer than the subject to figure out where you get the best apparent sharpness, and then stop there and shoot. The more you can stop down, the sharper the subject will likely be, but the background will also be in better focus, which is not always what you want. I suggest you look at Haoda and Katz Eye screens (there's an active Katz Eye thread somewhere on FM right now), and that'll help a lot.
Maybe you should post this over on the Alternate Gear Forum - a lot of photographers there dedicated to MF.
I use MF most of the time even with AF lenses. I'm not familiar with the 10D or that lens. If a matte finish focus screen is available, I would recommend getting one. Someone on the Alt Forum could tell you the possibilities, were to get one or maybe have one for sale.
Tip & tricks - focusing screen & practice. With a little dedication & practice, you'll "see" more with MF. JMO
Thanks so much for the replies so far everyone. I will definitely keep on practicing, and I'll look into a nice focusing screen. So far though, the price of the focusing screens I've looked at have been nearly the price of the repair! Maybe I'll find a less expensive one though, as that would be a nice upgrade anyway.
uplink wrote:
I can't seem to get as sharp as I'd like.
A few quick points:
1: There's nothing inadequate about your focus screen, unless you use a lens with an aperture of less than f/2.5, so don't worry about it.
2: Realize that AF lenses are not well-designed for MF use. The amount of movement in the helical gear is relatively small, giving less precision. Also, the gearing is not well damped, because the AF motor doesn't want to see much resistance. So, don't beat yourself up over this.
It can be done, but realize that true MF lenses are easier to use.
3: You should IMMEDIATELY check you camera to see if it's set-up accurately. Both the mirror-box and the focus screen positions can be adjusted, and they are critical.
I don't know how to do the former (there are screws inside) and probably it's OK if your AF was working accurately. However, the latter is typically not perfect, will absolutely affect MF (but not AF) and can be adjusted by shimming the focus screen.
Go to the alt forum and do a search on this. You will find tons of information. If your focus screen is not at the exact correct distance from the lens, you simply cannot focus correctly with your eye. Manufacturers don't worry about getting this dead-on, as few people these days would care, so we must check & do it ourselves if its off.
BTW: The test is easy (do it in bright light) but the fix is a bit of a PITA.
