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Automatic vs. manual focus

lensfan
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Automatic vs. manual focus

What do you have to say pro and against each one?

I feel that AF sometimes steals too much attention making sure that camera nails that autofocus at that decisive moment. On the other hand, with manual focus I first make sure the focus is there and then finally check the composition and other aspect of the final image are as intended. Of course, from a slow shooter perspective.

Sep 12, 2023 at 08:42 PM

chez
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Automatic vs. manual focus

Isn’t that what photography is all about, nailing the photo at that decisive moment?

Sep 12, 2023 at 09:03 PM

lensfan
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Automatic vs. manual focus

chez wrote:
Isn’t that what photography is all about, nailing the photo at that decisive moment?

Cannot say with full certainty. I notice, when I shoot manual, I tend to use smaller apertures that help nail the focus.

Sep 12, 2023 at 09:23 PM

freaklikeme
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Automatic vs. manual focus

AF Pros:

1. It's better than it's ever been, and that goes for almost every camera company, but it's especially true for Sony.
2. It tracks small mammals and birds a hell of lot better than I can.
3. I tend to take shots I might otherwise not consider. It's not often and it's not always successful, but I've got some keepers I just wouldn't have gotten otherwise.
4. I've got a scapegoat for the times it misses.

AF Cons:

1. I feel a little more disconnected from the process than with MF lenses.
2. I like a lot of AF lenses. There's only a couple that I really love.

MF Pros:

1. Nearly all the lenses I truly love are MF.
2. I feel fully connected to the process and there's nothing more rewarding to me than nailing a shot with MF.
3. Bragging rights.
4. Sound people don't bitch at you about AF noise (but they would still prefer it if you stopped breathing).

MF Cons:

1. When I miss, I am my only scapegoat.
2. MF lenses tend to be heavier than their AF counterparts.

Sep 12, 2023 at 09:58 PM

RustyRus
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Automatic vs. manual focus

Apologies for the awful picture but Sony A7rv with 35 1.4 Vs Leica M11 with 35 1.4 Summilux.

I choose to carry the Leica setup 98% of the time.

Beyond just size though, I just enjoy the shooting experience with a manual focus camera. I can go shoot all day and I will come home with maybe80 pictures. With the Sony and AF, it can easily be a few hundred. The MF process and user experience is just a fun time and the pictures tend to be better since I slow down.

The same can be said when I use my Sony with an MF lens as well.

When I need AF though, the Sony can't be beat.

Sep 12, 2023 at 10:25 PM

runamuck
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Automatic vs. manual focus

I use manual focus only in macro. My hands shake too much to even attempt manual focus without a tripod

Sep 12, 2023 at 11:14 PM

SNJOps
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Automatic vs. manual focus

I shoot mainly portraits and while using AF I feel a lot
more connected to the shoot it self and my subject than when using MF.

However for street I enjoy the smaller and lighter setup of Leica M10 and Zeiss lenses and the MF is fun but I do miss the AF of my Sony I have to be honest.

Sep 12, 2023 at 11:53 PM

philip_pj
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Automatic vs. manual focus

Using fine MF lenses, that's an absolute joy. Fortunately they have historically been the best lenses, long into the AF era, as we can call what we live in now. People don't recall that photographers used MF lenses for everything they shot until the 80s or so.

For portraits with short telephotos, you just need three seconds for strangers. It's not hard with focus magnification. And for most photography, each 'decisive moment' is one of many of them in a series. With many lenses I shoot right off the magnified view, if confident of the background handling.

Two bad things have happened. The camera makers are engaged in an AF arms race for the uses that need top tier AF. They come over as somewhat military, like hunting. So the cameras have a completely different target feature set and orientation now. I feel like a technician when I use an AF lens.

The second thing that happened is that Carl Zeiss deserted the field of play.
Imagine, if you will, the Otus lenses 28-55-85-100 and the 135/2 - all of these each weighing under 500 grams, plus a light cutting edge 21mm. You would hear very few complaints. They ran out of steam after the DSLR Milvuses. Right idea, wrong target.

Sep 13, 2023 at 01:33 AM

j4nu
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Automatic vs. manual focus

RustyRus wrote:
Apologies for the awful picture but Sony A7rv with 35 1.4 Vs Leica M11 with 35 1.4 Summilux.

I choose to carry the Leica setup 98% of the time.

Beyond just size though, I just enjoy the shooting experience with a manual focus camera. I can go shoot all day and I will come home with maybe80 pictures. With the Sony and AF, it can easily be a few hundred. The MF process and user experience is just a fun time and the pictures tend to be better since I slow down.

The same can be said when I use my Sony...Show more →

And the other side of the coin:
14k vs 5k $

Sep 13, 2023 at 02:04 AM

InFocus2014
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Automatic vs. manual focus

I have nothing but complete appreciation and admiration for all you folks that love MF. I can also appreciate your experience as I spent years shooting Leica rangefinders and loved interaction and tactile feel of the process. When I first started shooting Sony mirrorless, it was mostly with my converted Leica lenses, using Focus Peaking.

Technology has now won me over, however, and with the latest Sony cameras, AF focus is spot-on 99.8% of the time and I can direct most of my attention to framing and exposure settings, rather than focusing. I also shoot a lot with f1.2/f1.4 lenses and MF can be a little dicey - particularly at longer FL’s. Perhaps, I am just getting lazy in my old age.

I do use MF for macro and lens testing, however.

Sep 13, 2023 at 04:10 AM

ph77
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Automatic vs. manual focus

For me it’s like driving a manual car or playing golf with hickory golf clubs. I do these sometimes when the process itself is enjoyable and outcome is secondary.

Similarly, I shoot manual focus with an old Nikon FM3 or Leica M6 sometimes as a way to completely immerse myself in the act of shooting. I’m not skilled enough to nail focus all the time especially with shallow DOF and accept the reduced hit rate in these times. When outcomes matter (especially when shooting my way too active kids), it’s always the modern AF setup.

Sep 13, 2023 at 04:58 AM

GMPhotography
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Automatic vs. manual focus

Been at this a very long time and for me maybe one of my favorites things is manual focus. It takes skill to be good at it accurate and fast all in a short time frame and a real challenge but I believe in my heart it’s one reason that’s kept me in the game for 50 years. I just get a lot of satisfaction from it and walk away with the same thing I said for this long is . I nailed it

Sep 13, 2023 at 05:23 AM

Knut.
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Automatic vs. manual focus

… and just to add: With the huge viewfinder of an A1 or A7rv (and just just a minute bit of focus peaking) nailing focus in manual focus is so much easier and so much more fun!

It is really only the fastest action that I deligate to autofocus. Many times I find that the af-system just doesn‘t know what the motive is which you want to shoot (despite abundace of artificial intelligence, as in the r5). Cameras still miss the bell that rings when a motive has been recognized 😉

Sep 13, 2023 at 05:58 AM

ytwong
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Automatic vs. manual focus

For me 21mm or wider MF works better.
Macro is mostly MF, no camera knows where I want to be in focus.
Landscape in really dark area, MF

On "main" cameras I always use "AF-on" button, shutter does not trigger AF so when I need pre-focus I don't need to use MF every time.

It's next to impossible to use say MF 135/1.8 to shoot a sequence of a dog running towards me. But A7R4/R5(A7R5 is much more reliable) can get the eyes tack sharp for majority of the shots.

For years I shoot my sister's music students recitals (piano, flute, singing, mostly with AF 85/1.4, ZF.2 100/2, sometimes with MF 180/2.8, Mamiya 120/4 most recently Sigma 135/1.8), with accurate eye AF I can be more concentrated on their facial expression, posture etc and life is much easier.

Sep 13, 2023 at 06:06 AM

ramesesthe2nd
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Automatic vs. manual focus

AF when you want to make sure you get some technically sharp images and don't miss the moment.

MF when you want to have fun and want to really "see". I think a good example of this is captured in one of my favorite books, Four thousand weeks by Oliver Burkeman: The three-hour stare.

Some personal thoughts on both:

Weight/Size: MF

Build Quality: MF (almost always metal and beautifully constructed)

Price: MF (Usually Much cheaper than GM lenses). Not counting Leica lenses.

Character: MF (Just browse any of the manual focus threads here)

Clinical IQ: AF

Accuracy: AF (Hard to beat the accuracy of modern AF systems)

Fun: Depends. MF can be really frustrating at times. The experience of modern AF lenses, IMO, is like using your smart phone, i.e., just point and shoot.

Resale value: AF. Resale value of MF lenses suck. Outside of FM and some other niche photography sides, nobody wants to buy and use MF lenses.

Sep 13, 2023 at 06:18 AM

chez
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Automatic vs. manual focus

InFocus2014 wrote:
I have nothing but complete appreciation and admiration for all you folks that love MF. I can also appreciate your experience as I spent years shooting Leica rangefinders and loved interaction and tactile feel of the process. When I first started shooting Sony mirrorless, it was mostly with my converted Leica lenses, using Focus Peaking.

Technology has now won me over, however, and with the latest Sony cameras, AF focus is spot-on 99.8% of the time and I can direct most of my attention to framing and exposure settings, rather than focusing. I also shoot a lot with f1.2/f1.4 lenses and...Show more →

That’s the biggest difference. Rather than spending your efforts trying to keep focus on the subject, you can put all your efforts into compositions and capturing the key moments.

Sep 13, 2023 at 07:00 AM

Gunzorro
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Automatic vs. manual focus

My long term experiences have made me a suspicious person regarding AF. I shoot many static subjects, so MF is very natural for me to choose the primary point of focus, or how much focus control to allocate to the aperture/DOF. I tend to lose the "feel" for shooting MF if I shoot too often in AF.

That said, AF has gotten practically intuitive on where to focus and nailing specific areas. That also works for me and speeds up the process and improves accuracy to near 100% for people or non-static subjects. MF just can't keep up when using telephoto and rapidly changing subject distances at wide aperture and shallow DOF.

For building composite images, I prefer MF lenses, as the focus doesn't shift around to produce different points of focus on panos.

Both camera bodies and lenses have matured into very accurate mechanisms for image capture. It is almost impossible to fault the top offerings from all the major manufacturers, and it is obvious the buying public agrees and places their trust in them.

I'm fortunate to stilll have eyes that allow me to judge accurate MF in the magnified viewfinder. That is a pleasure and a dream fulfilled, and I truly enjoy the MF experience with a great modern digital mirrorless camera. Having said that, it is wonderful to be able to trust modern sensor-plane AF to grab the perfect focus nearly all the time, without having to overshoot the number of frames to get one that is perfectly sharp.

We live in wonderful times!

Sep 13, 2023 at 07:27 AM

ramesesthe2nd
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Automatic vs. manual focus

chez wrote:
That’s the biggest difference. Rather than spending your efforts trying to keep focus on the subject, you can put all your efforts into compositions and capturing the key moments.

But where do you find the AF version of special lenses you have available as MF Lenses? Some examples include Zeiss Loxia and Voigtlander Nokton lenses. You just get end-to-end sharpness and perfectly rounded bokeh, but no character and nothing unique about the image. The only unique AF lens I can think of is Sigma 45 and that lens has such a broken AF that it might as well be a MF lens.

I am not saying that MF are better than AF lenses and vice versa. If I were a pro and this was my business, I would just have all AF lenses, but as a hobbyist I feel liberated to do whatever I want.

Sep 13, 2023 at 07:58 AM

Oogappeltje
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Automatic vs. manual focus

MF / AF
small(ish) / bigger
limited / unlimited
emotion / radical
slow / fast
analog / digital

Sep 13, 2023 at 08:07 AM

Grenache
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Automatic vs. manual focus

While not every image shot by manual focus lenses is special, nearly all images that I have found breathtaking over the years were shot with manual focus lens…and are often instantly recognizable as to which lens. The Noctilux f/1, Nikon 105/1.8 AiS, and Leica R series come to mind quickly. The Nikon 105/1.4 and Canon/Nikon 200/2 are AF lenses that are also quite distinctive in rendering.

I use a lot of MF lenses specifically because they produce distinctive looking images. I am not saying better or worse, just different. I tend to shoot with MF lenses for more atmospheric or artistic images and AF for greater precision or speed. I like shooting with and the results from both.

Jim

Sep 13, 2023 at 09:00 AM

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