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Rangefinder Focussing on the d60

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s200

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Any thoughts on the merits or otherwise of the rangefinder manual focussing system on the d60. I have no doubt that it will be accurate enough to provide decent focus when depth of field is large but how does it perform with, for example, the 50 f1.8 at wide apertures?

I am trying to decide whether to keep my d50 simply as a means of autofocussing the 50 f1.8, or whether to rely on my new d60s rangefinder.
 
It will actually work better with large aperture lenses. Focusing always works best at large apertures because the narrow DOF makes it easier to find the correct focus.
 
I find it impossible to visually focus with any sort of accuracy at wide aperture settings...and I have eagle eyes! I'd be relying on the rangefinder.
 
AFAIK the 50/1.8 works fine in the program modes and does not require manual exposure.
 
I have had my D60 since Christmas, but have found the focus indicator useful in using two old, all manual, lenses I have from my film days. The lenses are a 100-300 Nikkor and a 55 mm Nikor Micro. With both lenses, focusing while watching for illumination of the green dot in the viewfinder works well. It is sometimes a little diffiuclt at 300mm as there is barely a flicker when passing by the in-focus spot initially. With practice, it has gotten ok.

--
Frank

D60; S3 IS; TX1; S1 IS; CP8400; C-2100UZ
 
I ditched the D60 but when I had it I used a 50/1.8 manually focused and had to use the range finder. I was going to get a focusing screen for it but I ended up getting one for the D90 instead. :)

I had reasonable success using it, it does have the advantage of saying "too far" or "too close." The only other way to get that really is the split-prism.
s200 said:
Any thoughts on the merits or otherwise of the rangefinder manual
focussing system on the d60. I have no doubt that it will be accurate
enough to provide decent focus when depth of field is large but how
does it perform with, for example, the 50 f1.8 at wide apertures?

I am trying to decide whether to keep my d50 simply as a means of
autofocussing the 50 f1.8, or whether to rely on my new d60s
rangefinder.
Click to expand...
 
Did you find 50 focussed well using the rangefinder? Initial testing for me shows a 'nearly but not quite' level of results; however, the focus brackets are so large on the d60 that I'm not too surprised that focussing errors arise.

In summary, I guess I'm asking: will I miss the ability to AF my 50/f1.8 or does the rangefinder substitute well for AF?

Thanks all.
 
s200 said:
Did you find 50 focussed well using the rangefinder? Initial testing
for me shows a 'nearly but not quite' level of results; however, the
focus brackets are so large on the d60 that I'm not too surprised
that focussing errors arise.

In summary, I guess I'm asking: will I miss the ability to AF my
50/f1.8 or does the rangefinder substitute well for AF?
Click to expand...
IMO it's a poor substitute. It allows a fair bit of focus adjustment while keeping the green dot lit-up.

larsbc
 
The limitation, in my opinion, isnt the rangefinder. Its the large focus area, Im sure the camera is having to make decisions. I think a focusing screen would have helped but I learned on those and I am used to them.

Anything in this album with a FL of 20 or 50 was manually focused using the dot/rangefinder and visual. I never got a split-prism for this camera:

http://imageevent.com/rstewart/d60

Here is 1 of 1 at 1.8 from the 50mm (add the http: but this is full 10mp):
photos.imageevent.com/rstewart/d60/people/ DSC_1257.jpg

Either way I had pretty good luck focusing manually with it:
s200 said:
Did you find 50 focussed well using the rangefinder? Initial testing
for me shows a 'nearly but not quite' level of results; however, the
focus brackets are so large on the d60 that I'm not too surprised
that focussing errors arise.

In summary, I guess I'm asking: will I miss the ability to AF my
50/f1.8 or does the rangefinder substitute well for AF?

Thanks all.
Click to expand...
 
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