what's the benefit(s) of manual-only lens??

[uniquename]

I mean you can do manual using lens with A/M mode. so why buy lens with just manual focus feature? Thanks!

 

[nelsonal]

Price, build quality (manual focus lenses are built for manual focusing auto focus lenses are built for fast auto focus the two are more or less mutually exclusive at reasonable prices), nostalga, unique lens designs and I'd guess more than a few fans prefer the pace of manually focusing each shot.

 

[scorrpio]

Mainly it's for special purpose lenses which are almost always focused manually. Macros, tilt-shifts. Manual only can also have much heavier focusing element, or feature much longer focus ring travel for precise focus. Some lens makers (like Zeiss) will skip the AF mechanism to keep costs/compatibility concerns down.

 

[steephill]

Manual focus rings on AF lenses are very sloppy and imprecise compared to the silky smooth action of manual focus lens. I am guessing that you have never used a high quality manual focus lens or you wouldn't even be asking the question.

--
Steve

http://www.pbase.com/steephill

 

[Wheatfield]

Lenses bring several potential qualities to the table. Auto focus is just one of them.

 

[Mark S Abeln]

I mean you can do manual using lens with A/M mode. so why buy lens with just manual focus feature? Thanks!

I own several manual focus lenses, which I mainly purchased used. Exceptional quality, low cost.

--
http://therefractedlight.blogspot.com

 

[mlackey]

Manual focus rings on AF lenses are very sloppy and imprecise compared to the silky smooth action of manual focus lens.

I've own, and have compared, older Olympus (manual focus) glass to newer Canon (auto focus) glass. I have a $15 adapter that allows me to mount my older Olympus glass on my newer Canon body. I cannot tell a difference. Both seem to "snap" into focus.

Mike

 

[uniquename]

but isn't it annoying that you have to focus manually? I mean, how many time have you missed "the shot" just because you weren't quick enough to focus properly? I guess you guys use manual-only lens for shooting static subjects like still life and landscape no?

 

[Barrie Davis]

but isn't it annoying that you have to focus manually? I mean, how many time have you missed "the shot" just because you weren't quick enough to focus properly? I guess you guys use manual-only lens for shooting static subjects like still life and landscape no?

Manual photography is more contemplative, yes.

But even with Auto Focussing you not supposed to wizz the camera all over the scene like a scatty butterfly, touching down for only a fraction of a second, here, then there, then somewhere else.....(and then find out what you got only after , when reviewing the pictures!)

But action photography was always done with manual focus lenses. It didn't suddenly "arrive" because rapid-acting AF was invented. Shooting moving subjects took a bit more forward planning, that's all.... for instance, pre-focusing on a point in space, or on the road, through which the subject would be passing...

... also zone focusing ...using depth of field to create a focused zone within which the subject could move about with no re-refocusing necessary...

... both of these being things you could do, even in these days AF, of course.

Forward planning will improve everybody's photography, of course. In combination with the ability to react quickly when something unexpected presents itself, you are on a winner.... ;-)
--
Regards,
Baz

"Ahh... But the thing is, they were not just ORDINARY time travellers!"

 

[MPrince]

but isn't it annoying that you have to focus manually? I mean, how many time have you missed "the shot" just because you weren't quick enough to focus properly? I guess you guys use manual-only lens for shooting static subjects like still life and landscape no?

Yes, it can be annoying to focus manually, especially if you are over the age of, say, 45 and using an APS-C camera with its smaller viewfinder. But it can also be annoying to use auto focus, because auto focus does not know what, in particular, you wish to focus on, and could choose a point within the focal plane (which has depth) that is a little in front of or a little behind the point that YOU want in focus, thus causing that point to be a little out of focus, thus ruining the shot you wanted.

Both auto focus and manual focus, in common with everything else in this imperfect world, have strengths & weaknesses, good points and bad points.

 

[oneANT]

but isn't it annoying that you have to focus manually? I mean, how many time have you missed "the shot" just because you weren't quick enough to focus properly? I guess you guys use manual-only lens for shooting static subjects like still life and landscape no?

I only shoot street and only have manual focus lenses (no AF lenses, no zooms).

The only pic I can ever recalling missing was 2years ago and in the first weeks I had started photography. A guy that looked like Hulk Hogan walked past me with a dog on his shoulder, and just now I remembered I was on crutches and couldn't negotiate the move to get him ...

just a couple to make the point...













I would bet that I'm faster than any AF zoom user going for the same shot. While I'm focusing I'm also composing. If you think about it I narrow the shooting time, I'm not framing and selecting a zoom FL and I'm not using a focus point and recomposing. Of course you need good eyes but mine are really bad but somehow I can see a bug wink through a zeiss prime on a D700.

Had a couple of days out doing scapes and can tell you that some scenes requires as much focus (not at speed tho) as anything else





Ant
ɹǝpun uʍop puɐl ǝɥʇ ɯoɹɟ
http://oneant.com.au/

 

[tjack]

Very nice photos.

But, to the forum...

Let's not lose track here. I used to use a manual choke on my car (yes, I am that old) but that doesn't mean that a manual choke is a "better" option. I was a whiz using a slide rule, now I use a calculator. Old technology does not equate to better all the time.

Yeah, I had all manual focus lenses when I started out. There was no AF. I was fast and efficient. Now I use AF lenses, I am fast and efficient. I learned how to maximize their use just as I learned long ago to maximize manual focus. Plus, as already mentioned, old eyes just aren't that good any more.

These types of discussions always go in the direction of "my choice is better than yours." That is just silly. Use what works best for you. For the vast majority of shooters, that probably means AF. Just as I never recommend a slide rule to my students...

 

[nelsonal]

Very nice photos.

But, to the forum...

Let's not lose track here. I used to use a manual choke on my car (yes, I am that old) but that doesn't mean that a manual choke is a "better" option. I was a whiz using a slide rule, now I use a calculator. Old technology does not equate to better all the time.

Yeah, I had all manual focus lenses when I started out. There was no AF. I was fast and efficient. Now I use AF lenses, I am fast and efficient. I learned how to maximize their use just as I learned long ago to maximize manual focus. Plus, as already mentioned, old eyes just aren't that good any more.

These types of discussions always go in the direction of "my choice is better than yours." That is just silly. Use what works best for you. For the vast majority of shooters, that probably means AF. Just as I never recommend a slide rule to my students...

Taking your analogy a little further, I think most of us choose a manual lens for the similar reasons to people restore a Jag E-type rather than buying a 350Z, because it offers something that the other doesn't (a different style or experience even though the Jag is handily outclassed in every performance metric by the Nissan) even though the Jag gives up a many conviniences in the process (notably fuel injection vs tuning carbs and electronics vs Lucas electrical), it's not opposition to the convieniences, but the desire for something not well represented by the other options. Others choose a used stick-shift because at the very bottom of the market can be cheaper than a new automatic.

 

[tjack]

That's my point: there are many personal reasons to choose one over the other. These reasons do not confirm a "better" or "worse" for others. If someone gets a kick using old technology, more power to them.

FWIW, I still drive a stick shift for seemingly no other reason than it gives me something to do with my left foot! I know in my heart of hearts that a modern automatic transmission is all I really need.

 

[uniquename]

oneAnt, the pics look amazing!

btw, here's the technical question for manual lens - when I set focus with manual lens, the 'red focus square' (the area where you are supposed to point to the subject to the set focus with AF mode) in the viewfinder doesn't matter right? Like since I focus manually with the focus ring on the lens, I don't have to point the 'red square area' to the subject to focus manually? I'm obviously new to the manual lens so bare with me... thanks!

 

[NetMage]

Only if your camera offers some type of focus confirmation that you want to use - which can be helpful since the typical DSLR viewfinder is smaller, darker and without the focus assist devices that were on old film SLRs.

The other thing to consider is you may want to activate aperture stop down (unless you have manual aperture as well) to see an even darker, but DOF accurate view so you can evaluate focus in conjunction with DOF.

--
-- Please remove the Quote option!
-- Why can't you edit more than once???
-- How about switching to real forum software?

 

[oneANT]

Let's not lose track here. I used to use a manual choke on my car (yes, I am that old) but that doesn't mean that a manual choke is a "better" option. I was a whiz using a slide rule, now I use a calculator. Old technology does not equate to better all the time.

Yeah, I had all manual focus lenses when I started out. There was no AF. I was fast and efficient. Now I use AF lenses, I am fast and efficient. I learned how to maximize their use just as I learned long ago to maximize manual focus. Plus, as already mentioned, old eyes just aren't that good any more.

These types of discussions always go in the direction of "my choice is better than yours." That is just silly. Use what works best for you. For the vast majority of shooters, that probably means AF. Just as I never recommend a slide rule to my students...

I've heard this old and tired drool so many times, you would think I would know it verbatim from all the teachers drumming it in. You don't teach latin my any chance do you?

Its a freaking lens, you use it to take pictures, its a tool and the op happens to own it. Are you suggesting he throw it in the bin because you can't use it.

Do you know what they call dpr members on other forums ....?

armchair photogs

 

[oneANT]

oneAnt, the pics look amazing!

Pretty good for a beginner(grin). Am dying to see what I look like in 2years. My street pics got me into somewhere special.

btw, here's the technical question for manual lens - when I set focus with manual lens, the 'red focus square' (the area where you are supposed to point to the subject to the set focus with AF mode) in the viewfinder doesn't matter right? Like since I focus manually with the focus ring on the lens, I don't have to point the 'red square area' to the subject to focus manually? I'm obviously new to the manual lens so bare with me... thanks!

You are right, you don't use the focus points, you keep it at center though so that if you do need the 2nd opinion of the led then you can give it a glance. Also keeping it at center makes it less visible, to a side and you will notice it which means your mind is distracted. Moving the focus point will slow you down too, its another reason MF can be faster than AF. Some even refer to Manual focus as 'Selective focus' for this reason.

About the focus led, after a while you should begin to not even notice it, it becomes invisible even though its right in front of you. When you are under the pressure to get a picture and you only have a nano-sec, your mind wont give you the time to glance over at it. Seeing it and registering that you are in focus is a blindside to the picture. Also my mind is on composition when Im pressing the shutter and not focus at all. As I'm concentrating on composition I'm focusing but I'm not thinking about focus, instead it piggybacks while Im watching the scene and it tells my finger to react without me even thinking (bit like pumping petrol and you dont want to go over the dollar)





I took this pic in my 1st days, I saw him smile at her and then his face started to move towards her's. As he moved closer I brought the lens up and began focusing and we both made it to her cheek at the same time.(there is a bit of a rhythm in street sometimes) They were about 1metre away and I had been shooting people at distance so it was nearly a half rotation of the focus ring. It was a macro lens too so its a long throw. While focusing I might also have taken a stop forward or to the right. Again everything you do piggybacks using instinct and thats what you get if you stick at it.





I guess you just need to get used to seeing what focus looks like. Some lenses are better than others to focus but for the lens you are using it should become apparent. Of course your aperture will assist you if you are unsure. If light permits having a deeper dof (say f5.6 instead of f2) and it will hide any misfocus.

I can tell you that you get a lot of skills in your head from using MF. Your head (but more especially, your eyes) replaces the AF process and using a prime has an enormous effect on composition.

Lenses made for MF are a big deal too. I could use and AF on MF but its sloppy. A MF lens has some resistance and feels geared in you fingers. Your fingers can touch focus as you eyes see it.





Its instinctive for me now and you have to know I'm only 45days doing street which includes using a D90 and a D700. Have been injured (better now) but days were spread out.

I could tell you a 1000 things. Like making a lens fit to a scene instead of making a scene fit to a lens. I've been watching a fella with a new 21mm, and he is shooting like it was a 50mm. Even when I head out for a day, I take 2-5 nonsense pics just to remind me what FL my eyes should be at. I know this might not be what you are asking but there is so much to using a prime and MF and there are so many here that will tell you everything you cant do but nothing about the possibilities as if somehow they know them all.

You lose these skills with a zoom and with a manual focus lens you are taking in the scene as you are focusing. In time they will piggyback each other and you wont even notice and its just like not thinking about AF when an AF lens seeks focus.

I was writing a blog but I'd given it up ...I might just write about primes and manual focus and street and its not to TELL anyone how to do it, its just to see how someone else does. I've got a few days I might put it back up

Ant
ɹǝpun uʍop puɐl ǝɥʇ ɯoɹɟ
http://oneant.com.au/

 

[mike703]

Ant... I love your pics and envy your skills both with quick manual focus and at street shooting.

To the OP: I enjoy using manual lenses sometimes not because I am an old fart who doesn't understand modern technology, but because...

(i) they are usually cheap and, if you select carefully, optically excellent. I have three Pentax manual primes - 28mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.7 and 135mm f/3.5. All are good but the 50mm in particular is stellar from just half a stop down from wide open; it cost £32 on ebay. Getting the equivalent optical quality in a modern auto lens would have cost four or five times as much and for what I use them for taking a few seconds to set focus and exposure manually doesn't matter at all. Looking for, and finding, such good optical quality at such low prices is a good part of the fun.

(ii) it makes you approach picture taking in a different way: in particular it makes you (well, me) slow down and think about what you are doing. Going for a walk with just one prime lens makes you look at what you see and try to fit it to the lens you have which is a very valuable exercise. If I have the 28mm lens I would approach a scene quite differently from if I had a different focal length (or my zooms)... I spend more time looking and planning the shot.

A couple of series shot with my 28mm f/2.8 (cost: £44) are linked below.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=37712419

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=38501089

Best wishes
--
Mike
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/mikeward