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05-11-2011, 03:27 PM   #16
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QuoteOriginally posted by RonHendriks1966 Quote
Well I tried to buy A*300mm/f2.8 and it is manual only lens, but my budget didn't reached far enough
OK, now check out the FA version.

05-11-2011, 04:18 PM   #17
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I'm with Kerrowdown "when its all you have in the bag."

Actually, I have some AF lenses but I do 90% of my shooting manually including birding and sports. I like the challenge.

K 200/2.5



M 400/5.6



M 400/5.6



M 400/5.6



A 100/2.8 macro



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05-11-2011, 04:51 PM   #18
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If its mounted use it , had a blast last week with a K24 and K28 in Lucca indulging in a spot of street shooting.



or

05-11-2011, 05:24 PM   #19
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QuoteOriginally posted by 8540tomg Quote
I'm with Kerrowdown "when its all you have in the bag."

Actually, I have some AF lenses but I do 90% of my shooting manually including birding and sports. I like the challenge.
Wow, did you take them all with a tripod or handheld? And about your football picture, I seem to see a diagonal white line on the upper left that makes it look "cropped" or something. Or is it just my computer?

05-11-2011, 06:34 PM   #20
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QuoteOriginally posted by Byakko Quote
Wow, did you take them all with a tripod or handheld? And about your football picture, I seem to see a diagonal white line on the upper left that makes it look "cropped" or something. Or is it just my computer?
Byakko,

All the M 400/5.6 shots were on a monopod.

The catch was hand held with the K 200/2.5. As I recall the light was perfect that day and I was able
to shoot at a high shutter speed and f/16 or so. This is the sweet spot for the K 200/2.5.

I seem to have chopped off a bit with the crop. It's an easy fix.

Getting back t the original post MF can be used for anything. It is possible, not necessarily easy, to get get good shots with MF glass. It is a challenge and takes a lot of practice and I'm willing to admit its not for everyone.

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05-11-2011, 06:48 PM   #21
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Both of these images was shot with a manual focus lens, pretty fast action too:





Both were shot with a vivitar series 1 2.8 70-210 (ver 3) @ 70mm (tags show 50 and 200, I have a bad habit of not changing focal length manually between changing lenses)...



---
05-11-2011, 07:26 PM   #22
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There's very few times I'll prefer an MF lens over an AF lens if either will do the job and are otherwise the same focal length, maximum aperture, optical quality, size, weight, price, etc. It's just that sometimes, the only AF option is too expensive, too slow, too mediocre, too big, too heavy, etc.

05-11-2011, 07:36 PM   #23
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QuoteOriginally posted by joe.penn Quote
Both of these images was shot with a manual focus lens, pretty fast action too:





Both were shot with a vivitar series 1 2.8 70-210 (ver 3) @ 70mm (tags show 50 and 200, I have a bad habit of not changing focal length manually between changing lenses)...



---
Did you use CIF or did you just have really quick focusing skills
05-11-2011, 07:40 PM   #24
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No, i actually did not use CIF - not sure if you noticed in last thread, but I mentioned I need to use it more.

Now, I am probably going to sound a little stupid here, but honestly, I JUST found out how to properly use it the other day. I had no clue that you actually had to hold the shutter button down through the shot - I never read the manuals on anything
05-11-2011, 08:00 PM   #25
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I find Liveview to be a fantastic manual focusing aid. Liveview possibly renders all other manual focusing aids such as Katzeye and other focusing screens obsolete. The liveview image on my K-x can be zoomed to 10x magnification while using manual focus and I can see clearly if the subject is in focus or not.
05-11-2011, 08:23 PM   #26
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I shoot flying birds with manual focus lenses. I use Tamron Adaptall SP "A" lenses.




05-11-2011, 08:44 PM   #27
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QuoteOriginally posted by jusfun21 Quote
Hello everyone,
What types of shooting (flowers, portraits etc.) is manual focus only (ex. M42 mount prime lenses ) best suited for?
Anything where you need to focus precisely on specific parts of an image that may be too small for an AF system to focus on. Or whenever you find you get better results that way than from using AF.

Also see this Zeiss article about manual focusing on AF cameras.
05-11-2011, 08:56 PM   #28
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When to shoot with a MF lens? Whenever it's on your camera!

Not counting those slated to be sold, now I own 9 AF lenses and 187 MF lenses. All but one AF lens are newer zooms, mainly very wide (10-17, 10-24) or fairly long (18-250, 100-300, 170-500). Certain situations call for the AF zooms: ultrawide / fisheye shots, motorized travel, variable long shots. Some dynamic situations call for my only AF prime, the FA50/1.4. (It and the DA10-17 and DA18-250 were my first Pentax lenses.) MF primes are great the rest of the time. I mostly use AF when I'm lazy.

As mentioned, some focal lengths and apertures just are not affordable or available, not for quality glass or special character. Of my lenses, the AF's (new and used) cost an average of US$330 each. The MF's (all used) cost an average of US$20 each. That is rather a noticeable difference, eh? And as mentioned, MF can be much more critical than AF; and CIF (catch-in-focus) is a nifty cheap substitute for AF when needed.

I recently made a 3-day drive from north-central California to north-central New Mexico, with the AF 18-250 on my camera all the way. Now I've been 10 days wandering around Santa Fe, and no AF lens has touched my K20D. I use mostly one different MF prime every day, seeing what it sees, shooting what it can shoot, adjusting myself as needed. My MF primes capture street action, dancing kids, flapping crows, exotic artifacts, whatever. I'll go to an outdoors blues festival next weekend and I'll probably use the AF 18-250, because that'll be a dynamic situation with subjects near and far. But I could probably shoot that almost as well with my cheap MF 60-300.

It's a matter of attitude. With AF, you take pictures. With MF, you make pictures.

Last edited by RioRico; 05-11-2011 at 09:14 PM.
05-11-2011, 09:05 PM   #29
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QuoteOriginally posted by RioRico Quote
...
It's a matter of attitude. With AF, you take pictures. With MF, you make pictures.
I like this. Besides, I just got the Pentax DA 18-250 and I like it.
05-11-2011, 10:05 PM   #30
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QuoteOriginally posted by Pepe Guitarra Quote
I just got the Pentax DA 18-250 and I like it.
It's my basic lens. All others are specialty items. I love all my MF primes that can do things the DA18-250 can't dream of. But it can do most of what's necessary. On a long road trip last year, with constant travel and few layovers, I took 25+ lenses. But what I *used* were: DA18-250 (80%), Zenitar 16/2.8 (10%), FA50/1.4 (5%), Nikkor 85/2 (4%), others (1%). Or thereabouts.

But then, I wasn't spending days walking around quaint dim places. The 18-250 is a great GP daylight lens. My various fast manual primes are for darker times. Next time I'm in Taxco, Guerrero, inside the 7-level-deep mercado or the stunning spindly parrochia, the Vivitar-Komine 24/2 will be my best friend.
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