[chhayanat]

SMCP-M 80-200 f4.5 lens. 160ISO. Taken by a colleague with my K200D.

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[jboyde]

He took that shot with a manual focus lens???!
::kneeling::

I still have my K200D and even though I tried to sell it in the marketplace I wonder if I should just keep it and sell my K20 instead. I have the K7 as well so its been relegated to backup. I can break out the K200 for parades and other heavy traffic events so I'll worry less if it gets jostled.

[chhayanat]

He took that shot with a manual focus lens???!
::kneeling:

It was his first day with a DSLR. He was helping me as I had a GX20 with an SMCP-M 400mm f5.6 and I couldn't hold both at the same time. Seeing that he was taking an interest in the proceedings, I set the camera ISO, white balance and aperture and asked him to use the green button once in a while on a similarly lit object as the aircraft he was shooting. I showed him the zoom and focus mechanisms and asked him not to shoot more than two frames at a time so as not to swamp the buffer. A test shot with the green button result at 1/800th showed underexposure. So I brought the shutter down to 1/640th and increased the exposure slightly in Photoshop. You can see the chromatic aberration of the thirty year old lens in the highlights of the engine cowlings. Still, a remarkable performance by a first-timer who still does not fully comprehend what a nice picture he has taken.

The Corsair pilot was flying so near the stands that the 400mm tended to loose part of the image but the 200mm zoom captured it handsomely.
Best wishes,
Chhayanat

[kkoether]

He took that shot with a manual focus lens???!
::kneeling::

I still have my K200D and even though I tried to sell it in the marketplace I wonder if I should just keep it and sell my K20 instead. I have the K7 as well so its been relegated to backup. I can break out the K200 for parades and other heavy traffic events so I'll worry less if it gets jostled.

Actually manual focus isn't that hard to do. My old 300mm zoom is manual and I've gotten some Great shots from it. Go up a couple of pages to my boat racing shots. those were all manually focused. It just takes a little practice.

[Don From The Radio]

I remember when all we had was manual focus, uphill both ways in the snow, and we liked it!

On a serious note, I love my K200D. It's rekindled my interest in photography.

[kkoether]

I remember when all we had was manual focus, uphill both ways in the snow, and we liked it!

On a serious note, I love my K200D. It's rekindled my interest in photography.

Me too! I cut my teeth with an ME Super and auto racing. Welcome to the group. The K200D is a fine camera.

[chhayanat]

Actually, I still have 2 MX bodies since 1981. If interested please see my review in the reviews section.

[speedoo]

It was his first day with a DSLR. He was helping me as I had a GX20 with an SMCP-M 400mm f5.6 and I couldn't hold both at the same time. Seeing that he was taking an interest in the proceedings, I set the camera ISO, white balance and aperture and asked him to use the green button once in a while on a similarly lit object as the aircraft he was shooting. I showed him the zoom and focus mechanisms and asked him not to shoot more than two frames at a time so as not to swamp the buffer. A test shot with the green button result at 1/800th showed underexposure. So I brought the shutter down to 1/640th and increased the exposure slightly in Photoshop. You can see the chromatic aberration of the thirty year old lens in the highlights of the engine cowlings. Still, a remarkable performance by a first-timer who still does not fully comprehend what a nice picture he has taken.

The Corsair pilot was flying so near the stands that the 400mm tended to loose part of the image but the 200mm zoom captured it handsomely.
Best wishes,
Chhayanat

Is manual focus even necessary at that distance? Why not just set focus at infinity and shoot?

[kkoether]

Is manual focus even necessary at that distance? Why not just set focus at infinity and shoot?

It's been my experiance with my 300mm zoom that just setting it to infinity doesn't always get sharp focus. I find that I get a sharper focus at just under infinity. Could just be my lens though. Infintiy doesn't kick in until more than 1/4 to 1/2 mile.

[savcom]

I recently "upgraded" to a K200D from a K110D. It was the only camera I was interested in moving to (for now.) It was a little difficult to find one with low mileage.

I did a similar last Christmas. I had a K100D and wanted a better zoom for travel, so was on the lookout for a DA 18-250. I found one with a free K200D attached on ebay and I won the auction. It had only done a couple of hundred shots (family bereavement).

I'm now very happy with the K200D. It feels better in my hands than the K100D does, the shutter movement seems to be absorbed better by the body than the K100D so there is less camera shake, and it still handles my manual lenses.

The only slight caveat I have is that the button for manual exposure preview is harder to find than it was on the K100D. Other than that, I'm very, very pleased. Great camera.

Savcom

[cherrybear]

Hi everyone, I upgraded to the K200D from an old 35 mm Yashica. I bought it on impulse without any research and haven't been sorry, but apparently it wasn't as much of an upgrade as I thought. It takes great pictures, I really like it, and I'm my usual 2 steps behind in technology.

Cherrybear

[chhayanat]

"Is manual focus even necessary at that distance? Why not just set focus at infinity and shoot?"
In fact, manual focus is essential at that distance. In fact, many SMCP-M telephoto lenses focus beyond infinity as marked on the lens. Just setting focus at infinity and blasting away would be ideal and might actually work with shorter focal lengths, but with long lenses might get one out-of-focus pictures.

[cbaytan]

The only slight caveat I have is that the button for manual exposure preview is harder to find than it was on the K100D. Other than that, I'm very, very pleased. Great camera.

Savcom

Out of curiosity, do you mean depth-of-field preview button?

[pacerr]

In fact, many SMCP-M telephoto lenses focus beyond infinity as marked on the lens.

There's an easy answer that's worked well for a long time. PRE-FOCUS.

Sports events, auto racing, air shows -- makes no difference. If you know WHERE you want to compose your shot (and you're just hoping for good luck if you don't) pre-focus on that spot, or another spot at the same relative distance, and wait until the action arrives. You can even pan through the shoot-point. Sort'a like prehistoric catch-in-focus, eh? Heck, you can even pre-view the results of the test shot on the LED for focus and exposure.

Surreptitious candids? Imagine an arc that passes through your intended subject. Set exposure, select a deceptively innocent target on the arc to focus on, swing and shoot. Really sneaky? Don't have your eye to the VF as you shot -- have faith in your setup.

Photographers managed just fine before auto focus. I suspect there were more keepers too since thoughtful planning usually trumps reliance on ambiguous AF targets.

H2

[newarts]

Is manual focus even necessary at that distance? Why not just set focus at infinity and shoot?

If the subject is expected to be further away than 1/2 the hyperfocal distance then set the lens up for hyperfocal f-stop and estimated distance. The subject should then be in focus.

Pacerr's arc method is even better - preset your lens to the arc distance (or manually focus as best you can on the subject's first pass) then stop down as far as is practical - you should be pretty close to good focus the next time the subject goes by.