Toralf,
I think I've missed both your original posts, so I'll have to answer
you on general basis about AF in my macro shots.
Sorry if I'm repeating stuff from the other thread.
And my answer is... It depends. :-)
Isn't that a helpful and lovely answer...
I'll elaborate...
It depends a lot on your shooting style and your choice of motifs.
When working with eg. flowers or other stationary objects, a tripod
and manual focus is my way of choice. Simply to have full control
since time allows it.
When shooting more mobile motifs like insects, hand held is the way to
go for me. I sometimes use AF with my FA100/2.8 macro. The bee shot I
posted a week ago is one example where it worked well. However, AF is
even more useful with manual focus lenses when it comes to macro.
Because of the snap-in focus feature, you can sneak up on your "prey"
with the shutterbutton depressed and get a well focused shot on first
approach. The A series lenses are great for that. Especially the
A*200/4 macro if you can get hold of one.
If you go for higher magnifications than 1X, then AF is almost out of
the question. However, I've had some good experiences with the said A*
macro and the AF1.7TC teleconverter. The autofocus you get from the
converter is very limited, but handy for fine tuning. Effectively,
this combo (or with the FA100/2.8 macro) gives you 1.7X, which is very
decent for an autofocus solution. The AF TCs from Tamron and Sigma may
work with the FA100 as well, but I've never tried them. I would
suspect it produce a bit of "hunting" to establish focus.
For higher magnifications, there are no AF solutions, AFAIK. In strong
light, however, the snap-in focus functionality continues to work with
all kinds of lens combinations, including stacked lenses. It even
works with a reversed 50mm on a bellows if you don't stop down beyond
5.6.
HTH,
Jostein
----- Original Message -----
From: "William Robb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <pentax-discuss@pdml.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 11:45 AM
Subject: Re: What's your preferred focus mode for macro work?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Toralf Lund"
Subject: What's your preferred focus mode for macro work?
I though I might make this one look like another little survey,
since they seem to be the fashion around here these days... I was
just wondering, in relation to that other post of mine regarding
macro lenses, how exactly people here prefer do to the focusing when
doing macro work. Notably, who uses autofocus and how well does it
work?
I put the camera on a focusing rail, rough focus using the lens or
bellows draw, then fine focus by moving the camera forwards or back.
William Robb
