On Jul 19, 2010, at 6:28 PM, Larry Colen wrote: > > On Jul 19, 2010, at 3:05 PM, Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote: > >> Looked at your photos ... My one advice: get closer, frame tighter. :-) > > I couldn't exactly get up "on stage" with the band. Though I could drop some > of them tighter. >> >>> ... I'm curious if other people have this problem when manually focusing, >>> and what they do to fix it. .. >> >> I see I'm not alone in my preference for plain matte fresnel focusing >> screens. ;-) > > Interesting, because I found the screens that came with my Pentaxes nearly > useless for manual focusing. > >> >> Microprism and split prism focusing aids are usually distractions in >> SLR viewfinders, for me. I always changed my focusing screen to a >> simple, matte fresnel screen (with horizontal/vertical reference lines >> preferably) when possible. Longer lenses are easier to focus because >> when wide open the in-focus zone is shallow; short lenses are where >> focusing aids can help most. With any lens, good crisp contrast when >> wide open is the biggest aid to manual focusing, regardless of >> focusing screen, lens speed or focal length. > > That may be one reason I like my FA77 so much. > >> >> Beyond that, it's a matter of skill through lots of practice. > > I do try to practice, and to practice different techniques.
When I first decided to get serious about photography, some forty years ago, a local pro told me to practice focusing on various things in the room while I was watching television. In a dim room, that was good practice. Even today, when I get a new camera, I'll spend some time getting used to the focusing screen. As I said earlier, I prefer a plain matte screen, although I do like the horizontal and vertical lines that Godders mentioned. I'm using the standard screens in my K20 and K7 now. No problem. I realize there are better options, but they're expensive. If I started missing focus, I'd invest in an ultra bright screen, but so far that hasn't been a problem. Paul > >> The EVF in the G1 is no exception, except that it makes nailing >> critical manual focus even easier than any of the optical reflex >> focusing systems I've used. > > Interestingly I found that manual focus on my FZ-50 to be nearly impossible > to get right. > > > -- > Larry Colen l...@red4est.com sent from i4est > > > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
