IS AUTO FOCUS OVERATED???

[QUOTE=iresq;13709480]AF and MF both have their place.[/quote]

yep. AF on my lens and MF on yours .

ed rader

Thanks for all responses, "over rated" was probably the word

Thanks for all responses, "over rated" was probably the wrong word! I just found that the I tend to get a lot of OOF shots with Auto which winds me up!! At least when I get an OOF shot with the Zeiss I only have myself to blame. I am mostly taking family shots with active children.

Well it depends Your question is tooooo open.

For landscape photography manual is what I use.

For Wedding photography shooting wide open in low light it is helpful.

Most of the iconic pictures taken for National Geographic are done using manual with leicaM setup

It depends how you shoot

I will take 1DX focus over my 5DII any day but will still use manual for long exposure shots.

I love older Nikkor manual focus lenses - they allow me to get photos on a budget. I use them for portraits, sports and of course landscapes.

This was taken last summer with a Nikkor 300 4.5 AI lens on a Canon XSI.

harcosparky wrote in post #13709693
Oh cool ... another IS thread!

Give me a DSLR body with a bright viewfinder, an excellent screen and I'd do manual focus almost all the time. Just like I did when I started out in photography. Back then it was manual only and I cannot recall any focusing problems.

Yep, these days all we seem to be worried about is if our lens or camera s focusing ok. I use manual focus for the majority of my photos which consist of landscape and events. Sports I still use autofocus.

It really depends on the camera. I'd never try using manual focus on a crop camera. The viewfinder is just too small to accurately focus.

ed rader wrote in post #13710023
yep. AF on my lens and MF on yours .

Agree 100%. Since I started out shooting 35mm SLRs with manual focus, I embrace AF with open arms. No desire to play with MF lenses nowadays. None.

Musicmacd wrote in post #13710269
Thanks for all responses, "over rated" was probably the wrong word! I just found that the I tend to get a lot of OOF shots with Auto which winds me up!! At least when I get an OOF shot with the Zeiss I only have myself to blame. I am mostly taking family shots with active children.

Would you mind showing some of these shots of active children with MF. And I am not looking for f5.6 or so shots, something like f2 or faster with that Zeiss glass.

Musicmacd wrote in post #13710269
Thanks for all responses, "over rated" was probably the wrong word! I just found that the I tend to get a lot of OOF shots with Auto which winds me up!! At least when I get an OOF shot with the Zeiss I only have myself to blame. I am mostly taking family shots with active children.

that could just be your settings though...so you could still blame yourself if you want

No two ways that AF will get more keepers of fast moving subjects and it is a blast when you find some MF shots from a shoot.

Here is another moving shot with the Nikkor 300 AI on a cropped body XSI. Off the coast of Oregon last summer.

stover98074 wrote in post #13710753
Here is another moving shot with the Nikkor 300 AI on a cropped body XSI. Off the coast of Oregon last summer.

For some reason my exif reader says 50mm. Same with the other image you posted. getting one shot is not bad with MF, get 2-3 shots in a sequence with MF and then we talk. With AF I can get 9 out of 10 shots in sequence with athlete playing football and coming straight at you. And this is at 300mm and f2.8.

Bobbyz - Yup, I would like a AF 300 2.8 lens but am too fugal - this is just a hobby for me. MF and action shots is not for everyone. The kite surfer was moving right to left and rather quickly (the Blue Angles were moving fast across the frame as well) - and yes there were a lot of out of focus shots. Still I got a a few shots for the day that I am proud of and MF can be an alternative with some pros (cost) and cons (missed shots). I guess it is a personal preference for me and also a lot of fun. I am not saying it is better and it can be done.

bobbyz wrote in post #13710786
For some reason my exif reader says 50mm.

it's probably an AF confirm adapter...it seems like most of them read 50mm in exif viewers...

bobbyz wrote in post #13710786
For some reason my exif reader says 50mm.

The adapters I have pass little information to the camera (no information on aperture nor focal length) - just AF conformation.

AF is not over rated for certain situations, but I find it extremely liberating to use manual focus and not have to worry about putting a red box overtop of what you want in focus. Using a true manual focus lens like the Zeiss 35mm, a camera with a nice bright viewfinder like the 5d2 with an EGS screen, focusing becomes just natural. Look at what you want in focus and turn the focus ring until it is in focus and you are done. No need of selecting focus point, ensuring the point is over what you need in focus, quite often needing to change your coposition because the focus does not fall on what you are tring to get infocus.

It takes a little practice to train your eyes, but once you get the hang of it, manual focus is extremely liberating. Now if we are talking about focus tracking...then automation has it all over manual.