DSLR Photography Forum

Does anyone actually use manual focusing?

Depends on how dark it is or how fast the subject is moving, otherwise not a great deal.

Whenever the AF doesn't work I'll use it.
Or when I'm trying to be 'cool' hahaha

Yes, sometimes. Always for macro.

I always use manual focus for macro - also use it for long lens focusing on birds(with the 170-500mm)

So - that means I use it a lot as those are the sort of shots I like to do.

Polly

uhauha .i use manual mostly for lower light when my camera decides to have a spaz.. or when the camera wont focus on what i want it to focus on ,,

I use it sometimes as an override. For example, when I shoot though glass windows. Another example: I was taking some photos of the ripples on the surface of a stream over rocks. The camera wanted to focus on the rocks on the river bed - not on the water surface (which is what I needed). I needed manual focus to get the shot I wanted..

Hehehhe yeaaa go auto focus for us lazy photographers! But yea AF 80% of the time. I don't trust my eyes. =P

Sometimes, but not often. On my Olympus 750, AF is so flawed (badly designed) that it is almost useless. However, the AF works so poorly in less than perfect light that manual focus sometimes is the only way. (No, I am not likely to buy Olympus again. Too many bugs and flaws.)

Now I own a Ricoh Caplio RX, and it is much better on AF as well as manual focus! So which will I use? Well, time will tell.

If I'm taking a series of shots of the same subject from the same place, I will switch off the AF to speed things up... every few shots, I use the 'one-time AF' feature to make sure I'm still focused correctly.

I can't think of an example of when I do this, but I know I've done it...

I can't work out how to use the Manual Focus on my camera so I just leave it on Auto Focus (well 1/2 auto you have to half press the "Shoot" button)

Most people who have point and shoot cameras, or more specifically, EVF cameras, find it hard to use manual focus simply due to the fact that it's an LCD screen, and quite often you're pressing buttons instead of rotating a barrel. I'd only use MF with my Olympus if I was stationary taking a picture of something else stationary. (if I'm on a tripod taking a supermacro of a flower, MF offers unparralelled control, but in any other case, you'd better make sure you EVF has great autofocus otherwise you'll be hurting... I don't know if I can reccomend the Olympus line because it does tend to hunt quite often. Although it does have spot which I like...

And then when you get into SLR cameras, film or digital, it's simply a matter of preference and the task at hand.

-matt-

Manual focus is very tricky with my camera. The depth of field is usually very wide and I can't see the sweet focus point anyway.