Manual focusing

[macjim]

Well, lately I've been trying out focusing manually with my X100s. I took some photographs at a rally in Glasgow and did a mixture of auto and manual focusing as I found it better to catch the bands and performers on stage. I started trying out manually focusing when I was down in the Bronte Country and shot a couple of steam train shots to see how it work and found I enjoyed it. Do you use manual focusing? How often do you do it? What problems have you encountered focusing manually?

 

[Bill Clark]

I use manual focusing film cameras right along with newer stuff. The main challenge is making photos of my little grand children as they are in perpetual motion!

 

[archeophoto]

I use the manual focus on the X100 mainly for street shooting, using hyperfocal distance. You have to be careful, as the X100 calculates its hyperfocal distance very conservatively. If you are interested in this type of shooting, there is a nifty little app available called "DoF X100" on Google Play. (I don't know if it is available for iOS)

Well, lately I've been trying out focusing manually with my X100s. I took some photographs at a rally in Glasgow and did a mixture of auto and manual focusing as I found it better to catch the bands and performers on stage. I started trying out manually focusing when I was down in the Bronte Country and shot a couple of steam train shots to see how it work and found I enjoyed it. Do you use manual focusing? How often do you do it? What problems have you encountered focusing manually?

 

[macjim]

I use the manual focus on the X100 mainly for street shooting, using hyperfocal distance. You have to be careful, as the X100 calculates its hyperfocal distance very conservatively. If you are interested in this type of shooting, there is a nifty little app available called "DoF X100" on Google Play. (I don't know if it is available for iOS)

When I mentioned manual focusing I was meaning more in the lines of using the lens manual focusing ring. I was trying to use it like I would have used my old Olympus OM-1n and the 50mm lens.

 

[krötenblender]

I'm sorry to say, but I just can not follow you here. As much, as I like my X100S, I used manual focusing only a very few times.

I am used to real coupled optical rangefinders (currently a Fuji GF670 and Leica M240, and quite a few others before), and the manual focusing of the X100S is good for a EVF camera, the "feel" of the focusing ring is okay, but not exceptional compared to other electrical coupled lenses on EVFs I know.

But what ever I can say on positive things about the X100S (and there many positive things for me to say about it), it is in no way, not the tiniest, a match for a real good rangefinder.

I mean, I get sharp pictures with it using manual focusing, no problem. It just doesn't feel good. And I'm not as quick with it compared to an optical RF.

The X100T would be interesting to check out with it's new manual focusing mode, that is said to resemble a RF.

 

[f16sunshine]

When I mentioned manual focusing I was meaning more in the lines of using the lens manual focusing ring. I was trying to use it like I would have used my old Olympus OM-1n and the 50mm lens.

I always use the focus button and peaking to confirm in Manual with that lens.
With the 35 or 60mm sometimes I would use magnification.
The 23 leaves enough DOF even at f2. If peaking is on at the focus point you have focus.

I used manual only to find a focus point and leave the lens there. The AF system finds focus well but needs time to do so in between shots.
I prefer to decide for myself when to change the focus point.
It's the only reason to use manual in my opinion.

The feel of the focus ring has improved but... why bother if the camera does it better and faster?

Sadly the x100 will never feel like an OM and Zuiko prime 😱

 

[macjim]

The feel of the focus ring has improved but... why bother if the camera does it better and faster? Sadly the x100 will never feel like an OM and Zuiko prime 😱

Well, sometimes the camera autofocus gets it wrong, especially in low light, as I had been shooting in a week back. To get the sharpest focus on the bands on stage I manually focused use peeking. It not only allowed me to get the performers sharp but it added something new to my photography. Yes, I do normally autofocus but sometimes it's too slow or it doesn't quite hit the spot where I wanted it to be focused on. Yes, it has autofocus but it also has manual focus, yeah an electronic manual, but I think it's worth trying once in a while. Both zone focusing and manual focusing on the X100s can be a bit tricky but it can be interesting to try as well. I've used a rangefinder camera, I owned an M9 & 35mm Leica lens. That could be a bit fiddly to focus as the rangefinder split image was tiny, but it added something challenging to making images with and in a way, the X100s is just as challenging manual focusing as well. It is indeed a semi-professional camera in many ways, in a kind of Leica way, manual adjustments for shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation, but it's also a rather advanced point and shoot. It's also too advanced to be a point and shoot camera, that's why most owners bought it in my mind. I wanted some simple (a fixed lens) when I just wanted to go out and take images, but I also wanted something that could challenge me like my OM-1n did back in my film days. It has, I have to say, given me a camera that makes me think about what I want out of it and how I'm going to get what I want on the SD card. A bit like a camera of old wouldn't you think?
If you want to see what I was talking about from last weekend, check out my Flickr images, the news ones are from last weekend.
Flickr: thesrpspaintshop