Can't get a right composition

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by Eagle355

I know the camera is great that;s why i bought it. I am just trying to learn to use it properly-i.e. in manual mode. I used custom WB by photographing a white sheet and then going into the menu to choose it as custom WB. The lens was also set in MF-manual focus. In the view finder the cards did looked a bit blurry but when i was zooming out the cards appeared to be in a distant.

I was getting close to the cards so that my whole shot-photo had the cards in it and not let;s say the table and then the cards on the table. That;s why i was getting close, Some of you also mention that i used slow shutter? I was consulting the camera's metering system and was playing with the shutter and aperture values to get the metering close to 0.

I bought an SLR camera to use it properly..i would like to learn to shot great photos in manual mode, if i just used auto i would have kept my canon G10, Maybe is hard in the begining to learn ?

Thanks for your comments though

You should try to learn your camera in all it's modes..manual everything should be the last aspect of your learning process. Babies are born with zero ability to move distances on their own, then they crawl, then they walk, all this leads to running, and finally they learn how to drive a car. I can never understand why people insist on doing things backwards...learn all the features and modes of your camera and there will be a time that the understanding you've learned will aid you in shooting 100% manual. Even then, manual mode is not for every photo circumstance...Mine, and my wife's business is mainly children's portraiture, and I doubt very much if there are folks out there trying to chase two year olds around while shooting fully manual.

[BCampbell]

Today's DSLR's are just not designed to be used primarily with manual focus.

There are a few assists to help, but grab and old 35mm SLR and see how the viewfinders ahve things like split prisms to help find accurate focus. Our DSLRs don't ship with these. Really, you are not supposed to be in manual focus very often. If you want that, get a camera designed for manual focus lenses.

There are a few cases where manual focus helps, but your examples are not them.

Put it in autofocus and your other issues will begin to sort themselves out.

[Eagle355]

What are the advantages-disadvantages between having the lens in MF mode (manual focus) compared to the AF ? (Autofocus) ? I am talking about the lens and NOT the auto/manual programme of the camera.

[wulf]

The advantage / disadvantage of AF mode on a lens is that it will automatically try to focus and can't be adjusted manually. The disadvantange of MF, certainly on the 18-55mm lens that came with my D40, is that the focus ring is narrow and a bit wobbly in operation; on the other hand, my manual focus only lenses are a pleasure to focus by hand.

Wulf

[BCampbell]

Originally Posted by wulf

The advantage / disadvantage of AF mode on a lens is that it will automatically try to focus and can't be adjusted manually.

Not necessarily true, several Canon's new USm lenses for example have full time manual focusing that lets you adjust the focus ring after autofocus kicks in, without flipping the switch.

Anyway to answer the question, autofocus is faster and more precise than we are, but not smarter. It can fail sometimes, for various reasons. Most often it just doesn't focus on the right subject, especially when using multiple focus points. You can try to keep focusing and recomposing but sometimes it's easier to try a manual focus. Also, in low light many cameras have trouble focusing, so manual focus is sometimes necessary.

Some lenses even have different minimum focus distances for auto and manual focus -- manual being able to focus closer.

The situation I find myself using manual most often is when I am stationary, the subject is either stationary or I have a wide enough DOF that it's going to stay in focus, and I'm taking multiple shots. Focusing once and turning off AF will stop the camera from trying to focus on each shot, saving time and a little battery life.

Some shoots, like fireworks, demand it.

But really, 99+% of the time I shoot in autofocus, if I had the nice split prism of my Pentax MG and more lenses with hefty focus rings like my Quantaray 19-35mm, I would love to do more manual.

[wulf]

Technically that is a halfway AF/MF mode. The quality of Nikon's basic 18-55mm lens (otherwise a quite respectable bit of kit) is such that I don't think it would be an advantage if that option were offered!

Personally, I use manual focus almost all the time. I don't have much choice with most of my lenses (apart from the aforementioned 18-55, which I keep in AF a lot of the time but don't use so much); fortunately I find it works very well for the type of photos I want to take.

Wulf

[BCampbell]

Originally Posted by wulf

Technically that is a halfway AF/MF mode. The quality of Nikon's basic 18-55mm lens (otherwise a quite respectable bit of kit) is such that I don't think it would be an advantage if that option were offered!

No, technically it is autofocus, focus-by-wire, with full-time-manual focusing. It's not halfway anything.

But yes, it's generally on newer, higher quality lenses, and they're designed to be manually focused, none of this tony plastic ring at the end of the lens stuff (like on my Canon 50mm f/1.8, horrible for MF). This is Canon-specific, I don't know the details on what other makers offer.