Tips for older lenses

[wonderasap]

Hello,

I recently received a few lenses from a friend. Unfortunately these also came with an old SLR (yes with film). The lenses therefore do not have the digital connections to assist with auto focus. I am hoping to use the nifty 50 more, but cannot get a good sharp focus. Please provide any tips for manual focus through the viewfinder. Also the old SLR has a split ring focus; is there any way to achieve the same style of focus on a Nikon D60?

Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

[scootermcq]

Idea for focus screen:

Nikon D40 D60 Focusing Screen - KatzEye Optics

As far as sharp focus goes, what aperture are you attempting this at? My 50mm does not really get sharp until about 3.5, and then it is awesome. Below that, the image is slightly soft.

[wonderasap]

I started around 2.4 and 1.8. I quickly noticed that my problem was DOF related. Lately I have been using between 8 and 4. The trouble I find is that my focus is good but not right on. This is frustrating when I finally get my daughter to stop moving and then the focus isn't quite right.

[inkista]

While the lens won't autofocus, the AF confirmation should still work. Look for the green dot in the viewfinder to light up: that's the AF system telling you it thinks the image is in focus.

[Mr Guy]

Yeah, I was going to throw that out as well. Manual lenses take a bit of practice before you get really good with them. At least I assume, as I'm not yet...

A split focus ring really, really helps, ESPECIALLY the kind with both a split prism and a microprism ring. However, keeping that DOF wide enough to leave room for error is a good move to get started, and you'll be able to reduce it as you get comfortable at predicting.

I wasn't able to get a quick clear answer from google, probably because of terminology. Does the D60 support "Catch in Focus" or "Trap Focus"? For those not familiar, that's where you manually focus a lens, or leave a lens locked in a focus but have a moving subject, and the camera holds the shutter until focus confirmation lock and snaps the picture. It's good for cars, animals, children, etc, and I've heard of it being used for macro by creeping through the focus range until the camera snaps.

[Hayward Taylor]

Hello there .... there is a group on flickr that deals with manual lenses on dslr...I think it's called --- No Metering lenses on Nikon Lenses ... you can google that ... I've had them answer some of my questions in the past ... good luck

[rosserx]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

Idea for focus screen:

Nikon D40 D60 Focusing Screen - KatzEye Optics

As far as sharp focus goes, what aperture are you attempting this at? My 50mm does not really get sharp until about 3.5, and then it is awesome. Below that, the image is slightly soft.

Yes, the first thing that popped into my head also when I saw the thread title was a KatzEye. I have an old manual lens from the '70's I like using and was reading up on the KatzEye screen. I'm hesitant because I'm a bit uncomfortable performing home surgery on my camera to install the screen. Although I know I can bring my camera in to a shop and have them do it...for a small fee.

[inkista]

rosserx, I wouldn't be scared of doing it on a K-x (ymmv)--you apparently have a latched door for the focus screen. Shouldn't take more than a few seconds to do the swap. Katzeye has very detailed and illustrated instructions on making focus screen swaps, and depending on the specific camera you have, it can sometimes be really easy, or an absolute bear. On my old Canon XT where the screen was held in place with a relatively fragile spring bracket, I never would have done it. I do it all the time on my 50D and 5D Mark II, which are designed with interchangeable focus screens (i.e., they have the latched door/tray). One of my biggest disappointments when the 7D was announced was that they'd taken away this ability on it. I rejoiced to hear it was back in with the 60D.

The one thing you want to be careful of, however, is never to let anything touch the surface of the focus screen--they're pretty easily scratched.

On the D60, I'd be a bit more wary. "Retaining wire" sounds like something more in the bear camp.

[Mr Guy]

My K20D was dirt easy to swap the focus screen on. It worked exactly like they said it would, and I didn't have any shim problems that needed addressing. In extremely technical terms, you just need a clean table, then you push a little thingy with the tweezers and the old screen flops down, then you take it out and put the new one in and flip it up and push the thingy back.

It's a lot easier to change the focus screen than it is to learn to focus by eye without any kind of prism for focus indicators!

[wonderasap]

Thank you all for the great information. The focus indicator light helps immensely. I still can't get a crisp capture of my daughter, but she is always moving. I will definitely be purchasing a KatzEye.