Manual focusing on APS-C

[ddr]

I think i've read before that it's harder to focus manually on a crop sensor camera ... correct me if i'm wrong. and the only solution is to install a new focusing screen like katzeyes

I've never been able to focus manually confidently unless i use live view and I zoom in 10x, usually on a tripod at night. How do you guys do this using some MF lenses? even for portrait work? Can you do this easily and/or quickly (esp. if you have a model/client waiting)?

TIA

[RichardTaylor]

I Shot with a both a crop and full frame camera.
The full frame camera doesn't have live view.
There is no difference.

It can be difficult when shooting at night.
When manually focussing at night I usually just focus backwards & forwards whilst watching the focus light (centre focus point only) in the viewfinder.

[dcclark]

Often, modern SLR viewfinders are created with autofocus in mind -- so the various companies don't put in a good focusing screen, rather, they put in one which is brighter/cleaner/etc. That's probably the best reason -- it's not that it's crop-body cameras, just that modern non-professional cameras don't really expect you to go around manually focusing all day. That more or less corresponds to APS-C or DX cameras.

[PrimeTime]

Originally Posted by ddr

I think i've read before that it's harder to focus manually on a crop sensor camera ... correct me if i'm wrong. and the only solution is to install a new focusing screen like katzeyes

I've never been able to focus manually confidently unless i use live view and I zoom in 10x, usually on a tripod at night. How do you guys do this using some MF lenses? even for portrait work? Can you do this easily and/or quickly (esp. if you have a model/client waiting)?

TIA

If you want to focus manually................turn auto focus off...................hold shutter button half way................focus manually(turn the ring slowly).......... in the view finder, you will see a focus light, light up when you get a good focus.

[ddr]

uh... thnx
i know how to MF, i want to know how to do it more easily and efficiently

[jdepould]

It could be your eyes. Try adjusting your diopter. Put the camera on a tripod, use the autofocus to grab focus on a target, then adjust it to see if the finder gets any clearer for you.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by ddr

I think i've read before that it's harder to focus manually on a crop sensor camera ... correct me if i'm wrong. and the only solution is to install a new focusing screen like katzeyes

I've never been able to focus manually confidently unless i use live view and I zoom in 10x, usually on a tripod at night. How do you guys do this using some MF lenses? even for portrait work? Can you do this easily and/or quickly (esp. if you have a model/client waiting)?

I use a Katzeye and pay a lot of attention to that AF confirm light. And yes, liveview and 10x for complete accuracy (I'm nuts. I'll use it while handholding if I have to). If I have to do it easily and quickly, I stop down and do not shoot wide open, but then, I'm not a pro and have no clients. A lot of it comes down to not making life hard for yourself by creating too thin a DoF. For me, the focus screen is only going to be inaccurate in depicting focus for extremely thin depth of field (i.e., 1.2 and wider), or if I'm using a tilt-shift.

[ddr]

*hits the thanks button