manual or auto

[KendraJ.K.]

focus that is.

just curious what you all use, why, when you use one over the other etc etc.

(list your camera too!)

i almost always use manual, i have a nikon d70s and for some reason my auto focus takes forever to focus so i never really use it. the only times i really use it are when i'm just doing still lifes in my room. but i shoot a lot of portraits and some of my best shots are accidentals that happen because i keep shooting and that wouldn't happen with the auto as it is. i don't know if something is wrong with my auto focus or what, has anyone else experianced this at all?
i've also lately been feeling my photos aren't as sharp, i don't know if i just need a better lens or its that my focus is off since i use manual so much. hmm....any input on my situation would be cool


now share your stories and habits ^_^

[Surrealismigoria]

Nikon D70 user here. I use auto when i am not playing with depth of field. I have a hard time getting sharp images off of manual focus. I need more practice at it me thinks.

But after while my eye gets all blurry from looking into the view finder with makes it rough doing manual focus. Guess my eye gets tired i dunno.

[ukanfoff]

99.99% auto and .01% only when i cant use auto like in the dark situations.

[KendraJ.K.]

Surrealismigoria - i have the same problem. and i've had my camera for so long you would think i would know by now >_< but lately they haven't been as sharp/in focus as usual and it's really bothering me.


ukanfoff- why do you use auto all the time? just curious

[ukanfoff]

just preference.

[purplerose]

I use auto on portraits. The rest of the time I use manual. Most of the time I don't like auto because if I shift a little after it's been focused, my photo becomes blurry. Also, I like trying out different compositions that don't always allow auto focusing to work properly. My cam's a Nikon D40x.

I think if your auto-focus takes forever, there may not be enough light for your aperture and shutter speed settings.

[MLlanes]

with my camera (sony a200.) it autofocuses as soon as i put my eye up to the view finder and it focuses when i move, so i like auto focus on that camera.

i do use manual sometimes, but i havent perfected it yet, so i dont do it on important shots.

[stine]

hey there, very interesting to see how you guys work - i almost never use the auto focus. mostly because i work with old analog lenses and just made it a habit to also use the manual function on the digital ones. it took a while to get used to, but now it's working fine. i know the "tired eye" syndrom, though. after a day of shooting photos, there are more blurry ones inbetween, but i accept that for the plus of control i have while making them...

[KendraJ.K.]

rose- ya know no matter what setting i try it on, and i play with the shutter a lot and the aperture as well depending on the situation and it still doesn't work well. it's really starting to bother me tho becasue i did another portrait shoot today and i don't know how many got ruined because i had to use manual.
i assume its my lens? i don't know tho.

[stine]

i believe i said that before somewhere here on the boards, but maybe it could help: have you checked that your diopter setting is correct? sometimes cameras offer a correction that allows you to look through the viewfinder without your glasses. it sometimes gets moved and since one normally doesn't pay that much attention to it, you could have missed that...

[KendraJ.K.]

stine- how do i check it/change it?

[MLlanes]

Originally Posted by KendraJ.K.

stine- how do i check it/change it?

should be to the right or left of your viewfinder.

[JonS]

I use auto in various modes 99.9 3/4% of the time with modern lenses - the manual focus ratio is too fast and I spend may too much time "hunting" for focus. On older lenses I use manual. Doesn't matter which camera I'm using - it's my preference.

Kendra - what lens(es) are you using that your D70 is slow to focus with? It's no speed demon for focus, but it shouldn't be painfully slow either.

[KendraJ.K.]

stine- there is nothing like that on my camera .

jons- i have the AF-S nikkor 18-70 mm lens. its the kit lens.

[MLlanes]

are you sure kendra? this is the d70s, maybe its in the same spot.


although, when i looked at a d70 back from afar, i didnt see a diopter.

[KendraJ.K.]

ml- oh okay, i see it, that's not what it looked like in the picture stine showed. and i have the d70s not the d70.

so i just move it up and down till it focuses better on auto?

[LORD M]

I use mostly manual, but hey, I am almost always taking macro shots.

[Crash]

mostly AF.