Old school manual focus (photography)

[Sherlock77]

I was just gifted a manual focus lens by a friend, for those who care, a Rokinon 100mm F/2.8 macro (as in he gave it to me for free)

And I haven't shot manual focus since 2006! The last time I used my Minolta film SLR camera, and have almost been "scared" of doing it so just haven't... So I took the lens to a local park the next day after work just to play around and experiment... I've discovered along the way that in modern digital cameras - in my case a Fuji X-T1 - have lots of things to help with manual focus... Still not sure how the lens will fit into street photography, but possibly some portraiture stuff related to street...

Anyway, without using any of those camera settings and aids, here are a couple of photos I took simply by experimenting with manual focus, and not at all macro photography, even some street photography in the park...

 

[tazz]

I worked a little with a journalist who had a pro camera and used to use manual focus. I could never get used to it myself. It always looked fine in the viewfinder but the result was fuzzy. But anyway, this takes me back to my childhood before digital cameras - I was interested in photography for a while and had a manual focus camera. I recall back then I was able to focus with it no problem.

 

[Sherlock77]

I worked a little with a journalist who had a pro camera and used to use manual focus. I could never get used to it myself. It always looked fine in the viewfinder but the result was fuzzy. But anyway, this takes me back to my childhood before digital cameras - I was interested in photography for a while and had a manual focus camera. I recall back then I was able to focus with it no problem.

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I have since discovered that modern digital cameras have functions that help with manual focus, one being something called Focus Peaking...

 

[tazz]

I have since discovered that modern digital cameras have functions that help with manual focus, one being something called Focus Peaking...

Thanks - I don't recall my DSLR having such a thing but I'll check.

 

[Sherlock77]

Thanks - I don't recall my DSLR having such a thing but I'll check.

Just do a web search for your brand of camera and manual focus... And if you are using a manual focus only lens you probably have to use a setting for shooting without the lens

 

[Outdated]

It's been a long time since I used manual focus. The same as you mentioned, back in the 90s I'd have one finger on the aperture ring and one on the focus ring and it wasn't something I actually thought about when I was doing it. It was instinctive, like driving a manual car. The only other control we had was shutter speed, everything else was governed by what type of film we were using.

In 2009 I bought a Rubinar 500 mm macro lens just because that old technology fascinated me. It's a reflector telescope lens made in Ukraine, it got damaged when I was living in the bush which is a shame because it's probably irreplaceable now.

It's a very heavy piece of glass and can't really be used without a good quality solid tripod, but of course I had to try it out anyway. No, I wasn't very successful with it as a hand held.

 

[Sherlock77]

On a chilly day (5 Celsius) I went for a longer walk this time, doing urban photography with the Rokinon 100mm macro lens, there is still a learning curve, but it will probably be waiting until mid-November due to my Remembrance Day photography

There was a lot of crap, these are some of the few good photos with strong focus

 

[Au Naturel]

Imagine that you are Henri Cartier-Bresson, and you just got your first Leica...

 

[Sherlock77]

Imagine that you are Henri Cartier-Bresson, and you just got your first Leica...

If you say so I still don't feel this lens is that ideal for street photography compared to what else I use, today was just more experimenting