On Wed, 08 Jan 2003 23:49:56 GMT, "Mike Lipphardt" <mlipphardt@ameritech.net> wrote:

>"Neuman - Ruether" <d_ruether@hotmail.com> wrote in message

>news:3e1ea604.2923198@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu...

>> On Wed, 08 Jan 2003 18:57:59 GMT, Robin Burns

>> <r_f_burns@hotmail.com> wrote:

>> >I'm thinking of getting an AF camera, such as a Nikon F-100, after years

>of

>> >using manual focus cameras (Nikon F3, Contax RTS, etc.)

>> >

>> >How easy is it to focus a lens manually on an AF camera?

>> This depends on the camera. The F100, 8008, F4/5 are very

>> easy to focus manually (and most have variable diopter

>> corrections built-in); the N70/90 have less sharp finders,

>> making MF more difficult...

>> >Most of these

>> >cameras no longer have split-image and/or microprism focusing aids

>> I never liked these, anyway - with a good, sharp screen

>> that you can focus sharply on with your eye, a matte screen

>> is easier and faster to use than the "focusing aids"...

>> >and they

>> >seem to emphasize screen brightness rather than contrast. Is critical

>> >focusing still feasible?

>> Yes. It is as good as ever on the best models, but worse

>> on the worst... (some AF finders are so unsharp I begin

>> to think the makers make them that way to make people

>> think they need AF [and all those new AF lenses...;-]).

>> David Ruether

>AF finders offten seem to be geared more toward brightness than in manual

>focusing utility. I'm not sure why that is, but it seems to me that most AF

>finders do not snap into focus like those of the better manual focus

>cameras.

I think originally they were "geared" toward snapshooting

with slow zooms. GG sharpness is optimized for particular

lens stops, and those that look best around f4.5 or so are

almost impossible to focus with at stops around f2; ones

that are optimized for around f2.8 may still look soft at

f1.4...

>But still, a good ground glass is a great focusing tool, and if

>you can find a camera to your liking, go for it. Minolta for instance makes

>some pretty good finder screens.

And some pretty poor ones - I remember hating the

unfocusable one in the early Maxxum, and the one

made by Minolta for one of the Leicaflex models - the

f4 lenses looked sharp, but the f1.4 ones were

impossible to focus without stopping the lens down

some first. Look at the Nikon VFs (with plain-matte

centers, and assuming you can see at one meter

distance sharply) in the F100, 8008, F, F2, F3, F4,

F5, FA, FM, FE, and a few others if you want to

enjoy sharp VF images - these match lenses well

from about f2 to f5.6, with f1.2 and f8 focus being

OK. Heck, even my 8, 15, and 16mm wide-angles and

500mm f8 mirror are easy to focus with these

bodies...;-)