On 17 Dec 1998 20:06:00 GMT, williamsg@ahecas.AHEC.EDU (Gary Williams, Business Services Accounting) wrote:

>In the short time I have been following this group, I have seen many good
>answers to many basic questions. Here is mine (basic question, not good
>answer):
>
>Should the next camera body I buy be auto-focus?
>
>I have some astigmatism, but it is not severe; I am 50 years old and wear
>bi-focals, but I don't think the required correction is all that much. My
>present camera is a Chinon CPM-6, which I rather like. It is on extended
>loan to my daughter, which is why I am in the market for a body; but I
>expect to get it back one day, at which point it will be either my main
>camera or a backup to the one I will get now.
>
>I have a 50mm f1.9 Chinon lens, and a no-name 28-135 mm f3.8-5.6 zoom, both,
>of course, manual focus. I realize that I can use them on a K-mount auto-
>focus body, but understand that the focusing screens in auto-focus bodies
>often are not the best for manual focusing.
>
>Probably 75-80% of my photos currently are made to document travel I do.
>
>Any suggestions you might have on a manual/auto-focus choice would be
>appreciated.

I prefer manual focus - for me, it is a faster, more direct
way of focusing, and it is more accurate. BTW, on my web page
(under "I babble") I describe a pair of glasses that both helped
me to see better (with age-related inability to focus) and to
see the camera VF more sharply. Also BTW, I find the AF "focus
indicators" to be even less helpful/accurate than AF itself
(try a fast wide-angle on an AF body, and focus through the
correct focus point [judged from the VF, assuming it is one
of the few that is sharp...] - you will see the indicators lie
egregiously...! ;-) AF is OK for snap-shooting (when the lens
is stopped down enough to cover its errors...), but for me,
it just gets in my way (as does AE...).