Jim Christensen wrote in message <34EA017D.78F20281@computerpro.com>...

>I have a used N8008 that I have used for 5 months now with varying
>results.. I jut got a 80-200 2.8 AF lens and rans some tests , the old
>brick wall etc. looked pretty good for the light available. (Foggy)
>anyway back to the topic. If the camera shows focus on the indicator,
>and it appears ok on the finder, can I assume its ok to the film plane
>as well ?? some times it seems the prints should be sharper.. I have
>seen this using flash and available light with my 28-85 as well.. Is
>there some way to tell if the focus is off ??? with out the depth of
>field scale, its hard to tell what should be in focus and what is not in
>focus.
>Oh yeah ! I also have " Older eyes "
>Never seem to see this problem with my FE'S .
>Any help out there ??

Hmmm, assuming that the image softness is not due to motion during
exposure, or to a lens that is not particularly sharp at the stop
used, or to printing that is somewhat out of focus, we are left with
focus error. If you use the camera AF focus indicator (unreliable, in
my experience...), and the viewing image sharpness (with inability
to see it sharply...), it is likely that some photos will not be
well-focused. BTW, this is also true (in my experience...) if you
rely on the AF for focus... (I hate AF! ;-). The 8008 does have a
very sharp viewing image (though a touch less sharp in the center
than the FE/FM/FA - with the "B" or "E" screens...), so a solution
may be to try to optimize your view of the 8008 screen. As we age,
it becomes harder to focus our eyes over a wide range of distances,
and if you can see distant objects sharply, it is likely as you
get into middle age that viewing the VF image (with a virtual focus
distance of about 3-4') sharply will be difficult. A solution I
worked out is described on my web page, under "I babble", then
"Four-Distance Glasses". A simpler solution, if you have no
astigmatism in your vision, is to fit a correction lens to the
camera eyepiece.
--
David Ruether
http://www.fcinet.com/ruether
ruether@fcinet.com