5D series manual focusing

joxang

joxang

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Joe Z
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I'm trying to decide between investing in a 5D MK2 or Olympus EM5.

A main consideration is manual focusing with some of the nice glass I have. The EM5 obviously has a high res EVF with magnification.

I was wondering how easy it is to manual focus using the viewfinder on the 5D series (without a different focusing screen, or using live view). I've heard great things about how large and bright it is, but what about precise focusing - say in street shooting when you're trying to focus on someone's eye?
 
You can get an EE-S type focussing screen for the 5D MK2 which makes manual focussing really easy .The focussing screens on Canon cameras are a 30 second job to change. The biggest selling point of a Canon 5D over a micro 4/3s camera for using old lenses is the fact it is full frame, so a 50mm lens is a 50mm lens.....not a 100mm lens as you would see on a micro 4/3's. The 2x crop factor of micro 4/3's really cripples it for me using old lenses.
 
I have a 5D with the standard focus screen and I use manual focus quite a bit but only when there's an advantage over AF like macro, zone or hyperfocal or when the light is too low for AF or when the subject is not AF friendly. However, IMVHO it's never going to be as easy or effective as focusing with magnification either with live view on screen or through an EVF. For example I'm much happier and more accurate when manual focusing with my G1 than with my 5D.

Loooong time back I used more MF friendly focus screens but IMVHO it's still much easier with my G1 and magnification.
 
I wouldnt say the EE-S makes it really easy, it just improves it a bit. LV focus with 10x zoom is much more accurate but slower. Focus peaking is the best overall in my experience but not available to many cameras.
 
Another option is to use adapter with AF confirm, for example you can attach an old FD manual focus lens with these adapter, the chip on the adaptor will allow the system to beep when it detect focus on to a focus point.

Down side is that you may want an adaptor to have extra lens in it, so that you can infinite focus, if not the FD lens won't be able to infinite focus and would become only for use when the subject is fairly close. With extra glass on a 4rd party adapter that will most likely degrade the image quality.
 
Not sure about the new Oly, but I use both a Canon 5d and a Nex-5n with EVF and they are both very large and bright. The evf gets brighter when shooting in low light, but also stutters a bit when there's a lot going on in dim lit situations. The benefit of full frame for me is that I can use fast slr lenses in low light, whereas fast wides for crop cameras tend to be pricier.
 
Ricky said:
Another option is to use adapter with AF confirm, for example you can attach an old FD manual focus lens with these adapter, the chip on the adaptor will allow the system to beep when it detect focus on to a focus point.

Down side is that you may want an adaptor to have extra lens in it, so that you can infinite focus, if not the FD lens won't be able to infinite focus and would become only for use when the subject is fairly close. With extra glass on a 4rd party adapter that will most likely degrade the image quality.
Click to expand...

Most people avoid FD lenses for Canon, because of the choice between an adaptor with glass - lowers optical quality, or an adaptor without glass - no infinity focus.

Whereas, you can use Zeiss, Nikkor, Pentax etc without those disadvantages. Oddly some old Nikkor lenses have less restrictions on a modern Canon with adaptors than they do on some modern Nikons, where all metering is lost.;)
 
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