Using manual lenses on a DSLR

jamiebonline

jamiebonline

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Jamie
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Hi everyone,

I am stuck a bit here. I have tested the Samyang 85 1.4 and thought it was a beautiful lens on an old SLR where manual focusing was easy. I still shoot some film and the lens would be fine for this however I also shoot digital, Nikon, and wonder whether I shouldn't get the 85 1.8 AF D or G lens. Either are quite a bit more expensive.

Do any of you regularly shoot with a DSLR and manually focus? I am talking principally about portraits where the subject is relatively still. Looking at the viewfinder and zooming in is a bit of a pain. The camera and lens do show the focus confirmation dot thing though. How accurate can you be with practice? Maybe shooting at 1.4 is very hard to nail focus but shooting at, for example, 2.2 might be OK

Thanks

J
 
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jamiebonline said:
Do any of you regularly shoot with a DSLR and manually focus?
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jamiebonline said:
How accurate can you be with practice?
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A mounted compatible manual lens will give you the right
representation of your image in the VF. You should expe-
rinse no difficulties whatsoever!

I still use many older manual lenses on my latest digital
bodies in studio with great results.
 
Hi Jamie, I don't actually have any Samyang lenses but I use a whole lot of manual focus Nikkor lenses on my D810 with no problems whatsoever. Sure because of the lack of say a split prism or other manual focus aid they are not quite so easy to get critical focus on a DSLR as they are with a film SLR because basically the focusing screen on a DSLR is designed for AF lenses. But once you get used to using them there is no problem whatsoever. If you go down the AF route then both the 85mm G & D lenses are very good, with the G probably being marginally sharper but the D version having the advantage of a manual aperture ring which would make it very easy to use on your film camera.

George.
 
I briefly tried manual lenses on my Canon DSLR but quickly gave up. Hyperfocal and Merklinger type methods are fine and focusing on subjects that have detail which is clearly visible such as macro and pseudo macro stuff may be fine too but how can you focus accurately on detail you can't see clearly? Clearly you can't and may have to rely on focus errors being covered by deep depth of field or hidden by small subjects and/or images and for these reasons I personally think that manual lenses are best on cameras designed to be used with them or mirrorless cameras with their in built focus aids. These days we tend to pixel peep and any focus errors may be quickly visible but if this matters or not is a personal decision, small prints viewed normally may hide quite horrendous focusing errors :D but larger prints, close viewing and pixel peeping may quickly reveal any focus issues.
 
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The knack of focusing manually with modern digital focus screens is is focus slowly until just slightly past clearest focus and then focus back very slightly. You do not need to see the focus clearly, just know when focus has stopped improving.
 
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•


…when the subject does not offer enough
details, I use and old credit card at the cho-
sen PoF as target!.
 
john.margetts said:
The knack of focusing manually with modern digital focus screens is is focus slowly until just slightly past clearest focus and then focus back very slightly. You do not need to see the focus clearly, just know when focus has stopped improving.
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And how do you see that when you can't see the detail? Depending upon your aperture and the depth of field there may well be quite a bit of focus ring movement with apparently no effect so I suspect you'll be relying on inaccurate focus being hidden by either the depth of field or the size of the subject or image.

Kodiak Qc said:
•


…when the subject does not offer enough
details, I use and old credit card at the cho-
sen PoF as target!.
Click to expand...

That's a good idea assuming you have the time, opportunity and ability to place the card but I'd imagine less good if the subject gets bored and walks off or may blow about in the breeze and you've got the issue of being able to see detail on the card which will be dependent upon the size of the card in the frame and ability to se it clearly with any limitations of the gear.

Maybe it's just me or me looking too closely but honestly, I think that manual lenses are best on cameras designed to make use of them or mirrorless cameras with peaking and image magnification. For example manual focus for many subjects was a PITA with my 5D but a dream on my mirrorless Sony A7 and MFT cameras.
 
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woof woof said:
a good idea assuming you have the time, opportunity and ability to place the card
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•


I forgot to say I was thinking in studio, of course! :banghead::banghead::banghead:
 
Kodiak Qc said:
•


I forgot to say I was thinking in studio, of course! :banghead::banghead::banghead:
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I don't want to be too negative and put people off manual lenses, in fact I like manual lenses and I think it's worth buying a camera that'll allow effective and enjoyable use of them.
 
•


It is easy, on many camera models,
to change the focusing screen!
 
It's feasible. The lack of focusing aids (split image, microprisms etc) makes it a bit more of a challenge but the main problem, for me anyway, is the small/dim viewfinder on a crop body compared with the old SLRs. I daresay a full frame body makes it easier.

The other snag is the lenses. The old ones were designed for manual focus. They had large focus rings, were usually well damped, and had a long throw compared with most AF lenses where MF is an afterthought. There are some exceptions but they tend to be at the expensive end of the spectrum.

I use my old Nikkors on a 30D occasionally and they produce excellent results, but it's a bit of a pain. I grew up with them though, and I enjoy using them, but I'm not sure it's really worthwhile from a practical point of view!
 
odd jim said:
> Liveview > zoom.

Job done :)
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Yes, but that assumes you have live view (my 20D and 5D didn't) and if you do have it you have to be able to shoot by looking at the back screen and be able to see the detail. Back screen shooting might require a tripod and a cape to put over your head to shield the screen from the sun and a loupe to make the detail visible :D Yes, it's doable but a much easier solution is to shoot with a camera designed for manual focusing (or a decent focus screen with a modern camera) or a mirrorless camera with an adequate EVF and a magnified view :D
 
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woof woof said:
Yes, but that assumes you have live view (my 20D and 5D didn't) and if you do have it you have to be able to shoot by looking at the back screen and be able to see the detail. Back screen shooting might require a tripod and a cape to put over your head to shield the screen from the sun and a loupe to make the detail visible :D Yes, it's doable but a much easier solution is to shoot with a camera designed for manual focusing (or a decent focus screen with a modern camera) or mirrorless camera with an adequate EVF and a magnified view :D
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No no no, just no [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

Pretty much all DSLRs produced in the last 10 years have live view (my 50d being my oldest current digital SLR body - 2008 - and that live view is more than up to it, the 20d and 5d are Stone Age, you should probably stop using those as points of reference!), and pretty much all screens are bright enough not to cause any issues with the sun. I was out in my field just now with my 6d and Samyang 14mm (UWAs are the biggest PITA to manually focus on anything) and I had no issues with the light / screen / focusing and it doesn't get much brighter than today.

It's a piece of p*** frankly :)
 
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Ah well, my Stone Age 30D doesn't have live view and I'm quite happy with it. No desire to 'upgrade' at all :D
 
New here, incidentally purchased 3 lovely Nikon AIS lenses and a FM2 film body.

Did a little research so now I'm after a Nikon D700 with a view to fitting a split prism focus screen to use solely for MF glass (Give me a nudge if anyone knows of one for sale)

As with anything things improve with practice, that's the great thing with digital, it costs next to nothing in trial an error only time.
 
AFAIK, Nikon have never made a split image screen for the D700. The 'standard' third party replacement was from KatzEye, but they're no longer in business. There have been a couple of alternatives, but I don't think the idea really gained enough traction to be viable and you don't hear much about it now.

An internet search might find a screen, or you could try posting in the Wanted section here? Call around the dealers that offer used equipment? I'd be interested to hear how you get on.
 
I manually focus with a 24mmm TS-E all the time,particularly when using the tilt function.
But it is always tripod mounted and using live view, I dont think I would want to do it hand held unless it was something like a fisheye where dof was so great everything was in focus
 
Gyles said:
There's plenty of focusing screen on eBay if you extend your search to international sellers. Also focusing screens

D700 here https://www.focusingscreen.com/index.php?cPath=22_92&osCsid=7cbec188c39673aca56d9729c3906bc4

30D here https://www.focusingscreen.com/index.php?cPath=21_41&osCsid=7cbec188c39673aca56d9729c3906bc4

have plenty of options.
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OK, you seem to have answered your own question. Let us know if you order from one of these sources, and if it meets expectations?
 
MartynK said:
OK, you seem to have answered your own question. Let us know if you order from one of these sources, and if it meets expectations?
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You misunderstood, D700 is what I'm after not the screen. I've read numerous threads about these screens in various bodies, pretty much all positive. A few people said they have had to shim them to get the focus spot on and one person said the vf was about ½ stop darker.

So until I have met the forums criteria I cannot post in the classified :bat:
 
You're right, I misunderstood you. Finding a D700 shouldn't be too difficult though. Just keep posting if you want classified access, and posts in Out of Focus and Hot Topics count now (they didn't previously) if there's anything in there you'd like to discuss.
 
odd jim said:
No no no, just no [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

Pretty much all DSLRs produced in the last 10 years have live view (my 50d being my oldest current digital SLR body - 2008 - and that live view is more than up to it, the 20d and 5d are Stone Age, you should probably stop using those as points of reference!), and pretty much all screens are bright enough not to cause any issues with the sun. I was out in my field just now with my 6d and Samyang 14mm (UWAs are the biggest PITA to manually focus on anything) and I had no issues with the light / screen / focusing and it doesn't get much brighter than today.

It's a piece of p*** frankly :)
Click to expand...

A 14mm on a 6D? You're kidding right? With this combo you're probably going to get away with not being able to focus accurately most of the time and in fact you'll probably get away with not focusing at all :D as the dof is going to be the significant factor but with kit that's going to display focusing errors your accuracy is going to need to be greater and that means being able to see the detail and focusing on it.

My point was that not everyone has live view but regardless, back screen shooting isn't for me with a compact never mind a big fat heavy DSLR and no the screens aren't bright enough not to cause issues in the sun. Glad you didn't have issue today with your 14mm on a FF camera but my experiences with back screen shooting are that it's often far from ideal. For framing a shot maybe they're adequate most of the time but for judgement of fine focus you'll need back screen shooting friendly conditions otherwise it'll be a lottery.
 
woof woof said:
A 14mm on a 6D? You're kidding right? With this combo you're probably going to get away with not being able to focus accurately most of the time and in fact you'll probably get away with not focusing at all :D as the dof is going to be the significant factor but with kit that's going to display focusing errors your accuracy is going to need to be greater and that means being able to see the detail and focusing on it.

My point was that not everyone has live view but regardless, back screen shooting isn't for me with a compact never mind a big fat heavy DSLR and no the screens aren't bright enough not to cause issues in the sun. Glad you didn't have issue today with your 14mm on a FF camera but my experiences with back screen shooting are that it's often far from ideal. For framing a shot maybe they're adequate most of the time but for judgement of fine focus you'll need back screen shooting friendly conditions otherwise it'll be a lottery.
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So you're saying I can't focus accurately with a manual 14mm on an FF camera?? Zoomed in on live view it's very easy to get accurate focus (and not through huge DOF) as I explained above. It's just as important to get good focus on a UWA as it is with any lens.
 
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jamiebonline said:
Hi everyone,

I am stuck a bit here. I have tested the Samyang 85 1.4 and thought it was a beautiful lens on an old SLR where manual focusing was easy. I still shoot some film and the lens would be fine for this however I also shoot digital, Nikon, and wonder whether I shouldn't get the 85 1.8 AF D or G lens. Either are quite a bit more expensive.

Do any of you regularly shoot with a DSLR and manually focus? I am talking principally about portraits where the subject is relatively still. Looking at the viewfinder and zooming in is a bit of a pain. The camera and lens do show the focus confirmation dot thing though. How accurate can you be with practice? Maybe shooting at 1.4 is very hard to nail focus but shooting at, for example, 2.2 might be OK

Thanks

J
Click to expand...

I use this lens regularly on a D610, using the focus conformation dot. Focus requires care and precision, rather than being something one abdicates to the camera. OTOH once set it doesn't change. :) It's a little soft at f1.4, OK at f1.7 and nice and sharp at f2.8, and does great DoF effects if that's your thing (but focussing MUST be spot on - if you sway slightly when holding the camera then that's enough to miss focus at <f2.8).

I bought this lens from @Sir SR who shoots primarily portraits (and has just started using an all manual medium format film camera).
 
ancient_mariner said:
I use this lens regularly on a D610, using the focus conformation dot. Focus requires care and precision, rather than being something one abdicates to the camera. OTOH once set it doesn't change. :) It's a little soft at f1.4, OK at f1.7 and nice and sharp at f2.8, and does great DoF effects if that's your thing (but focussing MUST be spot on - if you sway slightly when holding the camera then that's enough to miss focus at <f2.8).

I bought this lens from @Sir SR who shoots primarily portraits (and has just started using an all manual medium format film camera).
Click to expand...

Yep. I have a Samyang album on my Flickr which is all manual focus. Takes a bit of getting used to but it's worth it!

Nearly bought another one yesterday [emoji85]
 
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