>
> From: Michael Quack <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> > You can't focus it manually at all unless the shutter
> > button is first half depressed!
>
> The lens is FTM, there is no need to tick the trigger
> to be able to focus. As long as the camera is not off,
> rotating the EMF (Electro Manual Focussing) sensor ring
> directly focusses the lens.
Michael: In that case, there appears to be something wrong with mine. I USUALLY can
not focus it manually if the meter is not active. Just having the body turned on is
NOT usually sufficient. On occasion I can. I just checked and confirmed this. It
ALWAYS focuses manually when the meter is
active however.
>
> You are not really saying that you use AF in
> a macro lens, are you?
Why not, at least on occasion? Actually I never seem to use my 180 macro at all. I
prefer the 300/2.8L IS with an extension tube. And yes, for butterflies this combo
AF's very well. It AF's pretty much instantly in fact!
> and I don't consider it fit my personal definition
> > of FTM at all.
>
> To me it does, and it does that better than any other
> of my lenses. I'd rather not call it an AF at all.
> Which is okay for me......
Again, there clearly must be something wrong with mine. It does NOT reliably focus
manually unless the meter is active. The 300/2.8 focuses manually whether the body is
turned on or off BTW. THAT, I call true FTM focus! I do not have the 180/3.5L handy at
the moment to confirm whether it does
as well or not but I believe it too focuses manually even if the power to the body is
off. And the 85/1.2 IS an AF lens whether you'd rather it call it that or otherwise .
. .just a very slow one.
>
>
> > After buying the EF300/2.8L IS, my first Canon lens,
> > I guess I expected too much.
>
> No, you expected the wrong thing, the 85/1.2 serves
> a different purpose.
I fail to see why it can not focus as quickly as the 300/2.8. Nor do I see it as
serving a different purpose in this respect. I could have chosen this lens for action
shots at a horse meet. Its slow AF would have been a hindrance there but, truth be
told, it still likely focuses more quickly
than I can by hand. Why macro's focus slowly I well understand. Why this lens is so
slow to AF I do not understand. It does not have the long throw distance required in
macro designs and certainly does not likely move a greater mass of glass to focus than
do the super teles which focus all
but instantly!
I will concede that there appears to be a problem with my particular 85/1.2 if yours
FTM's reliably when the shutter button is not "ticked." This one never did.
About the slowness of its AF, we'll just have to disagree. I see no excusable reason
for it other than the design is dated..
--
Terence A. Danks
Nova Scotia, Canada
Wildlife and Nature Photography
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/danksta/home.htm
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