> Hello Shel, > > Best description that I can give is that with a matte, when it is in > focus it is clear, when it is out of focus it is kind of opaque. The > finer the matte, the more translucent it is - this makes it harder to > tell between in/out of focus. > > The assumption with many AF cameras is that the user wouldn't normally > use manual focus, so they put in a finer matte that brightens up the > finder a bit and compensates for the smallness. The downside is that > it makes it harder to manually focus.
YES! I find the *istD very hard to focus precisely when it won't give me the green hexagon, and that is also true of most modern AF cameras because of the finer matte. Mind you, I don't find the Spotmatics all that easy to focus either. The microprism works kinda like the green hexagon in that you can tell when something is exactly in focus but the overall finder is very dark and hard to focus on. > Even so, I still prefer a matte - I find that the focusing aids get in > the way quite often. Not much different than AF in the middle. My > composition usually doesn't have the subject dead center, so using the > focusing aid requires me to recompose after focusing. At smaller > f-stops the focus aid (especially split prism) blacks out and is worse > than useless. Fortunately, I don't have any "smaller f-stops", so I very rarely lose my split image aid. I grew up with the splits on ME Supers and Super Programs and am quite used to them. I've retrofit split image viewfinders in my AF nikons because the default AF screens are hard to focus on. OTOH, I am also used to using the matte surface for fast and not overly precise focusing, such as sports action shooting. Lately, I've been using AF most of the time at work--it's better than I am now, and I've gotten used to switching the focus point or simply focus-recompose to deal with off-center subjects. I normally have AF set in single mode except for sports. I only use MF when AF is giving me trouble or when I am zone focusing. DJE
