Hi Mike ... Have you read all the crap that one must consider and go through to get the 5n to work while using auto focus. Suggestions included holding the camera at an angle, focusing on something else in a similar location, using faster lenses because of lighting conditions quickly come to mind. With all the MF cameras I've used, I point, I focus, I snap the shutter. I've not had to adapt my shooting style or technique to the camera. The camera responds as I desire, when I desire. There's a more seamless integration of photographer and camera.
What has been interesting for me is that the more automated a cameras has become, the more information it provides and the more features it offers, the more it gets in the way of my seeing and photographing the scene. The simpler, older cameras, that provide no information in the finder, and essentially mind their own business, are, for more, easier tools to operate. My favorite cameras have no automation, no suggestions or information in the viewfinder, make no decisions. The Leica M2, M3, M4, the Pentax KM (with meter inactive), and the MX (also with meter inactive) are my favorite cameras. There is nothing that I have to adapt to. The cameras are essentially benign, neutral, in my hands. There's no concern about turning them on or turning them off, or if the light is right for a shot, or of the camera deciding whether or not a shot can be taken. Whether or not a get a shot, whether it's properly exposed or focused, is all my responsibility and a result of how I choose to set and use the aperture, focus, and shutter speed. And for most photographic situations, once the light is determined in an area, the rest is almost automatic because I'm using a CPU with far more processing power than what is in any of these whiz-bang cameras - the brain in my head. Maybe others need or want to rely more upon the modes and features and computers in their cameras, but if I have to work to overcome the limitations of certain features in order to use them, what's the point of having them in the first place? Perhaps when such features are more seamlessly integrated into the cameras, as they may be in other models, or when, for example, auto focus will work on subjects with any contrast or in any light, I'd find it a totally acceptable asset. But to have to go through machinations to use it, or first decide if the light is bright enough, or the subject has enough contrast, or to consider any of a number of other things before pressing the shutter, well, I'd just as soon turn off the feature and shoot manually. And if I'm gonna do that, why bother with an auto focus camera in the first place. Shel > [Original Message] > From: mike wilson > > From your comments, and those of others, it seems that the 5n is not a > > camera I'd buy except for photographing in some specific situations. I'd > > sure hope newer cameras behave better - after all, what's the point of > > autofocus if you're continually having to adapt to its limitations. > > Surely, that's no different to manual focus. Or any other aspect of photography.
