Autofocus is fine for shooting cars off a tripod, which is my most critical work. It's not hard to lock onto a headlight or bumper edge. I shot a group of executive portraits for a consulting company last week and used the DA( 50-135, focusing on the close eye with a single point. Almost all were critically sharp at full magnification. Missed maybe 2 or 3 out of about 100 frames.
i think you're correct about the 400/5.6 being particularly difficult to focus with the small wide-open stop. I'll have to dig out my K series 85/1.8 and shoot some pics of Grace in the studio. I'll see if my tired old right eye can still manage. I do get enough diopter correction to get a sharp focusing screen, but I'm not sure that's all that's involved. Paul On Sep 26, 2012, at 9:05 PM, J.C. O'Connell <[email protected]> wrote: > I think the A400/f5.6 is an exception, because its so slow. I even have > trouble with mine. Most of my MF SMCK lenses are shorter and faster like > F2.8 or faster, making them easy to MF. Having a split image screen doesnt > hurt either. I just dont like AF, it misses too much or hunts too long > ruining the decisive moment. I will concede AF is better for fast action > where its impossible to keep up manually focusing, but thats a special case. > > ----------------- > J.C.O'Connell > [email protected] > ----------------- > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Paul > Stenquist > Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 8:56 PM > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List > Subject: Re: DA* 60-250 to C.R.I.S. > > What Bruce said. Forty years ago I could manual focus any lens, every time. > I could even pull focus on a car moving toward me. But eyes wear out faster > than old manual lenses. I had a heck of a time focusing the 400 yesterday, > particularly when working from my knees with the camera on a low tripod. > Manual focus is largely in my past. > Paul > > On Sep 26, 2012, at 8:39 PM, Bruce Walker <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Nothing tricky to go wrong? Yes there is: the gel-filled lenses in >> your head. That's part of my issue and why I don't do much successful >> manual focussing. I'd be in trouble without AF. >> >> >> On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 8:35 PM, J.C. O'Connell <[email protected]> wrote: >>> This is one of the reasons I like my prime SMCK MF lenses. >>> Nothing tricky to go wrong, still going strong after 35 yrs. >>> Sorry to hear your having problems with your newish lens... >>> ----------------- >>> J.C.O'Connell >>> [email protected] >>> ----------------- >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > Paul >>> Stenquist >>> Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 8:30 PM >>> To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>> Subject: DA* 60-250 to C.R.I.S. >>> >>> The SDM motor of my workhorse lens seems to have failed after what must > be >>> about 20,000 frames. Not too bad, although I guess it shouldn't ever fail > on >>> an expensive lens that is marketed as a premium product. A few weeks back > I >>> started getting intermittent focus failures. Unmounting the lens and > turning >>> the focus barrel manually would wake it up again. I had a couple >>> assignments, so I held onto it, figuring I'd send it out when the weather >>> started to get bad. But at yesterday's shoot it failed completely. > Couldn't >>> get a shot off. That was inconvenient as hell, since I didn't have > another >>> lens between 135 and 400, and the Mopar Action editor likes the look I > get >>> in the 200 to 250 range. But I made do with the 50-135 and the A 400. > That >>> 400 is getting harder to focus as my eyes age, so I shot numerous frames > of >>> each shot, refocusing after every couple. Should have hung onto the DA >>> 50-200 as a spare, but I sold it to help cover the cost of the DA* lens. >>> >>> In any case, I hope C.R.I.S. has the part. Don't want to go through the > kind >>> of ordeal that accompanied my K-5 repair in July. >>> >>> Paul >>> -- >>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>> [email protected] >>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>> follow the directions. >>> >>> >>> -- >>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>> [email protected] >>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. >> >> >> >> -- >> -bmw >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
