I'm a mid breed. I like the old and the new. My take on AF is that it is useful at times and a detriment at other times. The simple rule of thumb is "only use it when you need it." There will be occasions when you won't be able to make the shot you want unless you use AF, but most of the time, that is not true. The big reason to not use AF is that it makes it too easy to compose poorly. If you view lots of images, you will see some tendencies of photographers to compose around the AF sensors. Properly done, you should focus and lock, then recompose. But we all get lazy at times and just focus lock and shoot. It makes what could have been a great shot into a good shot or maybe even a poor one. AF can be like zooms - when properly used, it can be very helpful, when laziness sets in, causes images to be poorly composed or not even thought about - just snap, snap, snap.
Bruce Friday, November 8, 2002, 7:47:56 AM, you wrote: BD> I'm a new breed photographer, and I think that real photographers do use it BD> or it wouldn't be such a big feature and issue in 35mm SLRs. I do manual BD> focus sometimes, as Steve said, *always* when doing macro work. The other BD> times I guess it really depends on what you are doing and what you want, and BD> the conditions, and time constraints, as well, if I'm not in a happy BD> shooting mood, AF is usually on :) BD> Brad BD> ----- Original Message ----- BD> From: "Steve Desjardins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> BD> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> BD> Sent: Friday, November 08, 2002 7:31 AM BD> Subject: RE: Pentax Upgrade >> "Also, I don't know much about it, but autofocus certainly can't work >> all the time. I did look at one of the Pentax links about how autofocus >> didn't really work with closeups (would usually be off), and that made >> sense to me. Though probably a lot of autofocus cameras are pretty good >> now. >> >> But I keep having this nagging feeling "real photographers don't use >> autofocus. >> >> >> AF is great for action shots and irrelevant for still lifes, i.e., >> anything you either should or do use a tripod for at slow shutter >> speeds. One time you should never use it is macro work. At least in >> my case, it focuses faster than I do. >> >> >> Steven Desjardins >> Department of Chemistry >> Washington and Lee University >> Lexington, VA 24450 >> (540) 458-8873 >> FAX: (540) 458-8878 >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>
