correct use of manual focus - Konica lenses -Testing 24 mm

[versanteest]

Hi,

I'm noob with manual focus/use and I'm starting to learn ....ops I'm trying

I have Nex C3 and today It's arrived my first prime lens: Konica AR 24. I mounted it and I'm testing it just for understand camera controls.
I'm using:
By camera: focus peaking and zoom MF help
By lens: manual focus (with FPeaking support) and focal aperture (f2.8, f4, f5.6, etc...)

I haven't started with manual use about ISO and shutter speed: Infact from menu I have shooting auto Intelligent mode.

I come to my question. Can I have decent photos with "auto intelligent shooting mode" and manual lens ?

I'm not lazy, I want to try, but first of all, I don't want to go in the wrong direction.

thanks

Pasquale

[eddieitman]

The quick answer yes you can get excellent results on inteligent auto

[rbelyell]

there are very few basics to photography, but essential ones are understanding the interplay between aperture setting, shutter speed and motion blur, and your aperture setting and depth of field (how much of your picture is in 'acceptable focus'). if you use 'intelligent auto' it will be much more difficult to properly understand and personally control these settings and relationships.

one of the great advantages of digital over film is that one can experiment, practice and learn these relationships without expense and woth immediate feedback. take your time, experiment and take note of settings and carefully review your results. do comaprisons with the same subject. learn. understand how different settings effect your result. dont let the camera do it for you. thats my advice anyway.
tony

[iangreenhalgh1]

Congrats on a great lens, that is one of the best 24mm lenses ever made, I have the same one and love it, one of my favourite lenses.

[versanteest]

Hi Guys,

here my first shots with Konica 24...

give me suggestion because I'm noob in manual way

tell me where I make mistake, please.

I used ALL manual parametrs, no Auto ! => M mode

ISO 200

Today there was only a weak sun and many clouds

[Excalibur]

[rbelyell]

very nice resukts froman outstanding lens. i'm sure you learned a lot about how different exposure settings effect your final result in that i see you took the same scene with obviously different settings. thats a good thing and will help you better achieve your vision of how you want the shot to look.
tony

[bruzzo]

very nice results.
Out classes my Vivitar 24mm f2 pretty easily

[Attila]

Crispness is visble, congrats for your new excellent lens!

[versanteest]

thanks at all

I think this lens is fantastic, I must learn to know it well because I shot some photos at f16 which I haven't published. The reason was that these pics lost in sharpness. I had camera up a wall, like to tell immobilized.
I don't know if this was due to low light, or I wrong the shutter speed time.
Mah, I did try to change shutter speed time, but results wasn't confortable.

Any suggestions ?

Regards

Pasquale

[rbelyell]

there is a point at which all lenses lose sharpness. typically ive found a lens is most sharp at about two to three times its widest aperture, so for a 2.8 it typically will be sharpest between 5.6 and 8. much after that it will decline progressively with each additional stop. f16 typically sucks for all slr and rf lenses, and is used with a tripod to achieve some desire artistic effect, like the blurring of running water, where you want the slowest shutter speed possible.
tony

[versanteest]

[rbelyell]

regardless of sun, i personally tend to shoot landscapes at around f8. that is done to achieve a deep area of focus or what we call 'depth of field'. you will notice if you shoot the same scene starting at 2.8, then 5.6, then 8.0 that more of your scene will appear in focus as you 'stop down' the aperture. doing this creates a smaller circle within the lens, thus letting less light in, requiring slower shutter speeds to achieve proper exposure, and yielding deeper areas of in focus material.

if we consider your pictures above, the only one you might consider f8 for is number 3, and that is only if you want the background in some degree of focus--depends on your vision, whether you want to separate the foreground from the mountains behind (f4-5.6) or whether you want the foreground to meld into the background (f8-9). for the building shots, where theres not too much depth in the shot, you might want to shoot at f4-5.6. the last picture, where you want to fully separate the subject from the background, you would want to shoot 'wide open' which in this case is 2.8.
tony

[Attila]

[peterqd]

Pasquale

I am sorry I have had to reduce your pictures to links, as they are far too large.

I realise this was your first post and you probably haven't read the rules about the size limit on pictures yet. Basically any
picture must be limited to 1024 pixels max width, otherwise the text becomes unreadable without scrolling. The only place
you can post larger pictures is in the Oversize Gallery.

If you use the Upload picture button when you write your messages the forum software will resize pictures automatically.

Thanks

[versanteest]

[Lloydy]

Excellent pictures, and that's because the NEX is such a good learning tool. You have a great lens, and a camera that lets you see what you are doing. Using the focus peaking and the MF Assist you can experiment and see the depth of field changing as the aperture ring is turned from wide open to fully closed. Even with experience I do this all the time with a manual lens on my NEX, and sometimes I will take many pictures of the same scene with different aperture settings just to be able to pick the best when I view them on a screen. I couldn't do that with film cameras, I can't do it as easily or effectively with the Pentax K10 either, the NEX is wonderful with MF lenses, good results are possible because we can see what is happening.

[peterqd]

[versanteest]

indoor shots

[ylyad]

Second is great

[konicamera]

Ciao Pasquale!
Great photos, you obviously don't need anyone's advice on how to use manual lenses.
But if you ask me, your child doesn't look convinced buying this Hexanon was such a good idea.
Cheers

[versanteest]

[peterqd]

Lovely family! What's her name?

[versanteest]

[versanteest]