Why do we shoot MF ?

yinyangbt · Expire: 2012-12-27

I came back to the MF lenses recently after a wandering trough the AF world .
I am curious why do you all use the manual focus lenses more that strictly occasional?
For me , there are mixed explanations .Of course the quality of the primes is one. I realised that I need small , unobtrusive lenses ( I was many times taken by some silly guys as a pro because of a cheap zoom).The price is important to me , in fact the quality/price ratio . I realised that ,as in many other fields of activity , there is a limit from where you have to pay too much for a too small increase in results .So , until now all my MF lenses are primes and I intend to go this way.
I need light lenses . I need fast lenses . And I need to stay in the limits of my pocket Twisted Evil

I know, there is allways the SYNDROME !!! Laughing

stingOM · Expire: 2012-12-27

I like MF lenses because of their built quality and as you have said you can obtain HQ IQ for a small price. Ofcourse this is not always true, but in most cases MF are bargains compared with AF equivalents.

For example

I feel MF lenses have a "soul" and character which you cannot get from handling modern plasticky lenses.
I kind of think of it like a owning and driving a classic car Very Happy

There is only one problem - once you are bitten by the bug, you jst can't stop collecting... Wink

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

I could bang on about having to wait for AF lenses to hunt, or how annoying it is when they focus on the wrong thing. Actually, it's partly for the same reason I prefer manual gearboxes - I like to be in control. Smile

and partly for the same reason I like steam trains and old cars, they're simply more fun.

Bruce · Expire: 2014-11-22

I like my eyes in sharp focus!

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

I did start to buy them because they were lot cheaper and lot better than budget AF lenses. Now I have some expensive one what is not cheaper at all. Quality at least same than AF lenses or even better + I enjoy to hold rarities what we can't buy every day in shops. I am also amazed how old they are and how good. An MF lens will work always in my life on future generation of cameras , an AF lens works with actual system only. We had many samples how lost values of lenses when makers switched to next mount Canon FD, EF etc. For most of us pretty high sum to buy lenses what is cover all focal lengths , quiet luxury to throw them out within 10 yrs.

dsmlogger · Joined: 14 Apr 2010 Posts: 178 Location: Athens, Greece

fatdeeman · Joined: 13 Jun 2009 Posts: 780 Location: UK

I use them because:

It can be as expensive or cheap as you like, there are some real bargains to be had even now that more people are buying old lenses you can still gamble a few £ and sometimes get a nice surprise!

Variety: If you want a Canon AF 28mm prime you have only a few options but if you buy an old mf lens there are probably at least 50 different lenses you could try and each one will be different and have a unique character! I really enjoy using a variety of lenses even ones I know are not the greatest. I enjoy using them because it's a challenge to try and get the best out of them and you can shoot the same subjects and compare how different lenses render the same things etc

Improves traditional skills: I think using manual focus lenses helps to maintain and improve some of the more fundamental skills involved in photography and also improves the physical bond between camera and user, because the process takes a bit longer I find I concentrate more and even my composition seems to have improved since using manual lenses, probably because I use primes more and don't always have the luxury of zooming!

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

****Why do we shoot MF ?***

erm it's natural for me as I'm still using old film cameras Wink

magkelly · Joined: 06 Jul 2010 Posts: 182

I like my manual lenses because as it turns out I'm a complete control freak when it comes to taking pictures on any camera, even apparently including those taken with my DSLR. I've discovered I like to be the one to decide what settings to use. AF cameras and AF lenses just get in my way. If I really wanted AF to be in control I'd still be using a point and shoot camera like my Fuji.

AF limits my creativity. Worse yet, it makes me lazy. Using manual lenses forces me to think my shots ALL the way through and when I do that I end up ultimately taking better pictures. It's ironic, but nonetheless true. AF is supposed to make it easy to take the perfect shot. Maybe for some that's so, but it's just not for me.

I think I knew about half an hour into my first session with my Tamron that the AF lens just wasn't doing me any good in terms of my learning to be a better photographer. It was far too easy to lean on the AF and the auto modes in the camera.

Taking 1000 photographs every time I shoot and keeping the 50 or so that look maybe look half decent is not my idea of good photography. Taking 100 pics and keeping 85% of them because they are excellent photos, that is.

I don't want random luck and a technological wonder of a digital lens ultimately dictating how my work as a photographer ends up. I want to be able to look for my subject, properly set up the camera for the situation, and shoot knowing that I have the ability to do the job the right way without leaning quite so hard on the crutch of technology.

Being able to take photographs sans film developing costs most of the time is very handy. But I don't want it to become too easy for me to go out there and shoot 10GB's worth of memory cards without hardly even thinking about it. That's not going to make me a better photographer. It's just going to make it easier for me to take bad pictures.

estudleon · Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 3754 Location: Argentina

i use MF lenses because:

1- Use only film camera.

2. I think that the mediums are the art too.

3. I love manual tools.

4. I like to focus where I want, so manual focus lenses for me.

5. I like the MF lenses, the metal, the glass.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

It makes me think about what I'm doing.

Farside · Expire: 2013-12-27

I like proper control. AF is useful sometimes, but other times it gets it wrong. I prefer being able to pick and choose and shoot, without the lens hunting for focus.
I have a total of four AF lenses - two for the Canon, two for the Pentax and I rarely use them.

Nordentro · Expire: 2015-01-29

I like mf lenses because I feel like not waisting money on a AF lens that most likely will drop in price. Mf lenses is more of an investment Wink

Mf lenses have interesting stories to tell and they have overall better build quality.

I like the design of the lenses, some of them are pieces of art in my opinion.

I like the big differences in how they draw the bokeh, contrast and sharpness.

And most important, I like the feeling of doing the adjustments myself and not just being the guy who pushed the button. Very Happy

And I like to see the faces on people when I walk around with a shiny unusual lens. Every house has a DSRL these days, but almost none have seen the setup I use Wink

estudleon · Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 3754 Location: Argentina

caspert79 · Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Posts: 3225 Location: The Netherlands

I like metal, I like glass, I like mechanics, I like MF.

gaeger · Expire: 2021-03-09

We are curmudgeons.

marty · Joined: 09 Apr 2009 Posts: 767 Location: Italy

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

It's very simple:

- optical quality
(to have same optical quality in AF lenses you need to spend a fortune, and in several cases, even the best AF lens would not equal the optical performance of the best MF lenses)

- build quality
(lenses build of metal and not plastic)

- precision
(autofocus is often as imprecise as my manual focusing - and to focus an AF lens manually is often impossible due to poor focusing ring precision)

- image quality
(MF lenses -not all, some of them- have an edge even over the best AF lenses)

- they help create my own style
(with the combination of my select manual lenses, Canon DSLR, and personal vision, I can shape my own style with more personality than people who all use the same AF lenses that all look the same)

Laurentiu Cristofor · Joined: 23 Oct 2010 Posts: 524 Location: WA, USA

I often shoot at wide apertures and MF lets me concentrate on the entire frame while focusing. With AF, I have to select AF points and work on keeping them over what I want to focus on - I find shooting to be more restrictive that way and I think it takes away all the fun.

For some scenarios, AF may be more convenient, so it depends on what you're shooting too. But so far, MF is more suited to what I do.

Regarding lower price, while a MF lens may be easier to manufacture or may be cheaper because it's old, it is also much better suited to MF than an AF one. There are lenses I avoided buying because they are AF and their focus throw is so small that I would not be able to MF them effectively. So far, my most expensive lens is a MF one.

BTW, this article from Zeiss about MF on AF cameras is a nice read: http://www.zeiss.com/c12567a8003b58b9/Contents-Frame/c6170ceb7ba94758c12575de0038f1e5

Swappo · Joined: 02 Apr 2009 Posts: 327 Location: Sweden

I shot MF because I can.

And the lenses of my main interest (and wallet) don't have AF. Smile

djmike · Joined: 01 Apr 2009 Posts: 930 Location: Taiwan

Using MF is philosophic --- think well before you act!! Light metering, DOF deciding, compositing and click.

NikonD · Joined: 29 Jul 2008 Posts: 1922 Location: Slovenija

build quality, image quality... a joy to use and sure to last another 30 years... Wink

Big Dawg · Joined: 28 Jan 2009 Posts: 2530 Location: Thach Alabama

Because when you hold one in your hand you can feel the quality of the design and the materials used to make it. The Craftsmanship is there to feel and see....even with the cheaper MF lens.

Most AF lens feel like a cheap Child's toy. Plastic and disposable.

MF lens feel like an Adult's Tool. Designed for serious business and a long life.

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

Everything has been said.
Above all, it's great fun to use old gear on modern DSLRs and to make the other people (the "ignorami" Twisted Evil

) look.
(It's also fun to use those lenses on old film SLRs. Wink

)

Ash · Joined: 12 Mar 2010 Posts: 185 Location: Evanston, il, usa

I like fast lenses at reasonable prices !