Winsor Crosby wrote:
On the other hand, there are lots of people who go hunting with bows
and arrows. What ever floats your boat.
====================================================================
Say what you like, I'd rather be shot with a 600mm f4 lens and
autofocus than a bow & arrow any day! ;-)
For those who are not aware of it, there is an interesting critique of
autofocus by Monaghan at URL:
http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/third/af.html
To summarise (since I detest being given a URL with no explanation of
why the heck I should bother to folow it up):
Mr. Monaghan, who is an acredited expert in this field, seems to make a
strong point that the resolution that can be achieved by AF cameras,
even when overriding the autofocus on those cameras that permit this,
is only about half of what could be achieved using the same lenses on
MF cameras. In other words, there's nothing wrong with good AF lenses
but the sensors used in AF cameras are simply not as good as the human
eye. Naturally, he's talking about using MF cameras used under optimal
conditions (sturdy tripods, mirror and aperture pre-fire, etc.), since
hand-held shots introduce other variables that can mar resolution.
Monaghan's article includes test results from high grade Nikon, Canon
and Minolta AF cameras; cheaper AF cameras, including P&S, are much
worse, he says. He also makes the point that, although Canon's AF isn't
perfect, it's better than either Nikon's or Minolta's, which is why so
many users of those AF cameras have migrated to Canon.
One can't help drawing the conclusion that AF is always second best to
MF, except in cases where MF would be too slow to be practical (e.g.
when photographing certain sports, fast-moving wildlife, children
playing, etc.) - and even then AF only makes it easire, it doesn't do
justice to the quality of the lens. It's a very long article but worth
reading, IMHO, especially for those who would like a few more arrows
for their bow (pun intended) for defending manual focus.
Regards,
=====
Ray
"The trouble with resisting temptation is
you never know when you'll get another chance!"
__________________________________________________
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35
a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|