ravishankar

It is interesting to note the quest for manual focussing among many at this point with all the advancement in AF

technology. I totally belong to this aspiration of manual focussing, coming back from Film Bodies and never had an out of

focus image in my thousands of Velvias and Provias exposed. If anyone is used to this technic, it just outbeats any AF

technology there is for that precise control on the exact zone you intend to pick up, say like the eye lashes of a model in

portraits.

Iam not saying this is unachievable with AF lenses but that control you have on focussing manually is a different

experience which can only be understood if one has prior history using this technic.

I also totally agree on lenses with a large focus rotation like my old Nikkors or Zeiss assist in more precise focus than the

present generation Nokkor 85 1.8 AFD with an extremely short focus rotation on manual overrides. The Focus

confirmation light can never be accurate since the camera cannot assume your very narrow point of focus.

I feel the Nikon 1.8AFD (which I use extensively for portraits) does a great job with lesser damage pricewise. The trick is to stop down by a few f stops to avoid an extremely shallow image unavoidable in this lens. This lens works fine with Fm3a, FA, F/N 65, and the Digital cousins.

RAVISHANKAR