I feel like autofocus is so good. Are there times that you use manual focus? When I am looking through the view finder it almost seems impossible to actually manual focus a shot anyway.
Am I doing something wrong here? Just checking. Thank you.
my camera at times hunts while I am in the studio shooting - I do like to keep it dark in there though… so I sometimes have to switch it off
On my Nikon D850 never. The AF never failed me (unlike the Nikon D3 xD).
On my Leica M always. At first, rangefinder is weird and i‘m still learning but i get used to it. Actually i feel a bit more comfy with Rangefinder than DSLR alteady.
Manual focus is great for long exposure photography.
Rarely need to, but mostly when the lens is having trouble or older manual lens. Usually for artistic shots mostly.
Focus by wire is tricky, mechanical focus is a breeze. I use manual focus on myqnual lenses, autofocus usually with my modern lenses. But there are times when I manual focus my modern lenses. Night photography, Forrest shots, any time really when auto can get confused.
I have two old lenses that don’t work with the camera auto focus, so about 2/3 of the time. Sometimes more, because one is a 50 mm and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it.
I used to shoot more film, and used cameras that I either had to guess to focus or the rangefinder wasn’t working right, and a lot of those came out surprisingly sharp!
When you wanna be retro.
Whenever possible. Almost always. Actions shots like sports photos are an exception.
i use manual focus almost all time. but still need to learn a lot in photography.
I honestly prefer manual focus for everything. I found it easier after taking a film photography class
I use manual for focus stacking, timelapse and star/moon shots.
Focus peaking is amazing for quick manual focusing. In dim light, it’s a lot faster than autofocus.
Stitched panoramas, timelapse
All the time, the 1300D needs way to long to focus so I’ll just do it myself
Fireworks, aircraft.
NOTE: rear-button focus is very helpful!
Rear-button focus moves the auto-focus from the shutter button to a button on the back of the camera. It’s useful for a lot of use cases, but is especially helpful with older DSLRs that have trouble focusing in low light, and subjects that are in (or moving around within) a crowded scene.
You set the focus with the back button, then snap away without waiting for your camera to refocus every time you depress the shutter.
For fireworks, I’ll focus near where I expect them, then adjust manually with the first few displays.
Aircraft that are moving slowly or horizontally across your field of view, especially if there are a lot of background objects, can be easier to handle with manual focus (or at least back button focus).