@Quiet wrote:
Many of us are old-time manual camera buffs just now dipping a toe into digital photography because money and time.
We like focusing our lenses, are very used to doing so and will invariably want to adapt old, high quality lenses to these computers-with-lens-mounts that serve as cameras nowadays.
So what does the industry do? Welp, it prices full frame DSLRs (with larger and interchangeable focusing screens) beyond the pale for us who have learned the value of frugality and it ensures that entry level APS-C DSLRs (with smaller screens and no microprism/split-image) are excruciating to focus.
This truly sux and seems counter-intuitive for sales to us Boomers whose patronage permitted the Japanese camera giants to grow as they did and who still have a decade or two of buying power left.
I started my photography back in the late 70's and got serious in 1981, when I started working in the business. In those days, as you have commented, one manually focused and I certainly appreciated the ability to have a split screen in those circumstances. I started with Canon A-1 and Nikon F3 cameras, and in the latter case replaced the standard split screen with a custom "gun sight" one that suited some of my specific subjects. Over the ensuing years I used a range of camera brands and formats.
Having said that, I have adapted to the new technology and moved to the digital environment around 2001. Studies indicate that with a few exceptions modern lenses are designed and perform better than the old ones - with a few exceptions. They include not only more sophisticated lens optics but have vastly improved coatings to reduce flare, for example. For telephoto work I would seriously miss the stabilization that modern lenses afford, but that depends on how you take photos - I rarely use a tripod.
As far as focusing goes, studies consistently indicate that modern autofocus systems outperform focus by eye in most situations - macro being an obvious exception, for example.
I agree that using modern cameras feels different from using the classic SLRs. While I am and have been a loyal Canon user for over 40 years, I (like you) missed some of the old style shooting techniques from the film era. For that reason I broke ranks and bought a couple of Nikon Df cameras - a modern, high-end FF DSLR, with the same controls as the old film cameras. The body has the same feel as using a Nikon F3 for me, while retaining all the technology of the modern era. As I tried to explain to my daugher's boyfriend (who uses a cell phone), it makes taking a photo an occasion in itself - the joy is in the process as much as the result. One of the great benefits of the Df is its ability to take ANY Nikon lens, going back to their very first non-AI ones, and one can get a split screen if you prefer manual focus. Sadly, Canon has no such camera.
cheers, TREVOR
The mark of good photographer is less what they hold in their hand, it's more what they hold in their head;
"All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow", Leo Tolstoy;
"Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase" Percy W. Harris
