Shooting eye

DaveO · Jun 11, 2016

I picked up my old Nikon FM2n film camera and couldn't tell when the lens was in focus with my right eye. I have cataracts that are not mature enough to remove yet.
I picked up my Nikon F6 and I was able to focus with my right eye. I had a f/1.4 lens on the FM2n and a 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6 on the F6. Was the difference in focusing because of a better viewfinder on the F6 or the smaller aperture (easier to focus) in the zoom lens?

cuthbert · Jun 11, 2016

The faster the lens is the more difficult to focus.

BTW, did you use AF on the F6?

markbarendt · Jun 11, 2016

Does the FM2 have a split prism?

DaveO · Jun 11, 2016

cuthbert said:
The faster the lens is the more difficult to focus.

BTW, did you use AF on the F6?

I manually focused with the F6, but could see better to focus with my eye with the worse cataract. I used my left eye, which is not too bad yet, on the FM2n and it was pretty obvious when I got focus right.
The FM2n does have a split prism and looks like a fresnel ring about it which makes it easy to focus if you have decent eyesight.

cuthbert · Jun 11, 2016

DaveO said:
I manually focused with the F6, but could see better to focus with my eye with the worse cataract. I used my left eye, which is not too bad yet, on the FM2n and it was pretty obvious when I got focus right.
The FM2n does have a split prism and looks like a fresnel ring about it which makes it easy to focus if you have decent eyesight.

Try the 1.4 on the F6 and see if you can focus easily...my left eye is good but the right eye is strongly astigmatic so I avoid using it as I misfocused a lot of pics especially with fast lenses.

Also, the FM2n has a special screen for fast lenses if I remember correctly.

DaveO · Jun 11, 2016

I just finished off a roll of TMax 100 on the FM2n and used my left eye to focus the 50mm f/1.4 Zeiss ZF lens. I took the last few shots at a car gathering of mostly new corvettes, but a few old classic cars. A 31 Ford street rod and an MG TD were my favorites there.

David Brown · Jun 12, 2016

DaveO said:
... couldn't tell when the lens was in focus with my right eye. I have cataracts that are not mature enough to remove yet.

I have the same exact situation, and have switched to focusing with my left eye. Most 35mm cameras are not designed for that.

RalphLambrecht · Jun 12, 2016

cuthbert said:
The faster the lens is the more difficult to focus.

BTW, did you use AF on the F6?

I always thought it was the other way around

barzune · Jun 13, 2016

DaveO said:
I have cataracts that are not mature enough to remove yet.

I had to put up with cataracts for a period of time in my 50s, and eventually set my FM2n aside in favour of a F90x (autofocus).
The doctor finally insisted that I get implants for both eyes, and life is SO MUCH better now!
When the time comes, don't hesitate, and you may want to choose the long-view prescription: much more convenient to wear reading glasses occasionally, rather than distance glasses all the time.

Shooting eye

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