dugrant153
Member
OK so this is going to be super super subjective. I've been thinking about going rangefinder for a while as I found myself unable to focus sometimes in low light manually. I used Pentax and Olympus OM cameras and at times got frustrated trying to focus with microprism screens.
Then I found this article:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=KXO...page&q=microprisms low light focusing&f=false
And... I think I've been focusing wrong this whole time. I've been trying to use microprisms in super low light...
I kind of disregarded the split prism and never thought about turning it in order to try to find a diagonal line to focus. I've been kind of trying it out recently and have to say that finding this technique has opened up a whole new level of usage for my manual focus SLRs.
Using my Olympus OM1 + the Split Prism almost feels like a rangefinder in that I'm trying to "line up" something to match with something in order to determine focus (not to mention small size and relative quietness of the OM cameras). Which has me wondering on a personal level whether I truly need a rangefinder... or whether I just need to practice focusing on a split prism + ground glass (and microprisms for when it's bright). For wide angles, perhaps the split prism and "turning the camera" technique may not be as effective...?
I feel like this kind of technique and discussion on manual focusing is lost in this AF and digital age and would be curious on your experiences with SLRs and the split prism. And if you want to, how it compares to rangefinders.
Then I found this article:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=KXO...page&q=microprisms low light focusing&f=false
And... I think I've been focusing wrong this whole time. I've been trying to use microprisms in super low light...
I kind of disregarded the split prism and never thought about turning it in order to try to find a diagonal line to focus. I've been kind of trying it out recently and have to say that finding this technique has opened up a whole new level of usage for my manual focus SLRs.
Using my Olympus OM1 + the Split Prism almost feels like a rangefinder in that I'm trying to "line up" something to match with something in order to determine focus (not to mention small size and relative quietness of the OM cameras). Which has me wondering on a personal level whether I truly need a rangefinder... or whether I just need to practice focusing on a split prism + ground glass (and microprisms for when it's bright). For wide angles, perhaps the split prism and "turning the camera" technique may not be as effective...?
I feel like this kind of technique and discussion on manual focusing is lost in this AF and digital age and would be curious on your experiences with SLRs and the split prism. And if you want to, how it compares to rangefinders.
