a photo

[davidhampshire]

photo with the dfa 100 wr from today,    was trying to get the right exposure,   but also keep it on the over exposed side too,  to make it look bright,   i have noticed though when shooting close up with this lens that i get better focus with manual focusing.        shot a jpeg at 6 megapixels,   f5,  iso 320,   

[Pacerr]

  . . .when shooting close up with this lens that i get better focus with manual focusing. 

Almost always true with curved surfaces and especially when close up to the plane of focus.

In that situation use the focus ring to set the image size and use fixed manual focus while moving the camera forward / backward to attain best focus on the exact point you want sharp. A DoF preview helps at that point-in-time too. AF is simply too "sloppy" to figure out what you want in focus at that distance.

This is why you see the Macro-ProAm's using a focusing rack to move the camera.

The advantage of a macro lens lies more in the flat-field optical arrangement designed for close-focus distances than in most other practical factors -- assuming a sharp lens to begin with.

H2

[davidhampshire]

thanks pacerr,    hard sometimes when i think i have things in focus in the viewfinder,  see it later,  and not always the case,     that lens is a pretty sharp lens,   though,  when i do get the focus right.          

[Pacerr]

There you have it sports fans.

The fact is, any lens is always just exactly as sharp as its design and condition allow. Where YOU allow the place the plane of focus to occur is the uncontrolled variable. Overall IQ and pleasing rendering are another matter.

The amount of luck involved decreases proportionally with the level of experience, patience and attention to the task at hand that YOU contribute whether you use AF or MF.

AF tends to disguise that simple fact because we assume AF knows what we intend, but like any other automated function, "Garbage in, garbage out" applies in spades.
 
Nevertheless, I still feel like my results are 80% luck 90% of the time.  

Even if I know there's a focus calibration error involved, it's MY fault if I don't take the necessary steps to correct for it.

[JIMBO]

Nevertheless, I still feel like my results are 80% luck 90% of the time. 

Even if I know there's a focus calibration error involved, it's MY fault if I don't take the necessary steps to correct for it.

As they say in the funny papers.. "the truth will set you free" Well said! JIMBO