I'm after some advice from members more accustomed and practiced with full time manual focus. I digress that I am one of the lazy generation that rely on my DSLRs autofocus nearly all of the time. This is partly because my shooting genres comprise mainly non-stationary subjects and there is all this whizz-bang autofocus built into my D700- so I may as well use it, right?
Well I have just let go of two of my AF-S lenses (50mm and 24-70), with the intention of acquiring a couple of CZ manual focus lenses (possibly the 35mm f/2 Distagon / 50mm F/2 Makro Planar, 100 f/2 Makro Planar.
My new 24mm AF-S will stay with me, I truly believe it is the best WA prime Nikon have ever realeased, the way it renders a scene is just amazing. I am also keeping my 135mmF/2, as I find it perfect for the kind of photography I do.
I have been practising using MF on these with some success - using live view for still scenes and the green dot confirmation for dynamic scenes. I'm getting the DK17m view finder magnify to help get a larger view which I hope will also help with MF.
So, MF enthusiasts, my question is, do you find MF adequate for portraits, street scenes and possibly wedding/events? I know some friends who shoot weddings with rangefinder kits,, so I'm assuming they face similar challenges (although the technique is slightly different). s it feasible doing weddings/events with some MF.
I'm guessing it would take a lot of practice and experience getting used to it for someone like me who has been so reliant of AF most of the time? I don't think I will have much trouble doing still life and macros using MF (probably an advantage actually), but I'm wondering about people and moving shots. Obviously I won't be expecting to nail shots of my dog or kids running around, but what about things like a bride walking down the aisle and slower moving scenes like that - is MF in those circumstances sensible enough?
I will still have an ultra wide and a telephoto with autofocus, and possibly the 35mm MF as a fast normal and the 50 or the 100 as a macro / double duty normal/portrait lens.
I'm also wondering whether 35mm is too close to 24mm to justify the investment. I'm happy having a 100 and a 135 because I know the 100 can do decent macro work while the 135 can't.
One last question - does anyone use aftermarket focusing screens? (Bright view/ katz Eyes etc), or are they not really necessary?
Thanks for reading this far. Any advice would be much appreciated.